As you may recall from our past Kinect coverage, the technology behind Microsoft’s motion control system comes from Israeli company PrimeSense. PrimeSense is ready to step out of the shadows at this year’s CES and put its Immersive Natural Reaction system to work in a brand new product: the WAVI Xtion. It’s the PC’s turn to get in on the motion recognition fun, and this time ASUS is stepping into Microsoft’s shoes.

WAVI Xtion is a “”next generation user interface device developed by ASUS to extend PC usage to the living room.” Though gaming is a part of the experience, it's not entirely the focus of the device. ASUS aims to bring those full-body Kinect interactions to the PC and change how we interact with media and the web.

The WAVI Xtion is hardly the first device to push the PC experience into the living room. Between Internet TVs, Home Theater PCs, and media streamers, there’s always something trying to mash the couch and the PC together. WAVI Xtion is the next to try its hand: “The WAVI Xtion media center for the PC leverages ultra-wide band wireless link and PrimeSense 3D sensing solution to provide controller-free interaction experiences in the living room. Users can browse multimedia content, access the Internet and social networks, and enjoy full body interaction in a more user-friendly and natural living room experience.”
 
Essentially, two WAVI units--one connected to your PC, the other hooked up to the living room TV--transmit data over the 5GHz spectrum. The Xtion sits in front of your TV and does its best Kinect impression, enabling gesture controls for the Xtion Portal media center and whatever other apps you choose to run. 

In a smart move that might cash in on thepopularity of Kinect hacks, ASUS plans to launch Xtion PRO development tools in February to promote the creation of Xtion software. Developers will be able to sell their apps in an Xtion store.

We expect to see more of the WAVI Xtion as CES kicks off; hopefully ASUS’ first move will be giving us a pronunciation guide. 
 

I wonder what the pricing will be like...

I thought MS put a shite load of money into Kinect... how would this be allowed without MS having a bit of the profits?

AussieGecko said: I thought MS put a shite load of money into Kinect... how would this be allowed without MS having a bit of the profits?

they just licensed their tech

AND most of the moeny MS put into KINECT is marketing

AussieGecko said: I thought MS put a shite load of money into Kinect... how would this be allowed without MS having a bit of the profits?

all their work was on the software side primesense developed the camera tech years ago, and as hackers built custom drivers for kinect I imagine this will use modified version of them. 

snakenobi said: AussieGecko said: I thought MS put a shite load of money into Kinect... how would this be allowed without MS having a bit of the profits? they just licensed their tech AND most of the moeny MS put into KINECT is marketing

Wasnt talking about market, I said the product itself

zarx said: AussieGecko said: I thought MS put a shite load of money into Kinect... how would this be allowed without MS having a bit of the profits? all their work was on the software side primesense developed the camera tech years ago, and as hackers built custom drivers for kinect I imagine this will use modified version of them.

Cheers thanks for the helpful response :) You actually answered the question I asked

AussieGecko said: snakenobi said: AussieGecko said: I thought MS put a shite load of money into Kinect... how would this be allowed without MS having a bit of the profits? they just licensed their tech AND most of the moeny MS put into KINECT is marketing Wasnt talking about market, I said the product itself

I know but what they are spending on marketing far outstrips what they have spent on kinect hardware itself

and the main tech is from primsense was already ready so MS just had to license it

easy,just make a official kinect for pc patch before it release

I wonder if you could just buy the Asus version and plug it into the 360... might be cheaper as Asus is a good manufacturer that will get costs down fast.

I was hoping this would happen! But how well will it work without mics? Or does it have any? One of my favorite things about kinect is the voice commands (although they could add them to netflix)