Gesture-based Leap Motion controller out now

The recently-launched Leap Motion gesture-based controller is now up for grabs. It works with Windows and Macs, and is available on the official website for $79.99 (Rs 4,770 approx). It comes with its own Airspace app store, which houses Double Fine’s music-based game Dropchord.

The Leap Motion controller is said to be incredibly powerful, with the company stating that it is 200 times more accurate than the Kinect at detecting movement.

Dropchord has a soundtrack composed by veterans of the game industry, including Journey’s Austin Wintory, Mass Effect’s Sam Hulick and Assassin’s Creed 2’s Brion Trifon. The soundtrack can currently be purchased from iTunes.

It’s tiny!

Leap’s controller uses three infrared LED lights and two cameras to track users’ hands. It plugs into a Windows or Mac computer and sits between the user and the keyboard. Leap’s bet is that allowing people to use natural hand movements to control what they do on a computer will make the interaction between human and machine more seamless.

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Some of the applications of Leap Motion’s controller include the ability to browse the web or read a book by just “flipping” through pages, drawing, painting and designing, a different way to handle 3D modelling, and even fun things like having motion-control based virtual musical instruments.

Leap Motion had recently released a video that showed how the controller worked with Windows. The video also showed just how the device will look, how it will hook up with the users PC and how the OS will respond to hand gestures. Leap Motion has also promised to release a video showing how the system will look running on a Mac soon.