Kinect for Windows v2 now available for pre-order

Microsoft has made its Kinect for Windows v2 sensor available for pre-order online.

The sensor, which will be sent out from 15th July and is priced at £160, is aimed primarily at Windows software developers. Working with the Kinect for Windows software development kit 2.0, they’ll be able to create apps with voice and gesture controls for desktop and laptop computers.

The second edition of Kinect hasn’t enjoyed the best of careers thus far. Originally packaged with every Xbox One and billed as an integral component for the console, Microsoft has recently made it an optional feature: you can now buy an Xbox One without the sensor at a much-reduced price.

READ MORE: Microsoft Xbox One review

Many gamers weren’t keen on the idea of an all-seeing, all-hearing sensor sitting in their living rooms, and that’s before you get to the issue of, well, the Kinect feeling distinctly non-integral for many games. So Microsoft has given consumers a choice to get the console sans-Kinect (it can always be added later, after all).

With the release of the SDK and Kinect for Windows v2, perhaps developers can give the sensor the boost it seems in need of. We’ll keep you posted on the most exciting Windows/Kinect apps that emerge in the future.

[Microsoft Store via Pocket-lint]

READ MORE: Kinect is dead? Long live Kinect!

Sam Kieldsen Contributor

About

Tech journalism's answer to The Littlest Hobo, I've written for a host of titles and lived in three different countries in my 15 years-plus as a freelancer. But I've always come back home to Stuff eventually, where I specialise in writing about cameras, streaming services and being tragically addicted to Destiny.

Areas of expertise

Cameras, drones, video games, film and TV