Two bits of Kinect news have drifted on to the interwebz.
The bad:
The Kinect will only support/recognise three languages on launch. Yep, three, with more to follow in Spring 2011 (Northern Hemisphere). The languages? “American” English, “British” English, Japanese and Mexican Spanish. Seriously? Why rush the release then?
Anyway, I can only imagine us South Africans, our mates the Australians, or any other English speaking gamers not from “America” or “Britain” being constantly misinterpreted. Should make for some fun.
The good:
Apparently, Kinect is capable of 1:1 tracking and is as “fast as pushing a button”. This comes from Xbox360Achievements who reported that:
“We’ve done tests back at the office where we have a TV, flash a light on the screen and we’ll have a controller, and have someone there hitting a button, and someone with Kinect clapping as soon as they see the light on the screen, and both things go just as fast as one another,” explains Microsoft’s Kinect chief Kudo Tsunoda.
“We already have the 1:1 stuff working really well and the response time is just as fast as pushing a button or making a gesture.”
The ‘Eyetoy’…sorry Kinect launches in the UK on November 10th. And no, I’m not going to be at the front of the ‘Q’ waiting to buy one. You can let me know if it’s worth it.
**UPDATE**
Our buddies (can we call you guys that?) over at Lazygamer have a further insight from a South African perspective – not even remotely good.