The new Xbox One has been a topic of much speculation and criticisms over the months and the criticisms still continue to pile up following a number of business strategies (not necessarily good) that have been confirmed by the company. However, here’s something new that might help Microsoft a bit to change that image.
Microsoft is looking to incorporate some sort of biometric gameplay feature into the Xbox One’s gameplay advancements that will be in tune with the new console’s famous Kinect sensor integration.
According to a Digital Spy report, during a closed tech demo at the recent E3 Microsoft revealed that the One was able to take into consideration how players were leaning, what direction they were leaning in, the angle, and their posture. And in accordance with the console’s controller itself, players can also treat it as a third analog controller input.
The idea, per the report, is said to have been inspired “by how people naturally lean into turning corners when playing racing games, the tech demo had the player shift their torso to the sides while holding an analogue stick in order to avoid advancing enemies.”
Microsoft, on its part, also went on to discuss the feature, and according to Microsoft’s Jeff Henshaw: “This racing scenario where people are leaning into turns has us really bothered. We really wanted to find a way to get that leaning incorporated into the game."
Adding to the features, Henshaw stated that compared to its predecessors, the Xbox One is now "smart enough" and "powerful enough" to keep a track of what players are doing.
"It sees the lean and it factors that lean into the game in ways that are perfectly natural, and still using the controller to move, aim and shoot, but my spine is actually being treated as a third thumbstick, one that's not manifested physically on the controller," he went on to explain.
He added that developers call an API to access Kinect “that makes my spine and torso look to the game exactly like another thumbstick, including full 360-degree motion. It's easy for the game developer to build these kind of features, and it's super easy for the player to do them."
While the idea might sound quite space age to most, everything eventually will depend upon the developers, and how they decide to go about their titles. We will just have to wait until the One is finally made available for sale.