Cast your mind back to November 2006 when Nintendo, with much furore, released the Nintendo Wii. Nothing like it had been seen before, a games console with a motion sensing controller. Fast forward four years and Microsoft have taken the motion sensing phenomenon one step further and developed Kinect (the controller-free gaming experience for Microsoft’s Xbox 360). With the gaming industry delivering new innovations to the user experience and interactions with video games, GfK is curious as to what the future gaming experience will look like and whether motion sensing or controller lead technologies will emerge as the dominant experiences of the future.

This week’s tech news has been dominated by Windows Phone 7, but the radar will soon switch to next month’s release of ‘Kinect’, Microsoft’s new motion sensing system for the Xbox 360. While Microsoft is playing catch-up in the smartphone business with Windows Phone 7, Kinect is definitely a leading edge (and potentially revolutionary) tool that could redefine the gaming industry…and technology in general.

The Xbox division at Microsoft has been very busy developing Kinect and the ‘Xbox Live Game Hub’ which is the key gaming feature for Windows Phone 7. The Xbox franchise has never been more important for Microsoft and it is a long time since industry commentators suggested that they should have never entered gaming. Last week Steve Ballmer was in London talking to students about both Windows Phone 7 and Kinect but indicated that he was more excited by the latter. “The device that I’m most keen on…is the next generation of the Xbox 360,” he said. At first this seems very strange, as an estimated $400 million will be spent marketing Windows Phone 7, but when considering the technology and potential behind Kinect it is clear to see why this is so exciting and why it will be shaping the way we interact with technology.