Tech specs for Microsoft's Kinect have been revealed, with the surprise news that the motion-controller for Xbox 360 can only support up to two active players.
Technical data revealed on Play.com suggests that Xbox 360's Kinect will only support two players in-game at any given time.
While many of us simply don't have the space in our living rooms to envisage playing four player Kinect Sports sessions, the fact that Nintendo and Sony's own motion control systems do support up to four players at once is sure to be seen as a slight limitation with Microsoft's own motion-controller for the Xbox 360.
Tracks 20 joints per player
Kinect's skeletal tracking system is able to track up to 20 joints per active player and map them instantly to your on-screen Xbox Live avatar.
The camera's 320x240 resolution has been slightly reduced from the 640x480 resolution of the original PrimeSense tech that Kinect was based upon.
Here are those Kinect Technical Specifications in full:
Sensor
Colour and depth-sensing lenses
Voice microphone array
Tilt motor for sensor adjustment
Field of View
Horizontal field of view: 57 degrees
Vertical field of view: 43 degrees
Physical tilt range: 27 degrees
Depth sensor range: 1.2m - 3.5m
Data Streams
320x240 16-bit depth @ 30 frames/sec
640x480 32-bit colour@ 30 frames/sec
16-bit audio @ 16 kHz
Skeletal Tracking System
Tracks up to 6 people, including 2 active players
Tracks 20 joints per active player
Ability to map active players to Xbox LIVE Avatars
Audio System
Xbox LIVE party chat and in-game voice chat (requires Xbox LIVE Gold Membership)
Echo cancellation system enhances voice input
Speech recognition in multiple languages
UK retailers such as Game and HMV are already planning how they are going to demonstrate Microsoft's new motion-control tech when it arrives in stores later this year.
UK online retailer ShopTo is currently listing Kinect for Xbox 360 with a recommended retail price of £129.99 and release date of November 19 – although that pricing and release date has still to be officially confirmed by Microsoft.
