PrimeSense was at E3 this week showing off the raw technology that it licensed to Microsoft for what officially became Kinect this past Monday. The company developed the method and core software that Microsoft's forthcoming camera/controller uses to read human bodies and gestures, and had it running on a prototype unit live in the booth.

Unfortunately, company reps weren't able to comment on specifics of the licensing deal, and were very quick to point out that much of what has been done so far with Kinect is Microsoft's own software -- PrimeSense only provides the raw tech behind the visual gesture system, not any of the menus or games that are actually appearing on Kinect. But they were able to explain the core technology to me, and shine a little light, so to speak, on what Kinect is capable of.