Rumor Mill: Kinect Accuracy Worked On at Microsoft

An anonymous source working in the video game industry has suggested that developer Microsoft is working on improving the accuracy for Kinect, the motion tracking add-on for the Xbox 360 that was released in early November of this year.

It seems that the engineers at Microsoft who have created Kinect are working hard in order to increase the amount of data which is moved from Kinect to the Xbox 360.

Currently it is capped at around 16 MB per second when the Microsoft home console is able to receive 35 MB each second.

Increasing the amount of data moved between the two devices could mean that Kinect could move to a tracking resolution of 640 X 480, up from the current 320 X 240.

The idea is that increasing the resolution could mean that things like actual finger moves could be tracked and translated into input for video games.

When Microsoft was building up hype for Kinect, it mentioned that the device could actually read sign language, offering those who use it a way of controlling the Xbox 360 but as launch drew clear Microsoft said that the feature would not be immediately available.

Microsoft might have been conservative in its initial design, aiming to offer a solid launch performance for Kinect while worrying later about increases in accuracy.

A lot of changes to the motion tracking device can be made via a firmware update, which means that Microsoft would not have to go the Nintendo route of actually delivering a new piece of hardware, the Motion Plus, in order to make its Wiimote controller more accurate.

Kinect is unique in the motion tracking world because it does not require the use of any physical controller and directly reads body motion.

Microsoft has previously stated that it's happy with the capabilities of Kinect but that it could look into upgrading the device as more video games are launched for it and its limits are tested.