Kinect Sports Rivals technology 'so good it's basically art,' says Microsoft Studios

The technology driving Kinect Sports Rivals' character creation system is a leap from what the original Kinect camera was capable of, a Microsoft Studios' representative told Polygon during this week's Gamescom event in Germany.

The game's "Champion Scanner" uses the Xbox One Kinect, which itself is roughly 10 times the resolution of the older technology and can handle variables like depth and speed.

"The technology is so good it's basically art," said the representative. "It's become arty rather than sciencey."

Instead of offering users sliders to create their personal avatar, the Champion Scanner scans the face and profile of the user — a process that takes roughly 20 to 30 seconds. The player's face is then represented by a mass of pixels which is finally transformed into a more cartoonish representation of themselves.

The studio is hoping to make this creation process "a bit faster" than it currently is by launch.

Kinect Sports Rivals will launch next spring following a recent delay to the game's release. According to the representative, this is simply to avoid stepping on the toes of other launch day releases.