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CES 2011: Avatar Kinect Revealed

During its press conference at CES 2011 in Las Vegas, Microsoft revealed Avatar Kinect, a new platform it says will allow you to "hang out" with your friends in a virtual space. Your movements, including facial expression, are all captured by Kinect, creating a truly engaging virtual social platform.

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Tony-A5607d ago (Edited 5607d ago )

Sorry. This sounds like a complicated and unnecessary group chat feature.

It would be much easier to plug a webcam up and talk.

It looks like they threw this as a feature just so people have something to do with their Kinect. It's just like a tech demo. The PS Eye actually had a tech demo with a bunch of random facial recognition stuff before it released.

Hell, I can invite my friends to my Cabin in Home to chat, dance and play mini-games, but I'm much more comfortable pressing "Start New Chat".

@nygamer: Go to chat roulette. You'll find someone with similar interests. lol

nygamer285607d ago (Edited 5607d ago )

screw dweezy....cyber sex!

edit:lol yea but its just not the same

Bigpappy5607d ago

I have not seem Home yet. Is it like this, where you avatar moves his lips in sinc with you speach? This seems like it is focused more on the ladies who like to sit around and chat. But the lip sink and facial expressions make it a better vidio chat than using real faces. I don't know how much I will use it, but it looks fun to use at times. We shall see.

ComboBreaker5607d ago (Edited 5607d ago )

a Milo situation.

Tony-A5607d ago (Edited 5607d ago )

Is that the appeal? Lip-syncing?

I don't think any lip syncing feature can compare to you actually seeing real lips moving. I don't see how masking voice chat behind a circle of avatars will make it more fun...

Guess that's just me.

IHateYouFanboys5607d ago

@DWeezy9: "It would be much easier to plug a webcam up and talk. "

You can already do that with Kinect. this is just another option.

BISHOP-BRASIL5607d ago (Edited 5607d ago )

@DWeezy and Bigpappy

Obviously the appeal won't be cartoonized version of people talking lip synced with you, but the virtual space itself. Instead of staring at each of your friends face, cartoonized versions of you guys will be in somewhere different, probably doing something while chat. Expect a shallow version of Home or Second Life, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Home is just too much for some people, like Dweezy said himself, you have to load home, go to one of many spaces, invite your friends, than they have to accept and load to your place and than you can chat while playing pool or whaever... Chat, even text, is just more practical, although can be way less fun. I just don't see that many people using Home as a starting point or to just hang around in PS3, chatting with friends and than deciding what game to launch... Although I many times had loads of fun doing just that, most of the time I just mean business and go straight to the game and set up with friends from there.

Unfortunelly, being a poor man's Home isn't readily a goog thing too, the ease of use will probably be head and shoulders over Home but still behind other chat forms and with a lot less to it's virtual room, expect it to get boring quickly.

[edit]
I'm not saying it will be more than a round table filled with cartoon guys having tea by comparing it to Home (and that's what I meant by shallow) just saying, much like Home or Second Life, don't matter how great or crap is the virtual room/world, the appeal of this kind of "game" over Video, Voice or Text Chat is this virtual world, not some lip sync or expression recognition, as you can already see those in video.
[/edit]

@IHateYouFanboys

You don't even need Kinect for that, do you remember the Xbox Live Vision Camera? In fact, if MS was less of a sucker, we should be able to do so with any USB WebCam.

IHateYouFanboys5607d ago

@bishop-br:

i do remember the vision camera, i have one. got it for AU$15 with a free game (which i havent even opened), just so i could use it for burnout paradise basically lol. you can even do kinect video chat using the vision camera, you just need to use a headset too.

i was merely pointing out the fact that you dont need kinect AND a webcam, since Kinect already functions as a web cam.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 5607d ago
Arup025607d ago

Already knew. Where in the world are the core games MS??

dkgshiz5607d ago

Not E3. Don't expect any announcements of any games.

Arup025607d ago

Let's pray that MS will show some good games at E3... I want more than Avatar Kinect.

Tony-A5607d ago (Edited 5607d ago )

They better be announcing SOMETHING at E3. I'll be damned if I re-bought a 360 last year just for Reach and eventually Gears....

PS: Some guy at the end of the conference said "Microsoft is clearly on the move." I instantly thought "Oh really, now? On the Move, eh?"

hehe

RedRedSuitSDF5607d ago

The core games are all over the place this year.

Lord_Doggington5607d ago

why would you chat w/ your avatar when you could just chat with your own fat ugly body?

eggbert5607d ago

because someone told them this was a good idea.

MatthewMk25607d ago

Its so sad, Ive been with the 360 since launch, it almost makes me cry whenever I see what its become.

StarScream4Ever5607d ago

There... There...

Here's a cookie...

LORD-PHOENIX5607d ago

And a chocolate milk. :)

i wouldnt expect game announcments to be released at CES.

That said After gears if nothings announced selling my 360 and putting that money towards a 3ds

StarScream4Ever5607d ago

Nah im just going to hold on to all my consoles like a collectors item. Then when I turn 50 and look back at them I'll say,'What the eff happened?'

^_^

Rush5607d ago

A console making you want to cry you could do with getting out a little more.

I guess your 360 makes you cry why your PS3 gives you orgasms, just make sure you send me a message if you ever trade in your PS3 so I know to stay away from preowned consoles.

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60°

Adam Thinks:- The Decline of Gaming Retail

This week Adam has been on a mission to pick up a copy of the Silent Hill HD Collection from his local retailers, with little success. What has happened to our once great UK game retailers?

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newbreview.com
Fateful_Knight5038d ago

Inversion truly is the red-headed stepchild of the year. If they would have made better design choices in development, i would have played it to the end. But having to repeat the same annoying boss fight less than an hour after the first one sucked every ounce of motivation out of the game for me. I'm talking to you Slave Driver.

5038d ago
130°

Connecting with Kinect via Kinect Fun Labs

Gaming Update's CM Boots-Faubert takes a look at The Kinect Fun Labs and its most recent add-ins in an exploration of the utilities and apps that offer gamers a deep exploration of the capabilities of Microsoft's Xbox 360 Kinect motion-sensing controller.

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gamingupdate.com
140°

newbreview.com's Avatar Kinect Show Episode 3

Tom and Luke discuss the week's top news including the new 3DS analogue stick attachment, Deus Ex and Dead Island DLC, Max Payne 3, and the release of Crysis on Xbox 360 and PS3. They also review Brunswick Pro Bowling on Xbox 360, play around with Harmonix's new iPhone Ap VidRhythm, and bring you another competition.

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newbreview.com