It appears that Microsoft is working on not just a next generation console, but a next-generation Kinect as well as sources have informed EuroGamer that the new motion control device will be so accurate that it can read lips.
According to the report, the Kinect 2 will come bundled with “future Xbox consoles.” One of the development sources stated that the device will be so powerful that it will allow games to lip read, tell when players are angry, and realize which direction they are facing.
The Kinect 2 will be able to do determine the emotional states of players by tracking the pitch and volume of a their voices and facial characteristics. This wasn’t possible with the original Kinect due to the Xbox 360’s aging USB technology, which is incapable of taking in the amount of information required for these types of processes to be performed.
This new device, however, will be able to send more information to the next Xbox thanks to a more advanced means.
“It can be cabled straight through on any number of technologies that just take phenomenally high res data straight to the main processor and straight to the main RAM and ask, what do you want to do with it?” a source told Eurogamer.
As for the next Xbox, it is rumored to be revealed at E3 2013 with developers working with the technology right this moment. Another, more far-fetched rumor, has claimed that the new console will launch later that year and the reveal would instead come at CES 2012.
