Following reports of a patent request listing recognition of American Sign Language as a feature of the Kinect, Microsoft claims it won't.
After recent reports that the upcoming Kinect will feature ASL recognition, Microsoft today confirmed that the motion-sensitive device will not feature ASL recognition at launch.
When asked by GameSpot about the Kinect's ability to cater to the hearing-impaired via sign language, a representative stated that Microsoft has a tendency to file lots of patents to protect their "intellectual property," but that it does not necessarily make it to production. The Kinect set to launch on November 4th will not feature ASL recognition out-of-the-box, but nothing was said about a potential update later on down the line that might introduce this feature.
When launched the Kinect will cost $150 in the US and 129.99 in the UK. "It will also be available as part of a $300/ã249.99 bundle that will include the recently revealed 4GB Xbox 360 and Kinect Adventures minigame compilation."
