14 DAY TRIAL // When Microsoft launched Kinect for Xbox 360, the focus was on making possible innovative controller-free games and entertainment, however, the world has been using the NUI peripheral differently than the company intended it initially.
Kinect launched on November 4, 2010, and almost a year later, the software giant revealed a new site designed to illustrate the effect that the sensor has had on changing the way users interact with computers.
The Kinect Effect went live only days before the first anniversary of Kinect for Xbox 360 and just a few months ahead of Microsoft opening up the development of commercial Kinect applications.
In early 2012, the Redmond company will provide the world with a commercial flavor of the Kinect for Windows SDK, in a move designed to catalyze the evolution of the Kinect Effect even further.
“It’s been an amazing 12 months – it’s been absolutely inspiring,” revealed Alex Kipman, general manager of incubation for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business.
“When you have a great vision you expect it to do great things, but it’s humbling and inspiring to actually see it happen and exceed your expectations in terms of the ability – over a very short period of time – that you have affected the entire world.”
Microsoft is acknowledging all the people using Kinect in ways that the software giant never imagined, according to a message on the new Kinect Effect site.
“From helping children with autism, to helping doctors in the operating room, people are taking Kinect beyond games. And that’s what we call the Kinect Effect,” the company said.
The company even made available a video showing how users expanded on the innovation introduced by Kinect in order to enhance their lives.
Starting in June 2011, the first Beta Build of the Kinect for Windows SDK, a non-commercial release for academia and hobbyist developers, became available for download.