Microsoft Announces GestureTek Agreement News
Jon Wilcox
11/05/2006
Gesture technology coming to the Xbox Live Vision camera...
As the fight for the next wave of videogames moves beyond the joypad, Microsoft today announced an agreement with GestureTek Inc., to bring video gesture control technology to the Xbox Live Vision camera for the Xbox 360.
Such technology will be made available to all developers on the XDK programme, providing the opportunity for gamers to interact with games using natural body gestures; in the words of GestureTek themselves: "Imagine logging into Xbox Live and sitting down at a virtual table to play poker with immersed players from all corners of the world. Imagine standing in your living room as you snowboard down a mountain, where leaning right and left lets you cut across the slopes, and springing upward guides you over jumps. Camera enabled gaming combined with motion control technology is endless in application, whether it is a game of volleyball, playing along with the music on virtual instruments, fly fishing, shooting hoops, goal tending, dodging bullets, or even fighting ninjas; the game controller is the gamer's own body."
"Gesture recognition and control is a logical evolution in gaming. Our technology has been thrilling and entertaining users in public and private installations around the world since well before the movie Minority Report popularized the concept of gesture control. This offering opens doors to unlimited applications in the gaming experience. We are very pleased to work with Microsoft to offer their game players and development partners this exciting user interface," says Bill Leckonby, CEO of GestureTek Inc.
"The fusion of GestureTek technology and the Xbox 360 will enhance the entertainment and gaming experience for our customers," said Aaron Greenberg, group product manager, Microsoft. "As the Xbox 360 camera offering enables a more immersive and integrated gaming experience, gesture control will further redefine entertainment."