UPDATE:Want to see another video of Xbox Project Natal in action? Click this way.
Thought the Wii was the cutting edge of motion gaming? Think again. Microsoft just showed off a new technology called Project Natal that simply blows the Wii out of the water.
Natal’s motion control lets gamers take control of titles using their entire body. There’s simply no controller, you just walk up to the console and start playing. Movements are captured and understood, as are faces, expressions and voices. Natal can even recognise objects. Read on to see why this is the future of gaming, and should have Nintendo and Sony very, very scared. We’ve even got a video of it in action too!
Project Natal was introduced not just by Microsoft bigwigs, but by movie legend Stephen Spielberg and gaming supremo Peter Molyneux. That’s because it has the power to turn games into a true mass entertainment medium.
“Everybody loves movies, but the vast majority are too intimidated to pick up a controller,” explained Spielberg. “Despite the size of the industry 60% of households do not own a videogame console. The only way to bring interactive entertainment to everybody is to make the technology invisible.”
That’s exactly what Natal does. Sitting underneath the TV and containing cameras and microphones, the device can see you, and hear what you say. It recognises movements in 3D, and is smart enough to follow you around the room, tell the difference between you and other people on the sofa, and be controlled using anything from a fist to a fingertip.
Spielberg also let slip that he was only shown the Natal technology two months ago. This is seriously fresh, but that doesn’t mean it’s pie in the sky. Microsoft is showing the technology in action at E3, and we’ll be there for a play ourselves.
Development kits are also arriving with game makers today. So will you need a new Xbox to use Natal? Not at all. Microsoft says “Natal will work with every Xbox 360 we’ve sold and every xbox in the future. We can leap into the future of interactive entertainment without launching a new console.”
And which games will you be able to play? Imagine fast-paced action games. Microsoft showed off a block-breaking game using the whole body to batter down barriers. Then it showed an arty title, with players miming actions throwing “buckets” of virtual paint at a canvas.
But it was the last demo that really blew our socks off. Peter Molyneux took to the stage to introduce Mylo, a computer generated character who can hold conversations with players in a startlingly realistic way.
Mylo was shown understanding speech, passing virtual “items” to players and in one case, receiving them too, as the player drew on a piece of paper, and “scanned” it into the Natal sensor.
Molyneux explained that “This is true technology that science fiction has not even written about, and this works. Today. We have chosen to create an experience where you can meet what I believe is a real character.”
Microsoft’s Natal technology has the potential to truly bridge the gap between gaming and mass entertainment. We’re overwhelmed, and as soon as we deliver a hands-on report of our own we hope you will be too.
TBC | £TBC | Microsoft
