Microsoft details Kinect for Windows

Kinect, the wildly successful Xbox 360 motion-controller is making its way to the Windows platform by 2012. This news was announced a short while back, but no further information was released, until now.

Microsoft, in a “tell-all” blog post, has detailed how Kinect for Windows will offer a substantial improvement over the Xbox 360 version. The team will “build on the existing Kinect for Xbox 360 device, and optimise certain hardware components as well as make firmware adjustments which better enable PC-centric scenarios.”

Coupled with “numerous upgrades and improvements” the updated hardware will “deliver features and functionality that Windows developers and Microsoft customers have been asking for.”

Developers and coding monkeys alike will be catered for. Microsoft has said that it will shorten the USB cable for “improved reliability across a broad range of computers,” and include a small dongle to improve compatibility between older USB devices.

Developers will enjoy the new SDK which lets the depth camera target objects as close as 50 centimeters in front of Kinect without focus being lost. Lovingly called “Near Mode”, this will allow a features more suitable to the PC crowd who sit much closer to their displays than the average Xbox user. According to Microsoft, this is one of the most requested features for the Kinect.

Microsoft has been working on human tracking and speech recognition for years now and in order to roll-out these developments to its customers, it will give its licensed customers access to any NUI updates.

Finally, the Kinect Accelerator will give ten tech companies which use Kinect for their business a US$20 000 investment for their motion tracking projects. Interested companies can apply here.

Since March 2011, over ten million Kinect units have been sold, with the Guinness World Record calling it the “fastest selling consumer electronics device of all time.”