Kinect-able Porn: Microsoft Pays the Inevitable Price for Open Source

You might want to move Kinect out of the family room. Long-time erotic game company thriXXX announced that its 3D sex titles are now compatible with the Microsoft (MSFT) Kinect motion controller. The Kinect update to its 3D Sex Games line will roll out next year, with more porn titles from other companies likely. Virtual sex is considered the holy grail of porn, and Microsoft is helping adult companies thrive -- whether it wants to or not.

Why Microsoft won't slam the door on open source

The Kinect device drivers are open source, which means that all the details necessary to control the Kinect are available to the public -- and any enterprising developer. According to the video demo, thriXXX (link NSFW) is using these drivers to sync the Kinect to its PC software.

Companies have two reasons for making their software open source:

• Philosophical: The idea that software should be available to all
• Business: To build your customer base, encourage programmers to use your products

Where's the bouncer?
The key difference is that, unlike the Kindle and the iPod, the Kinect doesn't have a clearing house for material. Both Amazon and Apple must clear each and every app that appears on their respective devices.

Microsoft can only approve software that appears on Kinect's official platform, the XBox 360 -- and programmers can do whatever they want with their PCs and Macs. Meanwhile, innovators are using PCs and other hardware to make the Kinect do things Microsoft probably could not imagine.

Playing whack-a-mole
The adult trade publication XBiz broke this story, but CNet's Daniel Terdiman has a great interview with sex and games expert Kyle Machulis on the new innovations. Among other things, Machulis says that there is a question over if the Kinect can be used for commercial products, so lawsuits could be around the corner. This will become more likely when Microsoft takes the Kinect beyond the XBox 360, as my BNet colleague Erik Sherman suspects.

However, after a new innovation hits the adult business, enforcing bans are often a waste of time and money. Apple has spent a year losing its fight to keep the mobile platform porn-free, while adult companies themselves are suing free YouTube-inspired porn sites to little avail.

When it comes to Kinect sex, the genie is out the bottle. Microsoft may respond to thriXXX, but its demonstration video -- now on YouTube -- will inspire dozens of other companies. By opening a lawsuit, Microsoft will begin playing a proverbial game of Whack-A-Mole it can't possibly win.

thriXXX is no doubt the first of many porn companies that will be using the Kinect hardware. January's annual Adult Entertainment Expo will probably have a sea of Kinect-powered kinky games -- and there's not much, if anything, Microsoft will be able to do about it.

Photo courtesy of eyeliam // CC 2.0
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