The immensely popular Kinect motion system for Xbox 360 will be making the leap to Windows PCs early in 2012, Microsoft has confirmed.
We already knew that Microsoft had plans for Kinect on the Windows PC scene, thanks to the software giant releasing the Software Developer Kit earlier this year to see what developers could make for it.
Now the company has confirmed that motion sensing and voice control will be coming to Windows computers in the very near future, by means of a blog post on their website.
“Since announcing a few weeks ago that the Kinect for Windows commercial program will launch in early 2012, we’ve been asked whether there will also be new Kinect hardware especially for Windows. The answer is yes; building on the existing Kinect for Xbox 360 device, we have optimized certain hardware components and made firmware adjustments which better enable PC-centric scenarios.” Microsoft said recently on their site.
Microsoft has worked away at making changes to the existing Kinect accessory to ensure it will work across the board with as many types of Windows computer as possible. These changes include shortening the USB cable and creating a USB dongle to help it work with various other PC peripherals.
Accuracy has also been improved on with the Kinect camera, with Microsoft boasting that the Kinect for PC accessory will be able to maintain a sharp and accurate focus on subjects as close as 50cm to the camera, which would typically be how far most people sit from their computers. This has been improved with new firmware.
Microsoft is calling this “near mode”, and says that the new accuracy for Kinect will allow developers to create a multitude of different PC-based applications to utilise the improvements.
Continued support for companies hoping to use Kinect commercially is something at the forefront of Microsoft’s mind. The company confirmed that they will continue to provide updates for the voice recognition and motion sensing device for licensed customers, as a mark of their commitment to NUI (Natural User Interface).
We’re extremely excited for Kinect to come to the PC, and have already thought up several uses for it. Obviously you could use Kinect as a video calling tool, but think about using it with a Media Centre PC in your living room – you could speak to Kinect, asking it to play a film, search for TV shows and more from the comfort of your living room.
Alternatively developers could integrate motion control into top-name PC games, creating better user interaction and more intuitive controls.
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Source: Microsoft