Microsoft surprised many consumers in the early 2000s when they decided to release hardware for playing video games by major studios. The company was no stranger to gaming, as it has allowed many gaming studios to develop and release content for the company’s Windows Operating System.
Since Microsoft Corporation has successfully built operating systems as platforms for games, the company decided to release a console in the hopes of gaining more market share. Their solution was the Xbox, which was an alternative platform to Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo’s consoles.
In the early days of the Xbox, some critics were concerned that Microsoft would allocate too many resources to its console and forget about PC gaming. Microsoft has finally answered the criticism by making its latest Xbox games available to be played on PCs, tablets and smartphones.
Although there is still a vibrant community of gamers who strictly play PC games, now they can connect some of their content to the newer Xbox models should they want the console gaming experience in addition to their computer. There is one innovation by Microsoft Corporation that is being discussed heavily in the gaming forums since the company and Sony are releasing new consoles this year.
The device that is in frequent discussion if the Kinect, a camera-ready IOT device of sorts that can record the players movements and make them a part of thesoftware. Initially this was Nintendo’s idea with their release of the Wii, which had controllers that were unconventional and completely motion-sensor technology.
To the surpriseof many, Nintendo’s risk of releasing a motion-sensor experience was extraordinarily popular among hardcore and casual gamers alike. It was released at the perfect time; gaming on the other consoles and on IOT devices did not provide the motion-sensor experience yet. Microsoft’s response to that was the creation of the Kinect, which was a hardware component that came with the Xbox 360 console.
Even though the Kinect could provide a motion-sensor experience, many Xbox gamers installed the device but used it rarely to play games. During the lifespan of the Kinect smartphone and IOT gaming was rapidly increasing. Microsoft Corporation eventually decided to remove the Kinect from the releases of its new hardware.
However, the Kinect was not a failure; it was an innovation that inspired creativity in other areas. Xbox’s Kinect introduced new ideas into gaming: the implementation of sophisticated camera technology for both the Xbox and video applications for Windows Operating System, part of the technology is similar to what Apple uses for Face ID and other biometrics, it could integrate with the company’s virtual reality headset, as well as microphone use and voice commands.
The Kinect offered these components while IOT was being developed by the major tech companies. From one perspective, it could be said that the Kinect was slightly ahead of its time and would be a device that gamers would be more interested in today. If it were a lighter product, with camera and motion-sensor apps ,it could be a frequently used device today. Especially if they were to attach an operating system like Android to ittor giving players the ability to discover new ways of implementing the device into their games.