Of all the different motion controllers on the market Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect is arguably the most technol0gically advanced. If you’re not familiar with this device it is basically a 3D camera allowing the gamer to use their whole body as the controller. This is quite different than Nintendo’s idea with the Wii (and later Sony with the PlayStation Move) where you actually need a physical controller in your hand.

While the games currently offered for Kinect are quite innovative, the homebrew software created by hackers for the PC that utilize the Kinect is far more innovative than anything currently available on the market. Unfortunately, to actually develop for the Kinect you need to use some unauthorized methods. Luckily, Microsoft has said in the past that htey will be releasing an official PC SDK for the Kinect that would allow developers to official create software using the technology.

Even better, it was just made known today that Microsoft is looking to release the Kinect for Windows SDK this Spring meaning it will be coming quite soon. This is great news for the homebrew community who have already been developing for the Kinect as it will give them a chance to legitimize their software.

via joystiq

Mightier from Ratloop on Vimeo.
The concept game in the picture here is simply mind boggling! It doesn’t need fancy hardware components and it’s not very complicated to solve either. Mightier is a puzzle game. You print the gridded-out sheets with objectives on it and then you start drawing the solution. When you’re done your webcam will scan the image and insert it int o the game. Then you will fly around with your jetpack to complete the puzzle. If the solution fails to work, simply draw another one.

The game is free for now but it’s available only to Windows users. Is this the future of gaming? Ready to give it a try?

via tigsource