Microsoft details pre-Kinect ideas, after a "hypersocial audience"

Before Kinect became what it was, a controller-less 3D camera, Microsoft had been trialling a few other techs like an ”exotic gyroscopic” contraption.

Then SVP Don Mattrick wanted something new and so Project Natal was born. Kinect’s audience are ”all those who have rejected gaming” before.

The corporate giant was already ”busy creating exotic gyroscopic and accelerometer-based controller prototypes” before Mattrick wanted a new direction for the Xbox 360 platform back in 2007. They’ve big ambitions for Kinect and its technology.

”We have the capability to turn your living room into a petting zoo, into a sports stadium,” said marketing chief Matt Barlow, “so our customer base is all those who have rejected gaming either because of the content or the controller.”

“If you could say doubling, tripling, quadrupling the audience — I believe that. We’re also talking about a hypersocial audience, predominantly female, who want to interact while playing.” Hypersocial? You mean Facebook and Twitter whores addicts? Great.

“We believe the platform will move beyond the console,” adds Xbox 360 general manager, Ben Kilgore. “Every kind of major Microsoft group in the company is evaluating Kinect. They’re trying to understand what it means for those experiences.”

Kinect will be able to link up via video calls to Windows Live Messenger on PCs when the motion camera launches this November. It can also be used to channel surf with Xbox Live’s Sky Player in the UK. One thing’s for sure - the tech is promising.