MS dropped standalone Kinect processor because there was "no need for it"

Microsoft has said it removed a standalone processor from Kinect because there was "no need" for its inclusion.

Speaking with Xbox World 360, Kudo Tsunoda said the processing power for Kinect comes from Xbox 360 and it uses "less than one percent" of the console's motherboard.

"We didn't know how much processing Kinect was going to take at the start of development," said Tsunoda. "Obviously, you don't want to lose any of the things that are important to Xbox customers. Graphic fidelity is something that Xbox has always been known for, and you want to make sure that you still hit that level.

"Forza is a graphical showpiece, and we had Forza with Kinect at E3... the graphic fidelity has actually improved in some areas from what they shipped with Forza 3. It's still running at 60 FPS and it's supporting Kinect, so there's just no need to have that extra processor."

It was rumored back in January Microsoft had dropped an internal processor in Kinect to cheapen the camera at retail. The company declined comment at the time over the cut, but it seems to have been the case after all.

Kinect launches in the US on November 4 and the UK on November 10 and will be compatible with Windows Messenger Live video chat from the onset.

Via CVG.