MS releasing Kinect PC dev tools

By Mike Jackson for computerandvideogames.com

Microsoft is reaching out to give the Kinect modding community a big, warm hug with the release of official PC development tools this spring.

You'll surely have seen at least one of the many fascinating hacks that have turned up over the past few months as people with programming skills fooled around with the raw camera signals put out by the MS device.

We've see Star Wars holograms, virtual reality sims and Gundam mechs all done with Kinect.

Things will get a whole lot more sophisticated in the coming months when MS releases a full Windows 7 Kinect SDK, which will give proper developers better access to the inner workings of the device and, we hope, the ability to make even crazier things happen than the ambitious hack jobs we've seen so far.

MS tech man Craig Mundie says the SDK release is intended to "meet the needs of higher-level people who don't care how the camera works", allowing them to realise any great ideas they may have for Kinect with drivers that give them full access to the RGB camera, mics, internal motors and other gizmos.