While many of us have been using our Microsoft Kinects for nothing more than some sport simulations and dance titles, it seems that there are some people who are actually trying to push the device’s boundaries. One such group is a team of programmers at the Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California. Many gamers may be making their New Year’s Resolution to leave time-consuming MMOs behind in favor of exercise, but these programmers are shown that you can do both, using the Kinect as an input device for World of Warcraft. According to videos posted by the team, that’s just the beginning.
The technology being used to turn the Kinect into a means of capturing 3D images may be a bit over the head of the average gamer, but the concepts at work for ICT’s interface is actually quite simple. They’ve designed a system that will allow the Kinect’s motion and depth sensors to transfer body movements into computer commands, called the Flexible Action and Articulated Skeleton Toolkit (FAAST).
While previous Kinect videos have shown that hand movements can interact with a Windows operating system, FAAST takes movements made by the entire body and converts them into keyboard inputs, meaning that nearly any program could be operated with motion controls. If the Kinect has any chance of being taken seriously by the hardcore community, then high-profile games will have to back the tech up.
What game is more high-profile among the hardcore than World of Warcraft? These programmers have shown no fear, creating an input system based on the Kinect that will allow users to interact in a firsthand way with the world of Azeroth:
