Microsoft Goes All-in with Kinect on New Xbox 360 Interface

Well, I guess Microsoft is serious about Kinect. According to an Associated Press report today, the company is rolling out its newest Xbox 360 interface tomorrow (Tuesday) which will completely integrate the motion-sensing system for navigating music, movies, TV shows and games. Actions will be enabled so that you can simply wave your hand or speak commands in order to navigate the system. While what we've seen is very impressive, we can only hope that the reality of the system yields the "coolness" factor of the hype. Microsoft can be really innovating something new that will bring in the era of voice and motion-control, or it could be jumping the gun on Apple's (or more specifically, Steve Jobs') revelation that it had "cracked the television". You see, Microsoft is absolutely at the forefront of motion-sensing technology, but will it be successful and pull off a new way of browsing its game console - let alone sparking a new way or platform for browsing television and movie content more efficiently?

If Google hasn't quite got it, and Apple is still pondering the final design, it will be fun to see whether Microsoft has beat its competitors to the punch. Whether they hit the mark, or just produce something that's "neat" will only be determined once the user base has a chance to experience and render feedback to the platform. After all, this is an ergonomic and design goal - and it takes a lot of intuitiveness and design excellence to guide users into what's truly the next big thing. We're not certain Microsoft is the company to do that, but they certainly have the audience. The new interface, first demonstrated by CEO Steve Ballmer in September, is similar to Microsoft Corp.'s upcoming Windows 8 operating system, with a series of large panes showing content options. All of it is demoed as being voice-controlled, though the interface did seem a bit delayed - something we've personally experienced with the Kinect system.

Xbox owners with the Kinect motion controller will also apparently be able to swipe through screens by waving their hand in the air. The interface responds to direct voice commands, and incorporates Microsoft Corp.'s search engine, Bing. It remains to be seen how this will work with Microsoft's promised AvatarKinect system whereby users can have near-realtime avatars that represent them in social media groups, virtual TVs shows and more. That system is supposed to roll out this Spring - free to Xbox Live Gold members.

The new Xbox 360 Kinect interface will be available as a download from the Internet to Xbox users on Tuesday.