Don’t worry couch potatoes, Kinect loves you too

Kinect hasn’t even launched yet — but that hasn’t stopped the press from picking it apart and revealing its shortcomings. Issues such as lag, required setup space and whether the camera sensor will work with gamers who are sitting down are on everyone’s minds. Cross the last one off your list, because Microsoft’s fixed that problem.

According to Eurogamer, Blitz Games Studios co-founder and Chief Technical Officer Andrew Oliver revealed that the makers of the Xbox 360 video game console have eradicated the problem where a player sitting down would not be tracked correctly by the Kinect camera. The fix reportedly changes the base nodes from the bottom of the spine to the back of the neck — allowing the Kinect sensor to track body gestures properly without the player being forced to stand up.

Games that are slated to make Kinect’s launch will suffer from the outdated nodes, but Oliver says that all future games should not see the sitting and gaming problem. Hurray for lazy gamers who feared they would have to stand up to play, now you can sit back and mock your your pals as they shoot their imaginary guns.

Eurogamer, via Engadget