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Xbox

Xbox Kinect already hacked

Hacker wins $3,000 prize after creating drivers for Microsoft’s motion detection device.

THE NEW KINECT CONTROLLER has already been hacked – just days after the device was officially released in Europe.

The BBC reports that code allowing the device to be used with a PC rather than Microsoft’s game console had been made.

Electronics kit maker Adafruit had advertised a $1,000 prize for whoever could produce control software for the Kinect, and raised the prize fund to $3,000 after Microsoft said it did not condone the reverse engineering of its controller.

Adafruit announced on its blog that it has found a winner in Hector Martin, who created the following video showing how he created drivers for the Kinect’s motion detection system:

Adafruit also donated $2,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a donor-funded organisation which aims to protect free speech, hacking and consumer rights online.

Microsoft told the BBC that its Xbox 360 control system for the Kinect was not hacked:

What has happened is someone has created drivers that allow other devices to interface with the Kinect for Xbox 360. The creation of these drivers, and the use of Kinect for Xbox 360 with other devices, is unsupported.

Kinect has yet to launch in Australia or Japan, but was released in the US earlier this month.