Okay Geek Farm
Xbox 360 Kinect coming to a PC near you thanks to Windows SDK
Daniel Carey
Every year Microsoft’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Craig Mundle, gathers a few forward thinking Microsoft executives in order to strategize future development prospects. This year, that meeting focused heavily on Kinect integration. We’ve already seen future plans for the Kinect, most recently at last week’s Mobile World Congress; however whilst the company talked about mobile integration of the peripheral, it has now become apparent that Kinect hardware will mature on the desktop. That’s right, there’s plans to bring a Kinect SDK to Windows.
Early yesterday morning Craig Mundle and President of Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB), Don Mattrick, announced their plans to release a non-commercial Windows SDK for the Kinect. According to the duo it is currently set to drop this Spring.
“The Kinect for Windows SDK is being developed and released by Microsoft Research (MSR) in collaboration with IEB. It will be available this spring as a free download, and will give academic researchers and enthusiasts access to key pieces of the Kinect system — such as the audio technology, system application programming interfaces and direct control of the Kinect sensor itself.” - The Official Microsoft Blog
Personally I think opening up the Kinect is a good strategy on Microsoft’s part. Doing so for example allows medical professionals to leverage its motion tracking technology, such a feature set could be heavily implemented throughout rehabilitation centres. Whilst medical incorporation is the most gallant of strategies, I also see this SDK enabling film producers to push the boundaries of motion tracking. Either way, the future of Microsoft’s gaming peripheral is certainly an exciting one; now all that’s left to do is wait until Spring, sigh.
