The origins of Microsoft’s jaw-dropping Project Natal technology have been something of a mystery, but Redmond is starting to shed more light on the subject. It has confirmed the acquisition of Israeli company 3DV Systems earlier in the year. In the meantime, apparently, Microsoft has been waiting for the thumbs up from the Antitrust Authority.
Prior to the Project Natal unveil at E3, Microsoft was strongly rumoured to be announcing a full-body motion sensing peripheral and much of speculation centred on the rumoured acquisition of 3DV systems. Now that the deal has been confirmed, we’d love to know how much 3DV’s tech is being used by Natal.
Unfortunately, Microsoft ain’t telling, and it’s not sharing the financial details of the deal either, but at the time it was rumoured that $35m was the offered price. It’s generally believed that much of Project Natal’s tech has come from 3DV, and an earlier demo of 3DV at CES 2008 seems to provide similar effects to what we’ve seen in Natal’s limited public outings.
It’s also possible that Microsoft bought up 3DV simply to prevent someone else from snapping it up. We may never know, although Microsoft’s Moshe Lichtman stated “when there’s something to tell, we’ll do so.”
wow 35m for a gimmick, that’s alot of cash…