Xbox Kinect and Ghost hunting.

So last night, I was having a conversation with a friend about politics, conspiracies, and the like-When he told me about his recent ghost sighting. I was mildly intrigued. Basically, he has an Xbox Kinect and sometimes when he's playing alone, It will "pick up" a second player when nobody else is in the room. The player will then try to play basketball with him. It doesn't do a very good job, he says...but it does try.

Now my first thought was "were you online?" I personally don't have a kinect, but I'm assuming that you can play games with people from around the world. He said that he was not. He also mentioned that he looked it up online and other people were saying the same thing.

Sure enough...

kotaku.com...#!5751583/and-now-a-spooky-kinect-ghost-story

www.gamespot.com...

Now I'm usually skeptical, and that is why I'm asking the members of ATS to offer me a more logical explanation.

The kinect does use infrared technology to pick up your body, as explained HERE

And modern day "ghost hunters" use infrared cameras to detect what they think are ghosts, as shown HERE

What else could the kinect camera be picking up? Or is it a game glitch? I look forward to hearing some responses.

Possibly someone joining the game from live? I'm not sure I don't have any other explanation.. But I have been playing a game (street fighter 4), And not realized I was waiting for a online match, And had it connect to live on me..Besides ghosts should be the least of your concern with the kinect..You do realize it is capable of spying on you right?

Very interesting, I am sceptical when it comes to ghosts but I do like the idea of the kinect being able to pick up paranormal activity.

I would suggest to your friend if it happens again to change the game his playing and see if the kinect can still pick up the infra red!

If the problem goes away it will just be a game glitch!

Another thing Is if this problem is fairly persistent maby it is just a huge fault with the product.

I wonder if the xbox kinect and the playstation move use the same infra red tech and if so if there has been any reports of this problem with the playstation move

Wow, brings a whole new meaning to "Kinect".

Well hopefully this new revolutionary/commercialized game console will help some people open a mind or two.

Originally posted by TechVampyre
Possibly someone joining the game from live? I'm not sure I don't have any other explanation.. But I have been playing a game (street fighter 4), And not realized I was waiting for a online match, And had it connect to live on me..Besides ghosts should be the least of your concern with the kinect..You do realize it is capable of spying on you right?

I have heard this. I've also heard somewhere that newer model televisions are capable of the same thing. I personally would rather stick to handheld consoles anyway....like I said I don't have one

But live was also my first thought...

reply to post by RandalFlagg


Good point. I believe that the psmove does use some of the same tech...although its more similar to the Wii, in that it doesn't pick up your entire body, just the "wand" motions.

I will check into that though. thanks.

Originally posted by semicolonsmile

Originally posted by TechVampyre
Possibly someone joining the game from live? I'm not sure I don't have any other explanation.. But I have been playing a game (street fighter 4), And not realized I was waiting for a online match, And had it connect to live on me..Besides ghosts should be the least of your concern with the kinect..You do realize it is capable of spying on you right?

I have heard this. I've also heard somewhere that newer model televisions are capable of the same thing. I personally would rather stick to handheld consoles anyway....like I said I don't have one

But live was also my first thought...

Yeah, The internet connected tv's are the one's in question sir. ..Laptops with a built in web cam also, As the webcam can be turned on remotely,Without the user ever knowing..Scary if you think about it. I have duct tape over my webcam..Call me paranoid but i'm not taking any chances.

They can listen to you with your built in microphone, better duct-tape that as well.

reply to post by TechVampyre


Thing such as a webcam and kinect can only be accessed remotely if you're lax on network security. A properly configured firewall in a router will make you essentially invisible on the internet, and you can't attack something that you can't find.

Originally posted by warbird03
reply to post by TechVampyre

 

Thing such as a webcam and kinect can only be accessed remotely if you're lax on network security. A properly configured firewall in a router will make you essentially invisible on the internet, and you can't attack something that you can't find.

Can never be too prepared these days..Good network or not, I'm not taking any risks.

reply to post by RandalFlagg


aaaand I looked into it.

The PS Move uses LED technology, not infrared. Very similar to the Wii. It is explained HERE

Also, I typed in "PSMove ghost stories" (same thing I did for the Kinect) in a google search and couldn't find anything.

I have to get ready for work, but I will be back to check on this in a few hours.

Maybe it's toddler-stage Artificial Intell.
Maybe, just maybe, Kinect is doing it's own thing...?

Got it's own Matrix thing going on - I Robot anyone?

maybe the kinect is picking up a reflection of him playing and thinking the reflection is another player?
I've never played with the kinect yet so i don't know how it all works... i'm sure theres an explanation for it tho.

it would be cool if a ghost did join in for a game. to me that would be mind blowing.

Originally posted by strafgod
maybe the kinect is picking up a reflection of him playing and thinking the reflection is another player?

Do reflections have infrared properties?

This story is pretty damn interesting though. Finally, something good about intrusive technology.

Maybe next step is to get the anonymous player to input a name or some kind of communication.

reply to post by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi


It's pretty damn interesting to me too. I mean, even if ghosts are not real, I'm still curious to know what the camera is picking up.

Does he have any other games he could try? Perhaps something that is easy to play, like something "For Kids." Also, I'm not sure if there are any games where you write things, or draw pictures, but that could definitely be interesting.

Drawing would be cool cause then they could write messages. This would be totally wow if real. Can you offer to let the (thing) type in its name in the player section? Is there any computer tech's is ATS land.

reply to post by warbird03


Port 80 is always open..........

I was thinking about this situation lately... not trying to disprove any ghost theories or anything, but does Kinect recognize anything other than humans? I'm talking dogs, cats, goldfish, insects, etc.

Originally posted by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi
I was thinking about this situation lately... not trying to disprove any ghost theories or anything, but does Kinect recognize anything other than humans? I'm talking dogs, cats, goldfish, insects, etc.

Well Kinect does pick up dogs so i'd imagine cats would be picked up too. I got Kinect at Christmas and have used it quite regularly.
As for it picking up ghost on the infra red then i guess it's possible. When setting up the game to be able to recognise you when you play there is a mode where you see yourself in what i guess is infra red mode. It shows your body and outline in green and shows all your joints when you move as it senses the movements. If you left it on this mode perhaps you would be able to use the infra red capability to "see" any ghosts you may have that fancy some gaming