At the Sydney Big Picture event held by Microsoft, one thing that caught my attention was Kinect.
Microsoft Surface on display
On show was a Sesame Street game (due for release next year) which is designed to be a full 45 minute episode with full two way interaction.
Designed to work work with the new Kinect voice add on (due December), this is one attempt to break out of the hard core gaming into other markets. Greg Morrison, Microsoft Partner Business Manager, also stated that they see Kinect expanding into Business and Education markets.
Microsoft must have been watching the hacker community with interest, as they have embraced the Kinnect and have managed to mod the device for a wide viarity of use. It wil even fund startups who are working with the device (as per Slashdot).
There is also a SDK for Windows Kinect. While the gesture interface is not for everyone, the use for medicine, education, engineering and even corporate use is almost unlimited.
Also sighted was the Microsoft Surface. This revolutionary device may have been pushed to the background due to the tablet explosion, it is still a great experimental device, bring touch to a larger screen. On display was a travel guide software, and the use of 256bit tags (under plastic figurines) being used to influence the on screen data.
Samsung is releasing a Surface unit (no pricing details), however do not expect Surface to replace your iPad or Windows Laptop just yet.
The Big Picture in Sydney has a lot of “environments” or use cases for its products. Much of the content is in the server and corporate environment, with some focus on Xbox, more in media delivery and with the Konnect, and a surprisingly lack of games. Given that Xbox is the best youth focus brand it has, I would expect more, however, there are a few Windows 7 Phone displays here, indicating they may want to expand the Xbox loyalty to phone and PC.
You can contact the author of this post by email at darryl.adams@igamereport.com.au
