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Video Kinect Bringing Advanced Video Chat To Xbox Live And MSN

Microsoft's E3 will likely be remembered for the debut of Kinect. Whether or not you're a fan of dance and party games, the unit boasts some impressive technology. Video Kinect looks to be a very promising step forward in video chat. During Microsoft's E3 Press Briefing, a Microsoft employee named Laura did an impressive live demo of this new functionality onstage. Using the Kinect, she initiated a chat with her sister, Kristen, in Dallas, Texas. Nearly all of the commands were done via voice (including a simple "End chat" when the demo was over). Once they were both in the chat together, they were able to choose from a variety of content to view together while chatting. They decided on a clip of the upcoming fantasy flick The Last Airbender. During the clip, they were able to converse freely while watching, emulating the "living room" experience that Microsoft is pushing with Kinect.

On the bottom of the screen, the other options for entertainment were visible: Microsoft's search engine Bing, news, sports, TV, movies, and music. Most if not all of the entertainment available on Xbox Live should be available for live chat purposes.

Even more impressive was the demonstration of the Kinect's camera tracking. Laura had Kristen lean left and right outside of the frame of the camera. Surprisingly, the Kinect's camera's instantly panned accordingly, keeping Kristen in the frame perfectly.

In addition to the Xbox Live community, Video Kinect will also be compatible with the millions of MSN Live Messenger users worldwide, creating an an instantly huge customer base for the service.

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Comments
  • not impressed we already had video chat. ill admit vid chat with msn friends is neat but one i dont have friends actually using msn for social things and two youll probably still need a gold account for this.

  • Video chat still does not convince me to get the kinect

  • For 150 dollars NO WAY!!!

  • That was pretty sick.

  • I wish they had implemented head-tracking 3d (during one-on-one chat of course)

  • This will be cool. :)

  • most people don't use MSN...just sayin

  • For the most part, I don't see this being used other than between the random boyfriend/girlfriend couples that both have their own Xbox's. Maybe good for long distance relationships with family or when someone goes off to college or military duty. But I doubt it will get the face time that it deserves. Pun intended. I think it's great. And I will definitely be using it regularly. A couple of my friends and I who live a good distance between each other get on Netflix regularly and watch old B-Rate Horror flicks together and this could make it even better.

  • I guess this will be cool for some people, but I cannot see myself using this.  For the most part, Kinect hasn't impressed me.  We will see how will this new technology sells when the holidays come.

  • Not worth $150. I'd rather use a webcam, a mic, and skype

  • Very cool feature, silly presentation though x.x

  • hell yeah!! Cant wait!

  • yeahbut i'm suspicious that yer only gonna be able to chat with xbl friends or hotmail users.  that would suck.