‘Killer Instinct’ Kinect Features Will Benefit Tournament Players, Developer Says

Killer Instinct, the upcoming reboot of the classic fighting game franchise from developer Double Helix, will be able to take advantage of some of the Xbox One’s Kinect functionality – which should be particularly useful for local play, the developer says.

During a Killer Instinct panel at the EVO 2013 fighting game tournament over the weekend, Microsoft Studios creative director Adam Isgreen said (via IGN) that the development team will be making use of the Kinect sensor to make setting up small-scale tournaments a lot more easy.

One of the top features revealed during the panel is facial recognition. Rather than having to configure your buttons to your suit tastes every time it’s your turn to take the controller (or arcade stick), the Kinect will automatically recognize up to eight players and change their settings according to their preferences.

For small, local gatherings, this should mean no more button checks.

“We want to have features to set up tournaments with your friends,” Isgreen said during the panel, as transcribed by Eurogamer.

“Say there are eight of you and you just start sitting down. I know a lot of people are like, ah, the Kinect camera in the room, I’m scared! But the coolness of being able to sit down, the controller pairs itself to you when you pick it up. It knows your buttons. It knows how you like to play. It knows what characters you want to play.

Not only will it automatically configure your buttons for you, it will also default to your most-played character.

“If you have a character you love, it might primary select that character already. Your buttons are already configured based on you picking up that controller. It knows it’s you, so it can do the leaderboards correctly. All that’s possible on Xbox One – mid-fight, too.”

Is Killer Instinct‘s Kinect functionality something you’re interested in?