The technology itself was unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmar at CES this past January, where he demoed Avatar Kinect showing that the Avatar mimicked your exact movements including that of mouth, eyebrow and head placement.

For all those interested, Avatar Kinect is going to be bundled in with the actual Kinect software and can be downloaded via Xbox Live, or by clicking this link. It is a rather large download (658MB), so be prepared to wait a while.

Looking around for first impressions of the software has pulled some rather interesting results. Not all it would seem are in favor of the technology, with Seattlepi feeling rather non excitable about it.

But, away from the negativity for the moment, lets focus on what kind of magic we can do with Avatar Kinect.

Avatar Kinect boasts to be something of the future. We’ve all seen it imagined before. People being able to transform into something or someone else and become part of a community who can chat about anything, at any time, about what they want, when they want. Microsoft even say that this kind of technology is what Kinect was all about from the get-go, and that video conferencing, while staying anonymous could be used for youth group-therapy sessions, allowing youths to talk with real life people to solve personal problems and issues.

But other than social video chats, what could this technology be useful for? I would like to bet that businesses will not be replacing their usual monthly video-link schedule with Avatar Kinect, unless of course you work in a toy store, but Microsoft have other plans up their sleeve.

KinectShare.com will allow you to create, record and playback your social interactments, and share them with the rest of the Kinect world. Other services have also been put on offer which are part of Kinect Fun Labs that include “Kinect Sparkler,” software that will track hand movements to write with light on a 3D virtual canvas.

For the time being, Avatar Kinect will be made available free for all Xbox Live members, but come September 8 the feature will turn gold, meaning that you must have a valid Xbox Live subscription to get in on the fun.

All in all, what do you think of Avatar Kinect? Do you think it is a good idea? Apart from the fun-factor, what else could it be used for? I guess the only way we will find out is to use it and see.

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When we say free update, this will only be for Gold Xbox Live members once it becomes available in the spring. What I like about this latest feature for Kinnect is how the motion sensor and camera will track your mouth movement while using the new chat feature – taking chat to the next level on the Xbox 360.

There are those who say that such a new feature is a little like PlayStation Home, but Sony, PS3 and Xbox users will disagree; where do you stand on this?

Below we have embedded the first official Avatar Kinect trailer, and have to say how amused I was by seeing an Avatar of Ballmer talking to us about how the new system works. I was shocked to see how well Kinect was able to track facial expressions, watch the video below and you will see just what we mean.

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You can see the leaked photo below, it clearly shows Avatar Kinect, which is said to be a Kinect-powered way of controlling a gamer’s Xbox Live avatar and interact with others.

From what we can see Steve Ballmer will kick off Microsoft’s keynote tomorrow at 6.30pm PST (Wednesday, January 5, 2011), therefore don’t be too surprised if Avatar Kinect is introduced pretty early on.

It is thought that Avatar Kinect will be similar to Nintendo’s Mii channel, also SlashGear suggest that it will be free and will arrive as part of an Xbox Live update.

Kinect sales have been impressive therefore I am sure that there are a few million gamers out there who will welcome Avatar Kinect, it is not a feature which interests me, however younger Xbox 360 gamers will undoubtedly have hours of fun with the new features and functionality.

Other details are understandably scarce at the moment therefore we will try to reveal more tomorrow during the keynote, so check out Product-Reviews in 24 hours time for all of the latest juicy details, or perhaps follow me on Twitter.

More About: Avatar Kinect, CES 2011, Kinect, Xbox 360

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