Rule 34 strikes again . . . sort of

I'm sure readers are familiar with Rule 34. It looks like it's struck again - this time in relation to computer peripherals. The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

A legion of hobbyists and developers have seized upon Microsoft's new Kinect motion-controlled game accessory by creating their own assortment of applications – even exploring its prowess in the bedroom.




Replacing existing game controllers, Kinect uses a 3D camera and motion recognition software to enhance game play on its Xbox 360 consoles with gesture-sensing controls that respond to natural body movements and voice commands.

Microsoft claims it has already sold more than 2.5m Kinect devices for Xbox 360 around the world since it hit the market last month, but it is the unique motion-tracking cameras and depth sensors that have enthralled developers.

Dozens of videos of home-brewed applications have appeared on Vimeo and YouTube, ranging from the bizarre to the scientific, and its credentials as an adult gaming platform have become a topic of intense speculation.

An application created specifically to track nipples (demonstrated on a man) has added fuel to the discussion, leading sex technology blogger, Kyle Machulis, to speculate on the sexual future of the new game accessory.

“I bet we'll see Kinect porn and possibly Kinect Skype services within the month,” he writes.

But in spite of the demand for such applications, he does not anticipate a rosy future for the device in the bedroom because it was never designed to track movements of specific appendages.

“Microsoft put a ton of work into making the Kinect track the human body as a whole . . . Genitalia, for the most part, are not a major geometric feature of the human body when taken in perspective of physical size.

“Yes, there will be depth, but it will be very inaccurate and noisy and I think most people will just want their 2D image back,” he writes on his blog.

There's more at the link, including a list of available Kinect 'hacks' (complete with links).

I'm cynically amused by the so-called 'sex apps' coming out for smart phones, iPads and similar devices (now including the Kinect). Sex has been around for a few thousand years, give or take a bit, and it's been working just fine without computers. I don't think input or output ports, or network devices, or even dongles, are necessary to get it right! We've been using non-electronic peripherals very successfully for generations, thank you!

Penny Arcade recently did a very funny cartoon strip on the subject. (It's not entirely safe for work, which is why I haven't embedded it, but you can view it at the link.)





Peter