By James S.
Introduction
Video games entered a new level of interactivity when Nintendo released their Wii console which features a remote like controller that can sense movement and can also be use as a pointer. Sony followed with their own version, the Sony Move, which works in conjunction with the PlayStation eye camera, an improved version of the EyeToy. Microsoft did one better and release their Kinect for the Xbox 360, which is a device featuring multiple cameras and microphones that is able to track the individual movements of a player.
The Kinect is not without its problems, the biggest of which is that you need to be quite a distance from the Kinect for it to be able to correctly track players. So anyone playing in a room lacking space with a small TV is going to have difficulty getting the Kinect to work. But without doubt, the Kinect is an amazing piece of hardware but it has been hackers who have used it for wonderful things while Microsoft and other companies have released mini-game style games using Kinect for the Xbox 360.
To use the Kinect on a computer just as the hackers have is not as straightforward as you might think. Because the Kinect needs an additional power supply that a computer can't provide through its USB ports, the Kinects uses a special USB connector that is shaped differently to the standard USB connector. To use the Kinect on your computer you will need to buy (or make up your own) a power supply which connects to the Kinect's USB connector and in turn provides a standard USB connector for your computer. This is the same method used to connect the Kinect to the older model of the Xbox 360 (non-slimline version).
Once connected, you will need the Kinect drivers and development software to be able to program software that uses the Kinect. There is the Microsoft Kinect SDK (detailed in the next section) and the unofficial hackers' software that came about before Microsoft released their official SDK.
The Microsoft Kinect SDK
All content of this and related pages is copyright (c) James S. 2011
You can email me at: james.boshikoopa@gmail.com
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