Not just popular for the homebrew front, Kinect has hit the heart of gamer households to the tune of 2.5 million units sold since its release only 27 days ago. It’s already seen its share of controversial press, some homebrew hacking to do fun stuff (even shadow puppets!) but that’s not the only market that it obviously appeals to. With the full-body motion detection, the Kinect brings a lot to the table to make it the current vogue video gaming interface to be seen with.

The Kinect boasts to be the only controller-free gaming system on the market—and it’s true. Even though the Wii does its own sort of movement-sensing, it does require a controller. The Kinect allows people to use just their bodies. Just that alone brings the fun factor for this sensor device to an all-time high; as we’ve seen with Rockband, people love to play pretend (perhaps we’ll see a Kinect air-guitar game?)

Sales of this sensor system have been so popular, there’s even been speculation that Microsoft might run out of units over the Christmas holiday. If Black Friday is any indicator, they might be in for a long, strange haul with gift buying in play.

“We are thrilled about the consumer response to Kinect, and are working hard with our retail and manufacturing partners to expedite production and shipments of Kinect to restock shelves as fast as possible to keep up with demand,” said Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “With sales already exceeding two and a half million units in just 25 days, we are on pace to reach our forecast of 5 million units sold to consumers this holiday.”

With the winter holidays just around the corner—almost 25 days away in fact—Microsoft is already planning to sell the same amount all over again.

Can they do it? With the obviously explosive popularity of the Kinect sensor and the gigantic momentum of popularity it’s earned itself, it does look like a good bet.