Microsoft Kinect is back from the dead, once again

Like a spooky ghost rising from the grave on All Saints’ Eve, Microsoft’s Kinect accessory is back from the dead—again. Sky, a European pay-TV company owned by Comcast on Thursday rolled out an accessory to pair with its new glass TVs that eerily resembles the doomed space camera Microsoft has been trying to impose on Xbox users for years.

At a launch event in London announcing its new broadband television, “Sky Glass”, Sky revealed he had in partnership with Microsoft on a 4K camera accessory that would include motion controls, gestures Support, and social sharing features. For anyone who remembers the hapless Kinect, Microsoft’s great connected entertainment gamble to invade your living room with a device that could seamlessly play games, control your TV, and running apps, it looks a lot like that.

“By working with Microsoft, we are also building a fantastic functionality that allows us to watch TV together even though we are miles from each other,” said Fraser Stirling, Sky Product Manager, at the meeting. ‘event. “It syncs your TV with other homes, with built-in video and chat, and you can choose content from the biggest channels, including Premier League games, movies and all your favorite entertainment.”

The social gaming experience Sky and Microsoft envisioned would include games specifically designed to support the new camera, including the hugely popular Fruit Ninja and one Paw Patrol-brand offer. In addition to supporting social apps like Zoom, the new camera will also work on Microsoft. long-held dream to enable simultaneous viewing experience where people can play games or watch TV channels in sync with their friends, seeing their reactions in real time.

“Pick your opponent, at home or in another household and play with your body movements or gesture control,” Stirling said. “Family games will never be the same again. “

After initially launching the Kinect as an Xbox 360 accessory in 2010 to integrate spatial and gesture sensors into games, Microsoft then tried to bundle it with the Xbox One, with disastrous results. But it’s clear that for Microsoft, the dream of depth-sensing social gaming never really died – and today Sky has given that dream a second (third?) Chance to live. May the Kinect fare better in this lifetime than in the past, and if not, we’ll see it in the next realm.