AfterDawn: Tech news

Microsoft Kinect hacked to play World of Warcraft

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 29 Dec 2010 10:42 User comments (6)

Microsoft Kinect hacked to play World of Warcraft

USC researchers have hacked the Microsoft Kinect motion-control system, giving users a chance to play the popular MMORPG 'World of Warcraft,' and other PC games.
The researchers have made the software available for free, online, dubbed the Flexible Action and Articulated Skeleton Toolkit (FAAST).

FAAST makes it easier for users to play PC games that would otherwise require a keyboard and mouse, by translating body movements into those inputs.

Says researcher Skip Rizzo (via LAT):

"I think the real compelling aspect of all this is that you can now take off-the-shelf games, content that's already built, and emulate the keyboard actions with body movement. This opens up the doorway for building rehabilitation exercises for people after a stroke or traumatic brain injury. And in an area that's getting a lot of attention, the area of childhood obesity and diabetes.



You got a kid who’s interacting with World of Warcraft for six hours a day, perhaps a parent can step in and say, 'Hey, alright, for one hour of that time, you're going to do it with the Kinect ... and you're got to exercise while you're doing it,'

So, instead of using a thumb controller to move your character, you've got to run in place, you've got to use arm gestures and you actually build into the application for a way for a kid to physically engage with digital content like a game.


You can download the software here: FAAST homepage

Previous Next  

6 user comments

129.12.2010 23:55

I wonder what this movement makes your character do...


This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 29 Dec 2010 @ 11:55

230.12.2010 03:31

Maybe they'll get a few WoW nerds off their asses for once... Ha, yeah right. This invention is destined to fail due to overlooking the target audience completely

330.12.2010 08:56

Originally posted by shortybob:
Maybe they'll get a few WoW nerds off their asses for once... Ha, yeah right. This invention is destined to fail due to overlooking the target audience completely
I'd rather be a WOW nerd(if only I had that much free time on my hands), rather than a Facebook idiot.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 30 Dec 2010 @ 8:56

430.12.2010 12:41

Making leaps in technology like this is amazing and just one step closer to Minority Report style computer screens. My son is already talking about hologram video games and he is only 8. I hope I get to see it in my life time, what a leap Atari to Hologram.

530.12.2010 19:57

Lol. This is World of Warcraft we're talking about. Come on...

631.12.2010 05:34

Really as cool as the system is, i dont hold any long term hope for the technology past simple left right up down select user interfaces for tvs etc

People are just to lazy, i would always use a mouse and keyboard because its less work, if there was something that required no movement and i could just plug myself into a usb port, i would do that instead.

Just my pennys worth.

Comments have been disabled for this article.

News archive