Microsoft Shows Off Kinect For Windows Hardware

The Microsoft Kinect has been doing very well on the gaming front with the motion sensing devices selling strongly. They have also been hacked to do all sorts of stuff that you probably wouldn't expect, like control a skateboard. We know that Microsoft has been working hard to port the Kinect tech over to the Windows PC and that port required a hardware change.

Microsoft is now officially talking about the new Kinect for Windows and when it will hit stores, they even offered up pricing details. The Kinect for Windows will land on February 1 in the US and 11 other countries including the UK. The MSRP for the new hardware will be $249. Microsoft is noting that at first there will be limited quantities of the device.

The retail price of the system includes a year's worth of upgrades for the software. The price later, this year will drop to $149 for qualified educational users. Microsoft also notes that it has decided to make all its money on Kinect for Windows off the hardware with no charge for the SDK or the runtime for developers. The developers that are using the beta SDK and Kinect for Xbox hardware will be allowed to continue to do so with an extension of the beta license for three more years. That extension will expire June 16, 2016.