Microsoft employee Larry Venter (a native South African) had a hunch that the Kinect for Xbox 360 could help the children at a rural school in his hometown to get excited about learning English. And that gaming could help in the fight against widespread illiteracy.
Using the Kinect as a teaching device, students could have an awesome experience playing a game while at the same time learning the English language. Such was the impact that Bill Gates (The owner of Microsoft) announced that his foundation would be investing $20 million into educational gaming. Educational games that use the controller-free Kinect could become a major factor in helping engage and teach students worldwide.
Venter went on to say "My hope is that we can find a broad application for this and eventually get to a place where there's a wide selection of games to support education. It's a whole new frontier. I think there's one company in the world right now with the assets that, if lined up correctly, could help the educational crisis we're seeing globally, and that company is Microsoft."
- TwistedMind33