Advanced Television

Microsoft untouchable control

January 6, 2011

From Nick Snow @ CES

Steve Balmer, Microsoft CEO, used his CES opening speech to highlight the ‘exceptional’ success of its Kinect motion controller for games – eight million have been sold against a forecast of five million – and announce the technology is coming to Xbox TV in the first quarter of 2011.

So, as a ‘Minority Report’ style demo showed, you will be able to move your media around on the TV in much the same way as apps on a smart phone but without actuallly touching the screen. As an extra kicker they’ve added voice recognition control as well. The Kinetic guide will be available with the Netflix and the Hulu + service later in the year.

Going a step further, Xbox is also introducing ‘Kinect Avatar’ which users can control with body motion and even even facial movement. So rather than a text discussion about a programme or game, your Avatars can engage with each other – as virtual you – in real time.

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