Kinect sex game in works

Kinect sex has arrived. And it took the adult gaming community less than two months to get there.

Just over two weeks ago, one of the world's leading experts on sex and video games said that while there were no working adult games using Microsoft's Kinect motion controller yet, the potential was there. That barrier has been broken, as one game company illustrates in a demo for a new game.

The demo (a NSFW YouTube video) comes from ThriXXX software, a maker of 3D role-playing sex simulation games, which said that "the open-sourcing of device drivers for Kinect have enabled the ... device to be used directly from connected PCs operating on Windows 7 ... The Kinect interface provides another exciting interface option for users of the sex simulation software to control the experience in extraordinary new ways. Controller-free is the next generation of game user interfaces allowing users to use gestures, spoken commands, or objects to control in-game action that creates a completely new sex game activity and magical experience."

The demo shows that the Kinect is suitable for hand gestures. And it's clear that the game makers imagine that players will be using the Kinect to interact directly with women (for now) in the game.

And Kyle Machulis, who is considered one of the world's leading experts on sex, digital toys and games, said he's impressed with how quickly the Kinect community has taken the new device and advanced it for their adult purposes.

"The Kinect is obviously a natural technology for this kind of usage, since the 'hands-free' approach means that the user's hands are available for other actions, be it manipulating the game, or themselves, or in this case, possibly both at the same time," Machulis told CNET. "I'm impressed with the quick development turnaround for getting new controls into their engine like this, especially using resources from the open source community."

However, Machulis said he wasn't sure about whether ThriXXX's Kinect implementation would be kosher for use on platforms other than the Xbox 360. "There's been some question about whether you can use the Kinect in commercial projects," he said. "I don't quite understand it myself, since I'm not sure you can [control through end-user licence agreements] hardware like that, but it's something that needs a nice lawyer response."

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Machulis also pointed out that not-for-profit organisation OpenNI has begun offering its own motion-controller with open-source drivers. The US$199 camera comes from PrimeSense which designed the depth-sensing technology used in the Kinect camera.

"The advent of the PrimeSense reference kit could completely assuage fears about using the Kinect for further adult development," Machulis said.

ThriXXX admitted it doesn't have a green light from Microsoft to move ahead with its Kinect implementation.

"We do not have permission from anyone on any of this stuff, and have been using stuff from the hacker community to do a working prototype following what [is] going on in that world," said Brad Abram, ThriXXX's vice president of business development, in an email to CNET. And with the OpenNI drivers, we "don't know how [Microsoft] can contain the current activity worldwide. We have no idea how [Microsoft] will react ... but we think the genie is out of the bottle so to speak".

"In regards to commercial games, we do not sell at retail, do not have need for [game ratings] and everything is done offshore in Europe where [Microsoft] is being lambasted by the courts for [anti-competitive] behaviour. If we have to, maybe we would give it away for free as part of the open-source community efforts, but we don't know yet where any of this will lead."

For his part, Machulis is pleased that the ThiXXX met one of his general goals for the Kinect and sex.

"Note that this [happened] 10 full days before Christmas," Machulis wrote on his blog, "which was my deadline for when we'd see our first public usage of the Kinect in porn."

Via CNET