14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has explained what Kinect features remain intact in the Xbox One games that will be released after the GPU performance increase announced earlier this month, saying that voice commands and the regular camera will still be operational in such titles.
Microsoft started selling a brand new Xbox One bundle without a Kinect sensor at the beginning of the month, and it immediately unveiled a new software update for the devkit edition of the platform that allowed developers to access the 10% GPU reserve that was intended for certain Kinect functions.
Many fans started worrying that they weren't going to be able to use the Kinect in their games anymore, so Microsoft has offered some more explanations about the recent change.
According to the Director of Development for Xbox Software Engineering Kareem Choudhry, while the skeletal tracking will no longer be active when Xbox One games are being played, various other functions are still going to be available, while the tracking will be enabled once more when a player exits the game.
"Kinect Depth and infrared sensors which enable biometric sign-in skeletal tracking, controller pairing, etc. will no longer work for these game titles. Developers can choose to disable Kinect depth and infrared sensing in different parts of their titles," he said on the Xbox Wire.
"The full Kinect experience including skeletal tracking is automatically re-enabled when the user switches back to Home (or other applications), even while in the middle of a game."
However, different voice commands, including general ones relating to the Xbox One or game-specific ones, will still be available, as they don't require any GPU power to work as intended.
"Platform level voice commands such as 'Xbox On,' 'Xbox, Record That,' and 'Xbox, Go Home' will continue to work as they do today, as will any in-game speech commands or Snap mode. The Kinect (RGB color) camera will still continue to work, so your friends can watch you while you’re playing your favorite games. Snap mode for TV, Achievements and other features will continue to work."
Choudhry has also emphasized that disconnecting the Kinect from the Xbox One won't in any way impact the performance of the console, as Microsoft has just launched the new update to allow game developers more choices when it comes to the creation process of their titles.
"Whether a Kinect is attached or detached will not impact extra GPU processing capability. It is up to developers to utilize the June XDK for games in development to take advantage of these additional GPU resources."
Some big games are already using the extra GPU resources to increase the resolution, like Destiny, or improve visual effects, like Sunset Overdrive.