Rumor: Microsoft Working on "Official" Kinect Drivers and SDK

[Greg Tito]

Rumor: Microsoft Working on "Official" Kinect Drivers and SDK

Not only did Microsoft flip-flop on hackers playing with Kinect technology, but it might release an offical driver soon.

Back when Kinect came out in November, Winrumors [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105035-Hack-Kinect-Win-Money] that Microsoft will soon release a full Software Developer Kit (SDK) with an official driver for Kinect to work with your PC.

During an interview at CES, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer admitted that he was interested in supporting all of the Kinect hacks that have been all over the internet "in the right time." That may mean that his company is working on it already and he's just buying time.

The unnamed source claimed that the Kinect drivers will be distributed in a "beta" state, likely so that the company won't be liable to provide full tech support for an advanced technology. There was no information on a date to expect Microsoft to release the driver, but the source said that he expects Kinect support to be bundled with the "Community Technical Preview" of an update to XNA Game Studio 4.0. Last year, Microsoft released such a preview during GDC 2010 and the final version came out in September.

Does that mean we'll see XNA Game Studio 5.0 announced at GDC 2011 with full Kinect support?

*shakes Magic 8 ball*

Signs point to yes.

Source: Winrumors [http://www.winrumors.com/microsoft-preparing-official-kinect-drivers-and-sdk-for-windows/]

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[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Damn if this is true I may end up stealing my brothers Kinect to stick it into my PC and mess around...

It'll be fun to poke at the code a bit :3

 

[manythings]

Was this their original plan? Get people hooked on Kinect and then "graciously" let us plebs pay for the drivers so we could mess around and do something interesting with it?

 

[Shycte]

I'm a retard so I don't understand a word. What exactly could be done with these drivers?

 

[Atmos Duality]

There you go Microsoft. That's the spirit you needed to embrace from the start.
Expand the market, don't try to strong arm it into stagnation.

EDIT:

I'm a retard so I don't understand a word. What exactly could be done with these drivers?

Essentially, Microsoft is releasing a dev-kit and driver so you can use your Kinect on your PC, or develop applications for Kinect.

 

[Femaref]

I'm a retard so I don't understand a word. What exactly could be done with these drivers?

Better support for the device and thus bugfree "hacks" with it. As microsoft knows the specs of the device, they don't have to rely on reverse engineering to write drivers, so their drivers will be better quality.

 

[Red Albatross]

I'm actually surprised at this. Instead of futile efforts to crack down on hackers, they just gave up and went with the flow. Good on you, Microsoft.

 

[Danpascooch]

XNA with Kinect support? FUCK YES!

 

[Danpascooch]

Was this their original plan? Get people hooked on Kinect and then "graciously" let us plebs pay for the drivers so we could mess around and do something interesting with it?

Wow, some people SO badly want to hate Microsoft that they get annoyed when they do something good.

 

[TimeLord]

I'm a retard so I don't understand a word. What exactly could be done with these drivers?

It's basically a way for Kinect to communicate with non-xbox tech. Like a PC for instance.

OT: I don't own an XBox, but if this driver worked in the interesting ways such as the Mincecraft monument thing. I'd actually consider getting a kinect just for the ability to dick about on my computer with it!

 

[manythings]

Was this their original plan? Get people hooked on Kinect and then "graciously" let us plebs pay for the drivers so we could mess around and do something interesting with it?

Wow, some people SO badly want to hate Microsoft that they get annoyed when they do something good.

I don't mean it in a "down with MS!" kind of way but why work on the driver to let the common people use it like that? The bottom line drives business so the Driver had to result in a gain for them. Did Hector's Hack push them to throw this together so they could keep content control?

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Well this'll be cool. Does that mean we may see PC games with Kenect support in the future?

Also who here thought there was a speck of dirt on their monitor when they saw the picture? What IS that black dot?

 

[Danpascooch]

Was this their original plan? Get people hooked on Kinect and then "graciously" let us plebs pay for the drivers so we could mess around and do something interesting with it?

Wow, some people SO badly want to hate Microsoft that they get annoyed when they do something good.

I don't mean it in a "down with MS!" kind of way but why work on the driver to let the common people use it like that? The bottom line drives business so the Driver had to result in a gain for them. Did Hector's Hack push them to throw this together so they could keep content control?

My guess is that they did it in hopes of seeing new Xbox Arcade games that incorporate Kinect, it's a good thing.

I'm not sure that it's about content control, I think maybe after seeing all of the things people are doing with it, they figure if they make an SDK, a flood of new indie games for XBL will ensue.

 

[Danpascooch]

still really got no interest in this product, none of the hacks look remotely interesting to me.

You really can't think of a single thing full body tracking might be cool for?

You could have two robots, controlled by people in front of a Kinect FIGHTING EACHOTHER!

 

[Danpascooch]

still really got no interest in this product, none of the hacks look remotely interesting to me.

You really can't think of a single thing full body tracking might be cool for?

You could have two robots, controlled by people in front of a Kinect FIGHTING EACHOTHER!

yea that doesn't sound fun, at all. Battlebots sounds alot more fun then that.

THEN YOU ARE TRULY LOST!

*Lightsaber battle in front of volcano ensues*

 

[vxicepickxv]

I'm actually surprised at this. Instead of futile efforts to crack down on hackers, they just gave up and went with the flow. Good on you, Microsoft.

What the hell do they care about hackers with this piece of hardware? It can't do anything without something to hook it up to.