Microsoft will release its Kinect for Windows SDK beta this week.

WinRumors understands that the company plans to release the beta bits during a special developer event on Thursday. Microsoft is planning to stream a Channel 9 special event at 9:30AM PST on Thursday which will celebrate the release of the Kinect for Windows SDK beta. President of Microsoft Spain, María Garaña, revealed on Wednesday that the company plans to make the SDK available this week. Speaking during La Red Innova conference in Madrid, Garaña explained that Microsoft intends to make the beta bits available this week. Microsoft’s Kinect for Windows SDK beta will include the following support:

• Robust Skeletal Tracking for high-performance capabilities that track the skeleton image of one or two persons moving within the Kinect field of view
• Advanced Audio Capabilities, including four-element microphone array with sophisticated acoustic noise and echo cancellation for great audio; beam formation to identify the current sound source and integration with the Windows speech recognition API also included
• XYZ depth camera for standard color camera stream access and depth data that indicates the distance of the object from the Kinect camera

Microsoft’s Kinect sensor has been a phenomenal success story for the company. The console accessory sold out across a number of retailers during the recent festive season and Microsoft smashed its own estimates of 5 million units in 2010 by shipping 10 million devices. Microsoft’s Kinect accessory has also broken a Guinness World Record. Guinness World Records has officially named Kinect for Xbox 360 the fastest-selling consumer electronics device, which sold an average of 133,333 units per day for a total of eight million units in its first 60 days between November 4, 2010 and January 3, 2011. The device is now available at more than 60,000 retailers in 38 countries.

Microsoft launched its controller-less console accessory for the Xbox 360 across the world in November. The Kinect sensor is a horizontal bar that sits at the base of your TV. The device has an RGB camera, depth sensor and multi-array microphone which runs proprietary software. Kinect allows for full-body 3D motion capture, facial recognition, and voice recognition. Owners will be able to interact with games titles using just their body. Pausing TV and fast forwarding movies can be achieved using a mix of hand movements and voice control.