VIDEO: Skyrim PC Hacked to Work With Microsoft Kinect
A YouTube member reveals a hack that allows him to use Kinect to control his character in Bethesda's just-released Skyrim.
It was bound to happen eventually: someone has managed to get Microsoft's Kinect motion-sensing device to work within the PC version of Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The hack was developed by YouTube user KinectFAAST and uses both motion detection and voice commands to get the job done.
"The gestures are simple and intuitive, yet allow for gameplay depth never before seen with the Kinect," KinectFAAST writes. "Simply swing your right arm forward, up, left, or right, and your character will hack with his sword. Or, if you have a spell in your right arm, simply raise your hand or push it forward to cast. Use your left arm to control your character’s view; if you have something equipped like a spell or shield, you left arm will control that as well."
KinectFAAST explains that the gesture control is handled by the Kinect using a middleware program called FAAST that operates using the OpenNI framework and converts user movements into keystrokes. The OpenNI framework doesn't actually support voice control, so he used a program called VAC (Voice Activated Commands) which allows the user to pair spoken words with keystrokes.
"Trying to avoid any type of controller, wires, or anything that might impede movement, I have used a RazorFish Bluetooth headset to send voice commands to VAC," he said. "This device was relatively inexpensive, and probably accounts for some of the gameplay moments where a command is unrecognized."
A video demonstration can be seen below, but it doesn't showcase a number of voice-related features like using "Left hand" and "Right hand" commands, saying "Journal," saying "Hello" and more.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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Swolern Awesome, always looking for some new ways to game to keep it fresh and interesting. The recognition technology needs to get better though.Reply -
theconsolegamer If someone is going to stand in front of a TV and start waving hands like a dumbass, it would be you not me.Reply -
mrpijey Interesting stuff but nothing more than a mere proof of concept. As theconsolegamer mentioned, standing there waving around there like a jacked up moron isn't how I want to experience a game. The only way I can see a true full body experience working within a game is when we can hookup electrodes to our brain or put on a helmet and play the game in a virtual reality environment without the need to stand in front of the TV and smash everything around us because we're jumping up and down like lunatics to move the character forward.Reply
I've tried Kinect and I can't see anything fun with it except for the occasional family/drunken party Guitar Hero-kind-of game session. For games like Skyrim and alikes this would never work in the long run. -
jazn1337 But why can't I just yell Dragon Shouts at Kinect? That's the only real feature you need.Reply -
clonazepam lol Im waaay too lazy to ever get into this... I like the idea of just cherry picking that one feature of voice-activated commands. That thought immediately brings me back to the horrid experience I had trying to make use of Windows 7 voice commands. You can only say "start listening" so many times before the microphone and its wire are hanging from the power lines outside.Reply -
CaedenV I would much rather see what could be done with 2 PS Move controllers. Assign buttons on one for your forward, back, strafe left and strafe right, and assign interface buttons on the other. There would be less lag, more natural movement for the player, and less worrying the neighbors by repeatedly shouting things like 'shield' 'sward' 'fire' and other things that will make them think you are about to massacre the whole building.Reply
I am all for motion control... just let me have the option to sit down, and not have to talk.