Xbox One can treat a player's spine as a third thumbstick, it has been revealed.

A behind-closed-doors presentation at E3 2013 revealed a tech demo where players leaning while using a controller can be incorporated into a game.

Microsoft

Inspired by how people naturally lean into turning corners when playing racing games, the tech demo had the player shift their torso to the sides while holding an analogue stick in order to avoid advancing enemies.

"This racing scenario where people are leaning into turns has us really bothered," Jeff Henshaw told members of the press, including Digital Spy.

"We really wanted to find a way to get that leaning incorporated into the game."

Henshaw said the console is now "smart enough" and "powerful enough" to see what players are doing.

"It sees the lean and it factors that lean into the game in ways that are perfectly natural, and still using the controller to move, aim and shoot, but my spine is actually being treated as a third thumbstick, one that's not manifested physically on the controller," he explained.

Microsoft

"In fact, game developers call an API to access Kinect that makes my spine and torso look to the game exactly like another thumbstick, including full 360-degree motion.

"It's easy for the game developer to build these kind of features, and it's super easy for the player to do them."

Another example tech demo showed how players can quickly tap their temple to enable X-ray vision, or raise the controller to activate a shield.

This week has seen rumoured prices for Xbox One games, as well as a suggestion that Microsoft will free Xbox One of DRM after the system's lifespan ends.

The firm also had to retract and clarify comments that Xbox Live bans would result in Xbox One game access becoming revoked.

View images of Xbox One:Xbox One - in pictures

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io