What is kinect?

I bought a Kinect as a present to myself and I’m definitely not regretting it, I love it! I only wish I had more room to play with friends, but all in due time. What appealed to me was the fact I didn’t have to hold onto a controller while I played. I was also curious to see if it really gave me enough of a work out to count. Surprisingly after the first day of playing Disneyland Kinect Adventure…yes Disneyland, I was so sore I couldn’t fully extend my arms for two days.

What is a Kinect? For those of you who may not know, let’s take a look!

Kinect for Xbox 360 is a motion sensing input device by Microsoft that brings games and entertainment to life with no controller required. Competing with the Playstation Move and the Wii Remote Plus, Kinect removes the gadgets and gizmos from your hands, removing the last barrier between you and the experiences you love.

To use, step in front of the sensor and Kinect recognizes you and responds to your gestures and voice. See a ball? Kick it. Want to watch a movie? Say “Xbox, play.” With Kinect, friends and family get off the couch to dance, dodge, leap and kick using the whole body and voice to play and socialize.

Here’s a quick look at how the technology works.

• Kinect sensor. Kinect combines an RGB camera, depth sensor and multi-array microphone running proprietary software that brings Kinect experiences to every Xbox 360 console. The Kinect sensor tracks full-body movement and individual voices, turning you into the controller for social entertainment available only on Xbox 360.
• RGB camera. Kinect has a video camera that delivers the three basic color components. As part of the Kinect sensor, the RGB camera helps enable facial recognition and more.
• Depth sensor. An infrared projector combined with a monochrome CMOS sensor allows Kinect to see the room in 3-D (as opposed to inferring the room from a 2-D image) under any lighting conditions.
• Multiarray microphone. Kinect has a microphone that will be able to locate voices by sound and extract ambient noise. The multiarray microphone will enable headset-free Xbox LIVE party chat and more.
• Microsoft software. A proprietary software layer makes the magic of Kinect possible. This layer differentiates Kinect from any other technology on the market through its ability to enable human body recognition and extract other visual noise.