Rare dismisses Kinect space concern

Kinect Sports developer Rare has moved to quell concern over the amount of space required to use Xbox 360 add-on Kinect.

The Microsoft-owned studio says gamers will need to stand back "a little bit", which should make Kinect useable in most living rooms.

Concern over the amount of living room space required for Kinect to work has sparked internet debate in recent months.

In July online shop Amazon revealed Kinect requires six feet of space between the player and a telly in order to be played.

The news suggested Kinect will be unplayable in smaller rooms.

However, Rare's senior software engineer Nick Burton said the issue has been blown out of proportion.

"With all of these things you look at them and you go, 'No!'," Burton told Eurogamer, likening the living room space furore to recent concern over using Kinect while sitting down and confusion surrounding the inclusion of voice recognition at launch.

"The camera configures itself, basically, when you set it up. Now, obviously, if you've only got that much space [makes a small space between his hands] between your TV there's just not enough space for you to physically fit in the frame of the camera so you need to stand back a little bit.

"But it's not like, 'Hey, look at me over here,' and you're in a massive living room. We live in England."

Burton said voice recognition's inclusion in Kinect at launch was never in doubt.

"Kinectimals - that's the core of that game," Burton said. "With that, voice is such a big component. So we'd have to [include it at launch]."

Kinect's due out in the UK on 10th November. Microsoft has high hopes for the sensor, which allows users to interact with their Xbox 360s without controllers.

In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Burton urged the hardcore to give Kinect Sports a go before judging it.