The Xbox 360 motion sensor device seems to have problems recognising disabled player. Prior to release it was discovered that players with black skin may have troubles with the facial recognition element of the device; well now a woman that is stuck is bound to her wheel-chair has found she is currently unable to play with her family.
Susanna Martini, a sufferer of cerebral palsy, couldn’t wait to play the controller-free games with her husband and 3 year old daughter; unfortunately she soon found the Kinect device for 360 doesn’t recognise seated players. Susanna commented “Kinect has no clue that I even exist, it’s like I’m completely invisible to it.”
Microsoft have said they are attempting to “improve Kinect’s skeletal tracking technology in ways that will help developers create games that incorporate seated play” alas this will take time so it seems for the moment Susanna Martini and other gamers confined to a wheel chair will have to remain as onlookers only.
Jacob Clark
January 1, 2011 at 8:22 PMThis just shows you that no matter what new technology will always have problems. At least this complaint is valid i hate when people who have the ability to stand say they want to sit down and play the game. I mean who does not want to thrust your pelvis at the car go faster!
Tyler
January 2, 2011 at 6:37 AM@Jacob Clark
Just because you can stand doesn’t mean you’d want to when you play a game.
Video games have largely been played sitting down, since they were created, so that’s how 99% of the people that play them want to play them.
How MS could have overlooked that astounds me.
Sam Clark
January 2, 2011 at 7:34 AMHey i find this a very vaild point but when you set up kinect if you set it up in seated position it will work for some game I.E joy ride i have had this working when seated all time with game with movment then always ganna be a prblem but with new puzzle games it will work seated i have had this working meany times you will just need to run the setup again but do this while seated and it will work hope this helps
Sam
Sam Clark
January 2, 2011 at 7:37 AM@Tyler also wanted to point out how can you say that MS astound you when Kinect was made for full body montion noone says how every console has over looked people with no hands or the guys coming back from army that lose arm how they cant use a controller
shut up
January 2, 2011 at 7:53 AMthe system is based on movement you cannot accommodate every person. Next you’ll say car makers need to make all cars so people in wheel chairs can drive right off the lot. no that isn’t the case they need to be modified. go after ford chevy toyota. can she play soccer with her family.can she climb a jungle gym with her family go after those things too. the list goes on and on. maybe she just needs a better wheel chair. I’m not being mean that is just life.
Kevin
January 2, 2011 at 8:04 AM@Tyler Kinect is a new way to play it reinvents gaming in a way its never been done before its suppose to take the lazy overweight gamer of his chair and start moving his legs arms his whole body its such a magic feeling. And Jacob Clark@ ROFL!!!!!!! LOL YOUR COMMENT MADE MY DAY!! PS..HALO REACH IS BETTER THEN COD BLACK OPS.
Greg
January 2, 2011 at 8:05 AMKinect uses an incredibly complex set of algorithms developed over years to try and track the skeletal framework of the human body. People in a seated position don’t fit readily into those algorithms. I have no doubt that a fix can be created (the kinect can already adapt if someone walks in front of a player), but this is not an oversight by Microsoft. It’s simply the nature of the technology.
Oh, and as far as the black skin thing, that’s been debunked already (short story is that ALL people have trouble in low lighting):
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/11/consumer-reports-tests-kinect-facial-recognition-problems-video.html?CMP=OTC-NEWS4
Asdi
January 2, 2011 at 8:18 AMOK now try jumping with a wheelchair
davo058
January 2, 2011 at 8:50 AMso…… what CAN the kinect do ?
i mean……it seems like all the games for it don’t quite work like they are advertised (sonic skateboarding game in particular) and the only games out are wii “me-too” games that aren’t even as fun as the wii versions.
I think i heard it recognises voice well….. which is good cause it was already done in that tom clancy game. How embarrassing if they screwed that up after it worked so well there.
Barrie Ellis
January 2, 2011 at 12:01 PMMicrosoft have been made aware of many of the needs of disabled players, after they ran an Accessibility Round-table:
http://www.gamebase.info/magazine/read/kinect-accessibility-round-table_342.html
It was run a very short while before Kinect was released. Lets hope they’ll be putting better accessibility into the Xbox 360 all round before too long.