Avatar Kinect Getting Closer and Closer

Later this spring users running Xbox 360 with the Kinect NUI sensor will be able to enjoy transforming their plain vanilla avatars into full blown virtual alter egos.

Thanks to the facial recognition technology in Avatar Kinect, the users’ expressions, from smiles to winks and frowns will be projected and replicated on their avatar’s face.

Although a specific availability deadline hasn’t yet been shared with the public, Microsoft insists that the wait is almost over, and that customers will get to breathe new life into their avatars with the new technology.

“Avatar Kinect will let you hang out and socialize with seven of your friends in a simulated environment,” reveals Umaimah Mendhro, a senior product manager for Microsoft Startup Business Group. “The gathering spots will range from the set of a late-night talk show to a tailgate party to a magical forest.”

Avatar Kinect started in Microsoft Research as a simple prototype. Not all Microsoft Research projects live sufficiently enough to become commercial products, but this one did, although the use of the term “product” might not be the best choice for Avatar Kinect.

“The work that we did was taking something that was essentially a demo and turning it into a product,” added Eric Lang, a general manager for Microsoft Startup Business Group. “It’s a huge amount of work.”

Lang reveals that Avatar for Kinect was born from an embryo related to studying the “geometry of a gaze,” which subsequently evolved into a project incubated under the Startup Business Group. It only then ended up in Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business.

Pete Thompson, general manager of Xbox LIVE praised the collaboration between Microsoft divisions.

"It was personally very gratifying to see the teams come together and find creative solutions,” Thompson noted. “The end result is a highly-curated consumer service that is very compelling, but also has tremendous headroom for future innovation from Microsoft and its partners.”