14 DAY TRIAL // Without a doubt, Microsoft's Kinect motion sensing controller has really managed to take the world by storm, proving that this particular type of control solution has quite a bright future ahead of it, not only in terms of gaming, but also as far as full-fledged PC operation is involved, as Asus will prove soon enough.
And that's because the company behind the Kinect hardware, PrimeSense, is apparently keen on extending its reach, and has reached an agreement with Asus regarding the development of a Kinect-like motion controller for the PC, dubbed the Xtion PRO, as Ubergizmo reports.
The Xtion PRO will be the world’s first PC-exclusive 3D sensing professional development solution and, beside the technology provided by PrimeSense, will also include a dedicated user interface developed by ASUS, called WAVI Xtion.
The WAVI Xtion is described as a media center software for the PC that allows users to interact with media content in the living room without the need of a controller, practically enabling people to browse the Internet, access media content and eventually play games while using nothing but natural, hand gestures.
The Xtion PRO is expected to be available in February 2011, with developers being able to sell their apps in the upcoming Xtion online Store, while the WAVI Xtion is scheduled to be commercially available during Q2 2011 and released worldwide in phases.
Of course, no details on the possible pricing have been provided thus far.
The fact that someone (other than Microsoft, that is) has finally decided to adapt the technology behind the Kinect for PC use in an official manner (the hacked Kinect's doing that already, but lacking any type of official support) is quite interesting, and signals the fact that we're clearly heading towards an age when gesture controls become standard as far as PC controlling is concerned.