[odbol_]

Oddly enough, both Wii and Kinect were very successful outside their official gaming applications, because people were able to hack their protocols and use them in ways the manufacturers never intended.

I remember buying a Wii just for the gesture control capabilities. I wrote a whole VJ performance app based on Wii gestures, so you could crossfade video and scrub through animations (the video equivalent of a DJ scratching records), just by waving your hands around. I toured with that thing for years... it was so essential to my performance that I stashed a few candles in my bag, so I could use them for IR tracking in case the sensor bar stopped working.

I then bought a Kinect and used it in a couple performances, projecting 3d mapped effects on to the band onstage. Even with VR/AR tech now: it starts with games but then gets co-opted into art and music. Open, hackable hardware is so important for society.