Kinect dashboard navigation works while seated

We've been told before that the Xbox 360's Kinect would work when "an experience is developed with sitting in mind," but we hadn't had the opportunity to really test that. In a Gamescom meeting, where we saw the Kinect version of the Xbox dashboard, we tried out the menu system and movie controls to test its recognition of seated users:

• Sitting in a chair: Definitely works.

• Sitting on the floor: Works.

• Reclining while facing the Kinect: Works.

• Reclining with the Kinect at our side: We couldn't get this to work, but we've been told that it will by launch.

• Using another human as a coffee table (should have taken photos!): Kinect recognized the person behind the human coffee table trying to control the movie.

According to Microsoft, Kinect was running on an improved version of the software used during E3 in June. The manufacturer is set to make further improvements before the camera's November debut.