Next-gen Kinect specs mark great improvement over predecessor - rumour

Xbox 720 or Durango or Xbox Next or whatever you want to call it is heavily-rumoured to feature in-built Kinect functionality. Alleged specs for the unit have surfaced online, sparking fresh debate over the console's enhanced motion capabilities.

The rumour comes from a VGLeaks report, which states that every Xbox 720 unit will come with a Kinect sensor, and that Microsoft has significantly improved its capabilities.

Here's a quick list of improvements when compared to the original Kinect sensor bar:

• Improved field of view results in much larger play space.
• RGB stream is higher quality and higher resolution.
• Depth stream is much higher resolution and able to resolve much smaller objects.
• Higher depth stream accuracy enables separating objects in close depth proximity.
• Higher depth stream accuracy captures depth curvature around edges better.
• Active infrared (IR) stream permits lighting independent processing and feature recognition.
• End to end pipeline latency is improved by 33 ms
• Tracking of players with height of one meter.
• One mode for both seated and standing players.
• Detection of hand states, for example, open or closed hands.
• Detection of extra joints, and rotations for some joints.
• Tracking of six, rather than­­­­­­ two, active players.
• Tracking of occluded joints, for example, an elbow occluded by a hand.
• Detection of joint positions.
• Detection of sideways poses.

The report is full of jargon which I'll spare you here, but the bottom line is that next-gen Kinect will be better suited to multiplayer titles - up to six players at once apparently - thanks to an increased field of view, and greater skeletal recognition, which should make for increased accuracy.

The sensor will also be able to detect players at just 1.58 metres away, meaning players won't have to shift their living room suite around any more, and that it is more accommodating to players of varying height.

The sensor will also capture and display your play-space image in HD at 1920 x 1080 resolution, which will display smoother in real-time thanks to an active IR stream. The bar also has four microphones to help pick players up more clearly.

What do you make of the above? Does it sound plausible?

Thanks OXM.