Microsoft: Kinect on single-digit CPU use

Alex Kipman, the director of incubation at Microsoft, has said that the Kinect motion control tech will only use a single-digit percentage of the Xbox 360’s processing capability.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Kipman lowered the expected processing use from the originally stated ten to 15 per cent. He also stated that the sensor bar impact on the system, while larger than expected, would still leave ample processing power for developers.

"The answer is, as much as we like to talk about bits and percentages, you take a game like, I don’t know, Call of Duty: Black Ops – there’s a significant amount of processing, be it CPU or GPU, that still remains on the table," he said.

"So after that, when we came to this revelation about games, and future games that would be coming to Xbox, we looked at it and we said – ‘is it worth the trade-off to put on-board processing on the device when we think we can create magical, unique, deep, thorough experiences without it?’"

Kipman also addressed the dropping of an on-board Kinect processor during development, which was cut to keep costs down.

"That figure of 10 or 15 per cent, we’re actually in single digits, but the philosophy is correct," he said.

"It’s a trade-off. That trade off is easy, it’s about the affordability of the device. From the perspective of bringing to market this amazing deal, £129.99 with Kinect Adventures, plus sensor – buy one and have your entire family play, it’s a very interesting customer value proposition.

"We can create games which are as rich and thorough and as deep as the games which we have on our platform today and which we will have tomorrow. Then the conversation becomes simple: you start moving into a world which says, why keep something complicated when you can make it simple? We decided to have our cake and eat it too."