Microsoft says Kinect Useable While Seated – Sometimes

Tuesday, 13 July 2010 12:55 Written by Steve Spohn

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In the never-ending sea of Internet information, yet another piece of information on Microsoft Kinect has surfaced. As you know, Kinect may or may not be good for disabled gamers but according to a recent article from Joystiq, “Kinect can be used while sitting when an experience is developed with sitting in mind.”

Slightly encouraging news, although it is somewhat like saying the space shuttle is intended to be flown by astronauts. Nevertheless, we decided to reach out to the Microsoft to find out once and for all if Kinect will be usable from the seating position.

Turns out through an unofficial communication with AbleGamers that Microsoft still holds a lot of hope for the future of the Xbox 360 Kinect and that the Joystiq article is correct, games that are intended to be done from the seated position will be playable by those sitting down or in wheelchairs.

Although this is not groundbreaking-great news, the fact that Microsoft is including some seated positions leave a giant opening for wheelchairs to roll right through. Motion controllers are still a very sensitive subject for those with limited mobility, limited strength, and those who have a hard time gaming from a standing position for any length of time.

The hope is that Microsoft will slowly relent on excluding gamers from playing while sitting. Unfortunately, most of the games will be intended for those that can run, jog, dance, and jump – not sit. Most likely, when speaking about games developed for those in the seating position, the mega giant was referring to games like Forza racing and Tic-Tac-Toe.

A new era of motionless controllers is taking flight and as the article says, “this is just the tip of the iceberg.” However, I would like to remind you all that it was an iceberg that sunk the Titanic, I'm just sayin’.

With plenty of naysayers already all over the Internet, the Kinect can certainly use all of the positive vibes it can get. For the record, I believe they said that about the Hindenburg.

Still, Ablegamers will be on site at the Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360 Accessibility Roundtable early this fall in Redmond, Washington to help argue for greater accessibility.

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