The Kinect Effect. Microsoft openly supports Kinect Hacking with ad.
January 1, 2012
We all know that gaming companies have a history of being protective of their proprietary technologies, which comes in the form of games, consoles, peripherals etc. Since the launch of the NES, Nintendo has had a history of shrewd licensing policies, controlling the distribution and manufacture of titles for their consoles; a model which layed the groundwork for other companies in the industry to do the same. In order to thwart hacking of consoles such as the Wii and PSP, firmware updates were encoded into new game discs so that players had to update their console’s firmware in order to play said new games; often firmware updates erased old hacks/ exploits and made it more difficult (as the theory went) to hack the machines again.
Microsoft has also often taken a similar stance on such matters. The best example of Microsoft hacks came in the form of the Kinect when it was released in November 2010. Within hours of its release, hackers got to work trying to unpack how this new motion control device worked, and quickly it spawned all manner of control hacks, art projects and more. Initially Microsoft was dead set against hacking the device and even threatened legal action to take down sites such as the Open Kinect project. In a press release (part of which found here) Microsoft stated:
“”Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products. With Kinect, Microsoft built in numerous hardware and software safeguards designed to reduce the chances of product tampering. Microsoft will continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant.”
That was then. A whole lot has changed in a little over a year. The Kinect has become a full blown social/ hacking phenomenon. When creating and releasing the device, Microsoft had envisioned a motion control system for gaming that was meant to rival Nintendo’s Wii controller (and later, PlayStation’s Move ) by eliminating the need for a handheld device entirely. What did happen though is that they released what has become the most affordable and accessible motion control device ever released to the consumer market, one that (arguably) has had more impact in life outside of gaming than within gaming culture. Perhaps it was this realization that has had Microsoft changing it’s tune. They withdrew legal action against open kinect and seemed content with hackers, artists and innovators playing with the device in new ways. Yet not wholly publicly supporting these endeavors, more of a letting people do what they want with it.
Over the Xmas holidays I went to see one of the latest holiday blockbuster films, and in the ads prior to the trailers reel, there was a video ad for Kinect, which Microsoft has produced for the holiday season. The ad is called the Kinect Effect, and I was blown away by it.
Talk about a 180. I’ve read up on the ad on numerous tech sites, blogs, etc, and it seems that Microsoft, upon realizing that others were envisioning new uses for the device, has decided to embrace and publicly support all endeavors with the Kinect. This is a huge step forward in the gaming industry and how it does business, advertises its products and interacts with its consumers. More over it opens the door for anyone with a desire to tinker and innovate without fear of litigious reprisals. To see company like Microsoft, a company with a history of proprietary practices and anti-trust suits turn around like this, well, it’s a breath of fresh air. It would be fantastic to see other companies do the same and embrace open source models in their hardware, imagine the possibilities!
I figure this was a great place to start today, at the beginning of a New Year. New Beginnings and all that. Happy New Year all, now get out there and get hacking!
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**UPDATE: here’s a link to an article about Doctors in Toronto, Canada using the Kinect in the OR, much like in Microsoft’s ad.
