When Microsoft launched its new motion sensing game, Kinect, it would not have expected hackers to go after it with a vengeance. With Adafruit issuing an open challenge that is exactly what happened.
The day Kinect went on sale Adafruit Industries announced a $1,000 prize for the first person or group who was able to develop an open source driver for the Kinect. Adafruit is an open source hardware developer.
They want to be able to use the radar camera of the Kinect to get sensor input from commodity hardware. The logic behind the challenge was that educators would be able to use the technology as per Make magazine editor Phillip Torrone.
The Kinect, which costs $149 for an add on to the Xbox 360 video game allows gamers to play motion sensing games without a game controller. A user of the NUI Group forums called AlexP has posted a video showing how he has hacked the security behind Kinect.
Microsoft, of course, was not amused as a company spokesperson confiremed in an interview with CNet that Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products.