Heading back to news from CES 2012, Microsoft revealed their plans to release a PC only version of Kinect, their motion sensing voice activated camera come controller in a matter of weeks! Good news or … not so good news. While a fantastic date of February 1st is very enticing, the additional $100 (£60) onto the price is not.
Microsoft came up with many answers for this including additional modes such as a close up mode that will recognise nearby gestures, an SDK kit that will allow programmers to make applications for the camera (which has been available on MSDN for ages) and of course “subsidy”.
Craig Eisler, the general manager for the Kinect for Windows project, suggests that it’s not Kinect for PC that is expensive, but the Xbox 360 version is the one that’s cheap “in large part subsidized by consumers buying a number of Kinect games, subscribing to Xbox LIVE, and making other transactions associated with the Xbox 360 ecosystem.”
However it’s the aim of this device that is quite interesting, choosing to target companies that are looking to create “non-entertainment and non-gaming applications” is a bit bizarre for a device that has seen some of the greatest gaming innovations in the last 2 years, especially since there appears to be no interest of moving Kinect games from Xbox to PC.
While just now seems to be pointless, the future for Kinect on PC does look bright, especially with Windows 8 on the way, we could be looking at some genius ways to control this new OS, while some companies may be looking to integrate this technology in training or education. But given the fact that we’ve seen many impressive things so far by programmers before they even had access to an SDK, could we be seeing the next evolution in computer control around the corner? Personally? I just want to FUS-RO-DAH!
~Stewart “my PC is watching me…. “Loudon
