Microsoft readies official Kinect support for PCs
Windows to get Xbox tech
In the wake of the many Kinect hacks informally converting the player-sensing control device, Microsoft will release official drivers and a Kinect SDK for Windows PCs.
Hackers tore apart the device late last year and made it run on both Windows and Mac OS X, with video footage released of the device controlling Windows 7.
During an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the company would announce official PC support for Kinect "in the right time".
Now, website WinRumors claims Microsoft moles have told it the Software Development Kit will be launched "in the coming months".
Its unnamed source suggested Microsoft will distribute the drivers with a beta tag and will soon incorporate support into a "Community Technical Preview" of the company's XNA Game Studio tools.
The movement Kinect was designed to detect?
It is also claimed the company will integrate Kinect support directly into its next OS release, Windows 8. This is supported by Microsoft's acquisition of 3D gesture expert Canesta and the previous purchase of 3DV Systems, another company specialising in gesture recognition. ®
COMMENTS
Mouse control with eye movement soon?
Let's see if I can get my calorie output to zero.
Think this is a major win in ...
PR AND progress for MS, not often we get to say this but, well done! Bloody good move!
I wasn't going to buy one for my 360 BUT I could well do for my PC.
Good on them
It's rare to see a company know it's too late to stop their product being used for purposes they didn't intend and actually decide to allow, let alone support it.
Homebrewers, do me proud.
I expect to see several versions of Pro Chairthrowing Simulator in the first wave of homebrew games.
A tribute to both Ballmer and to those classic Codemasters games of a more civilised age....
no way
That's dangerously fast reactions for a giant corp, listening to customers and doing something!
