While not technically being ‘new’ news (as Microsoft’s project Natal has been about for some time), we are still very excited about the nifty product, so we thought we would share a little info with you lucky people…
As if Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console hasn’t been augmented enough as of late (Numerous OS updates, games ETC) Bill Gates himself has announced Project Natal, an innovative new motion sensitive camera feature that is not just an update to the Xbox LIVE vision camera. Remember the old Eyetoy from the PS2? Natal is similar, letting the user interact with the game using the camera as an input device.
Unlike the Eyetoy however, Natal’s only control system is the camera input, no messing around with controllers in hand while dancing to the ridiculous and awful games that the Eyetoy had on offer.
Natal’s trailers on the Xbox website features innovative motion sense technology, and the first demo features a character on the screen looking at the player and tracking them with their head. The player then jumps into a fighting stance and the character on the screen instantly follows suit – Microsoft actually has given us full interactivity without the pesky Eyetoy problem of killing the mood by plastering your face all over the screen. And it works with every Xbox… Impressive.
The next video features a girl driving an amazingly animated F1 car with nothing but her hands. That’s right, you heard me. Remember when you were a kid and you imagined you were driving a car and acted out moving the steering wheel. It’s that. But for real! Full-body motion capture is just another amazing feature of Natal, you dance in real life, the screen character dances with you. You can be just like Gollum from the Lord of the Rings movies… Just in your living room.
Natal also features a voice recognition system so you can log into your profile just by turning up and addressing the Xbox. So to sum up, it’s awesome, it’s going to be huge worldwide, very expensive and is probably going to kill Nintendo Wii.
Above is a photo of this kid skating on the Natal. It’s unbelievable, but dont take our word for it, watch the video Here >>> at Xbox.com.
We’ll keep you posted.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Tags: motion sensor, Natal, project natal, wii, xbox, xbox 360, xbox controller, xbox live
