We finally have Microsoft's entrant into the realm of motion gaming, the Kinect. Microsoft's code name for Kinect was Project Natal.

This isn't just another Wiimote knockoff. Kinect is the result of hundreds of millions of dollars of research Microsoft has invested in speech and motion recognition.

The Kinect is not a handheld game controller like the Wiimote or the Playstation Move—rather, it is a sophisticated sensor suite that detects your position and movements in 3D space.

There are several great stories already out there explaining how Kinect detects motion. We aren't going to repeat all the basics here, so if you are interested in that sort of thing check out the above articles.

Controller evolution, game console style.

Top to bottom:

• Original Xbox Controller S, Kinect
• Nintendo Virtual Boy, Wiimote
• Original Sony PlayStation controller, PlayStation Move.

We love that the world is at the point where we're not upgrading our computers as often. Instead, we're upgrading sensors so the computer understands more about us.

Adding Kinect to an Xbox is like adding sonar to a submarine—sure, you could drive it around before, but now it can see where it's going. OK, that's a rather stretched analogy. You get the idea.

There's a rubber pad between us and the insides of the Kinect. Let's take care of that...

The motorized base can rotate the top sensor bar to track you as you dance around the room. That sounds useful, but we're wary of mechanical parts that are prone to failure.

The plastic base is secured with a quartet of T6 Torx screws.

After removing the plastic base, there are another four Phillips #0 screws to remove.

Notice that Microsoft's already up to revision H. If this is launch day, what happened to revisions A through G?

The Kinect's motor and gears don't appear too robust.

About the size of an American quarter, the base has a tiny motor with three fragile plastic gears. Barring overheating issues with the top unit, we're guessing this motor assembly will be the Kinect's weak point.

Do not physically force the Kinect into a specific position—allow it to automatically calibrate its aim.

With a metal spudger and some pretty serious prying, we were able to remove the bottom grille. This is not easy, as Microsoft applied adhesive quite liberally.

The Microsoft team built the Kinect around PrimeSense's Reference Design.

Microsoft hasn't acquired Primesense yet. This indicates to us that as impressive as the hardware is, Microsoft's software is doing the heavy lifting, turning the sensor bar's array of data into a 3D mesh of your spatial position.

Microsoft used T10 Torx security screws. That's not very nice. We're up to three types of screws already, and we haven't even got this open yet.

The innocent looking Xbox 360 sticker acts as cover for the third screw on each side of the Kinect.

Success! Now the fun really begins!

Most of the Xbox's processing power is dedicated to gaming, so Kinect preprocesses the image prior to sending it on to the Xbox. Kinect condenses all the information it collects about your living room into two things: a color image and a depth map.