Microsofts Project Natal
Microsoft last year introduced the latest advancement in their console gaming hardware called ‘Project Natal’. For those of you who have no yet heard about this new toy, Ill try give some enlightenment.
This neat little piece of equipment brings to the fore, wireless controller free gaming for the Xbox 360 and later the 720. This consists of a TV mounted camera and microphone sensor bar which picks up 3D motion as well as 2D motion and sounds. Not only does it track your movements but it also has built in facial recognition which can be used to create your Xbox character and log you in automatically by identifying the person in front of the TV. It also records your voice, tone and pitch and process this in real time. During the demos at E3, the motion bar worked really well but also made the avatar move in a weird way proving that there was still a bit of tweaking required before this piece of enjoyment can be rolled out.
This new technology has pricked the curiosity of people such as Stephen Spielberg who was one of the hosts introducing it at E3. He was accompanied by legend gamer ‘Peter Molyneux’. Spielberg was quoted as saying:
“This is a pivotal moment that will carry with it a wave of change, the ripples of which will reach far beyond video games”
Now I’m an absolute nut when it comes to games of all kinds. PC and Console. I currently own a Wii, so motion sensing controllers are not new to me, I also currently have an Xbox 360 I’m looking at re-instating once this new toy has been officially released. I took a moment to actually think about the possibilities which got me pretty excited. I think Ill let Microsoft do the thinking there though and hope something fun comes of it.
Three technical demos were shown to showcase Project Natal when it was revealed at Microsoft’s E3 2009 Media Briefing:
- Ricochet – a Breakout-like game in which the entire body is used to bounce balls at blocks.
- Paint Party – where the player can make throwing motions to splash or draw with paint onto a wall. He/she can choose colors using speech recognition, and can pose to make stencils.
- Milo and Kate – a full game in development by Lionhead Studios in which the player interacts with a young child (Milo or Milly, selected by the user at the start) and his/her dog Kate by performing real-life actions. Interaction was demonstrated only with Milo at this event
Cant wait for this.
More Links :
http://www.xbox.com/en-us/live/projectnatal/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Natal
http://www.neowin.net/news/gamers/09/06/01/microsoft-introduces-controller-free-gaming-project-natal
