Is Kinect, Microsoft’s new hands-free game controller, a step in the direction of the futures envisioned by the film Minority Report and the novel 1984? New reports of how the revolutionary controller for the Xbox 360 game console can be used raise those possibilities.
On Thursday, Microsoft Vice President Dennis Durkin told the BMO Digital Entertainment Investor Conference in New York that Kinect offers “a really interesting opportunity” to target content and ads based on who is playing, and to send data back to advertisers.
Seahawks or Giants?
“When you stand in front of it,” he said, according to news reports, “it has face recognition, voice recognition,” and “we can cater what content gets presented to you based on who you are.” Your wife, Durkin added, could see a different set of content choices than you do, and this can include advertising.
The advertiser will also know, he said, “how many people are in a room when an advertisement is shown,” or when a game is played. He said the system, and therefore advertisers, can also know how many people are engaged with a game or a sporting event, if they are standing up and excited — even if they are wearing Seahawks or Giants jerseys.
Apparently as a result of Durkin’s remarks, Microsoft issued a statement Thursday that neither its Xbox 360 video-game controller nor Xbox Live “use any information captured by Kinect for advertising targeting purposes.” The company added that it has a strong track record “for implementing some of the best privacy-protection measures in the industry.”
Kinect uses a camera peripheral to the Xbox 360, so players can control games and other software with body movements. The controller went on sale last week, and the company has forecast sales of five million units in the fourth quarter.
Home technology that watches you is…