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Unique music video surfaces, courtesy of Kinect

Microsoft's motion-gaming peripheral has once again been hacked. This time, a band called Echo Lake has used the platform to create a music video for "Young Silence."

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger
2 min read

Echo Lake
The producer of the video used custom applications to create technicolor, ghost-like images of Echo Lake band members. Video screenshot by Leslie Katz/CNET

The Kinect hacks keep coming. And the latest is one of the more musical we've seen.

A band called Echo Lake has released a music video for its song "Young Silence." But rather than shoot the video the traditional way with a camcorder, the band used Microsoft's motion-gaming peripheral.

According to Dan Nixon, the person who produced the video for the band, it took seven weeks to complete the project. He used "custom applications developed by Cinder" to capture the video and create technicolor, ghost-like images of the band members. He said he believed Echo Lake's music video was the first to use Kinect.

But this wasn't the first Kinect hack by any means.

Since the launch of Microsoft's motion-gaming device back in November, lots of folks have hacked the Kinect to get more out of it than just playing motion games. The platform has been used to take 3D images, create a "Minority Report"-like way to handle photos, and much more.

Initially, Microsoft took issue with Kinect hacking. The company told CNET it planned to "continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant." A little over a week later, the company changed its tune, and said it left the Kinect open by "design." It said that it wouldn't take issue with hackers.

Echo Lake took advantage of that. And as the band noted on its blog yesterday, Microsoft's Kinect helped it create "sort of like a low-budget--and cooler-looking--version of Radiohead's 'House of Cards' video."

Echo Lake - Young Silence from Dan Nixon on Vimeo.