Kinect Xbox 360 accessory hacked to work with Windows 7 PCs

You can say what you like about Microsoft and the way it runs its business and competes in the technology market, but the company knows how to market its wares. My kids are going bonkers over the Kinect technology for the Xbox 360 after seeing commercials for Kinectimals on TV. I am a bit torn on the tech; we rarely play the Xbox 360 in our house leaning more towards the PS3 and Wii. If you are on the fence about the Kinect as well, a new hack that has surfaced may help push you over the edge towards purchase.

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The Kinect has been hacked to run with Windows 7 computers already. A New York-based firm called Adafruit offered up a bounty of $2000 for the group or individual who could come up with an open source driver for the Kinect that would let it work for things other than the Xbox 360. According to reports, that bounty has now been collected and a video has been posted on YouTube showing someone using Kinect with a Windows PC.

In the video, you can see the Kinect camera motion tracking the user running on a Windows 7 PC. That is pretty cool and I guess Kinect would be an interesting way to control games for PC users too. Considering PC gamers tend to be more hardcore than their console brethren and stick religiously to the mouse and keyboard I question how many people will want Kinect for gaming control on their PC. Still, that is certainly a cool development so soon after Kinect launched.