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Software giant Microsoft’s new X-BOX 360 motion controller ‘KINECT’ released

Kinect for Xbox 360, or simply Kinect (originally known by the code name Project Natal, is a “controller-free gaming and entertainment experience” by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game platform, and may later be supported by PCs via Windows 8. Based around a webcam-style add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, it enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller through a natural user interface using gestures, spoken commands, or presented objects and images. The project is aimed at broadening the Xbox 360’s audience beyond its typical gamer base. Kinect competes with the Wii Remote with Wii MotionPlus and PlayStation Move motion control systems for the Wii and PlayStation 3 home consoles, respectively.

Kinect was launched in North America on November 4, 2010. It will be released in Europe on November 10, 2010; Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore on November 18, 2010;and Japan on November 20, 2010. Purchase options for the sensor peripheral will include a bundle with the game Kinect Adventures and console bundles with either a 4 GB or 250 GB Xbox 360 console and Kinect Adventures.

While Sony’s PlayStation Move uses the PlayStation Eye camera to detect and measure the location of high-tech and spatially-aware handheld controllers, Kinect has no physical controllers to speak of at all.

The idea is that your body is the controller. It’s up to the Kinect games and apps to use the camera and microphone to work out what you’re doing and what you’re saying, and to interpret your commands in the appropriate fashion.