Kinect for Windows 1.5 adds improved tracking, new recognized languages

Newsbrief: In the latest revision of its Kinect for Windows development kit, Microsoft promises to add enhanced body tracking and expanded speech recognition options to give developers more flexibility when making games for the motion-based PC peripheral. Version 1.5 of the SDK, due this May, will introduce a "seated" or "10-joint" skeletal tracking system, which will allow developers to track a player's head, neck, and arms, even if they are sitting down. In addition, the new version will add French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese as new speech recognition options. Microsoft also plans to launch a number of updates to help the system distinguish between dialects that vary between regions. For more information on Kinect for Windows 1.5, visit Microsoft's official product blog.