By CES will be an interesting place to be at this year, as you will have the opportunity to check out many innovative devices, one of them being the new Kinect-like controller for PC.
PrimeSense are the ones behind the original Kinect technology, and now they have partnered with Asus to create and distribute a similar technology, exclusively for computers. From Internet browsing and social networking to multimedia and gaming, this new controller, by the name of WAVI Xtion might as well replace your mouse and several functions of your keyboard.
Moreover, the company is also introducing “the world’s first PC-exclusive 3D sensing professional development solution, Xtion PRO, for software developers to easily create their own gesture-based applications and software.” The software will be available for developers in February, this year. And there’s more good news for them, as they will have an Xtion online store where they can sell all their products.
The device wasn’t named WAVI Xtion randomly, the names being related to the two parts it is made of. Xtion is what they call the 3D capture technology from PrimeSense, which is paired with the WAVI (Wireless Audio & Video Interaction system) part, a transmitter – receiver.
It is still unknown why Microsoft didn’t rebrand Kinect for Windows, and the rumors of them releasing official drivers cannot be confirmed yet.
The new WAVI Xtion will be released later this year. Even if a price is not yet available, we all hope it will be cheaper than the $150 Kinect controller (which costs around $55 to manufacture).
