One million Kinect units sold in 10 days

Microsoft has sold a million Kinect devices worldwide in 10 days and the company claims it is on track to sell five million by the end of the year.

The impressive figures come a week before the Black Friday shopping rush in the United States, and represent only Kinect units sold in North America and Europe. Kinect is set to launch in Asia and Australia on November 18, followed by Japan on November 20.

Microsoft's ''controller-free gaming and entertainment experience'' for the Xbox 360 has also proven a hit with the hacking community, with NUIGroup member ''AlexP'' the first to crack the device just three days after launch. In the week since, enterprising users have demonstrated uses for the platform including as a ''handsfree multitouch'' input device for a PC and as a 3D webcam able to create a live 3D "model" of a room and everything in it. Microsoft has yet to comment on the various Kinect hacking projects, beyond an initial statement last week strongly dissuading the reverse-engineering of its products.

Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business president Don Mattrick said the company was pleased with the strong consumer demand for Kinect.

''This is a great start to the holiday season, and we will continue to work with our retailer partners to keep pace with high demand and deliver against our plan to sell more than 5 million Kinect sensors worldwide by the end of this year,'' he said.