Russian Roulette Comes To Kinect

Somehow, this doesn't seem like what Microsoft had in mind when it came to amateur designers playing with Kinect technology.

One of Microsoft's big selling points for the Kinect's crossover to PC is that amateur developers can use the device to create all sorts of new programs. Some of these are insanely brilliant, like that guy who turned the Kinect into an affordable motion capture system. However, not all creations are quite so impressive (or tasteful). Witness: Kinect Russian Roulette.

Russian Roulette, in case you haven't heard of it before, is a (potentially) lethal game that's played with a revolver. You load one bullet in the gun, spin the cylinder, place the muzzle against your head, and pull the trigger. Now, onto the Kinect version.

The hack is an art project by Theo Watson, who created it for Art Hack Day. Watson created the hack over a few short hours, using openFrameworks 007 and ofxKinect. Essentially, the Kinect recognizes both your face and your hand (shaped like a handgun). Now, the kinect will also recognize your thumb mimicking the action of a gun's hammer, and a virtual round is fired. As a result, you have a 1/6 (or, in this case, 1/8) chance of blowing yourself to a digital Kingdom Come.

I'm not the only one who sees this becoming the next great party game, am I? Or at least an opportunity for mainstream news pundits to once again condemn the evils of videogames.

Source: Geek