Amidst the flag waving and sales reports, Microsoft used its time on the CES stage to introduce its upcoming 'Avatar Kinect' feature for XBLA; a service that will give members precise control over their XBLA Avatars using the full breadth of Kinect's motion sensing capabilities.
Revealed during Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's presentation at CES yesterday evening, the Kinect-enhanced chat service will allow XBLA Gold members to transfer their body movements, subtle facial expressions and every nervous tick to their online Avatar for use in real time, online interactions. The service will also grant the ability to share videos of said interactions through Facebook, heralding a new age of amateur XBLA Avatar machinima.
Admittedly, when we glimpsed a shot of Microsoftpracticing its Avatar Kinect reveala couple days ago, I thought it was announcing a new series of blue-skinned Na'vi costumes, but this sounds much, much cooler.
The service will launch in Spring and be free for XBLA gold members. No word yet on price or availability for other, non-paying XBLA socialites.
Jan 5, 2011
[Source:Gamustra]
