Someone has ”created drivers” which allows a degree of ”interface” with Kinect using devices beside Xbox 360. MS ”strongly encourage” proper usage.
”Kinect for Xbox 360 has not been hacked–in any way–as the software and hardware that are part of Kinect for Xbox 360 have not been modified,” said Microsoft in a statement. Videos recently surfaced of someone who had hooked up Kinect to their PC.
The clips show data being received from the Kinect motion camera but it’s largely useless right now. In any case this isn’t a hack notes Microsoft, as its all software driven.
”What has happened is someone has created drivers that allow other devices to interface with the Kinect for Xbox 360. The creation of these drivers, and the use of Kinect for Xbox 360 with other devices, is unsupported,” continued the statement.
”We strongly encourage customers to use Kinect for Xbox 360 with their Xbox 360 to get the best experience possible.” Two MIT alumni posted a $2000 prize to anyone who could hack Kinect as it ”shouldn’t just be locked up for Xbox 360,” claimed the pair.
Hack or no hack, curious programmers are likely to be prodding and poking Kinect an awful lot now that it’s out in the public domain. See one of the ‘hack’ clips below.