It seems like it was just days ago that we discovered that Microsoft's Kinect would be able to read sign language.  That's probably because it was just a few days ago.  Sadly, this feature, which must have been quite promising for hearing impaired gamers, is not making it into the finished product when it arrives in November.  The reason?  Price.

Speaking with Kotaku, a Microsoft rep stated that, despite the patent 's suggestion that it would be available, the "Kinect that is shipping this holiday will not support sign language."  The MS rep did not explain why the feature has been removed, but Kotaku cites "sources close to the evolution of Kinect's development" who claim that the hardware has been significantly downgraded from its original design.

Originally, the Kinect apparently featured a much higher resolution than what we'll see; over double that of the final model's 320x240.  With the compromised image clarity, the Kinect is able to recognize players' limbs, but not their fingers.

The decision to "dumb down" the system came as a result of keeping Kinect's costs down.  At $150 a unit, Microsoft is expected to lose money on each Kinect, but by downgrading the camera (and by shifting some of the Kinect's processing duties to the console itself), Microsoft is able to minimize their loss on each unit.  

I understand why Microsoft would hedge their bets like this, but it doesn't exactly show confidence in their product.  The only reason they'd downgrade so much, just to save money on initial sales, is that they believe there's a good chance that the Kinect will be a failure.  Worrisome.