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Xbox 360 Project Natal

By Roland Hutchinson on Tuesday 2nd June 2009 7:33 am in Gadgets, Gaming

Microsoft has revealed its new controller for the Xbox 360, called ‘Project Natal’

Project Natal is a full body motion control system, that doesn’t actually use a controller for game play but uses your body to control your character in the various games.

xbox 360 Project Natal

Check out the video of Project Natal in action below.

This looks amazing, I think the Wii is going to have some serious competition, the way the games are controlled looks like so much more fun than using the Wii.

Project Natal via Gizmodo

Tags: Gadgets, Gaming, Xbox 360

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brian

I already have a wii.

Obvious problems when using this:
I am hiding while playing Socom, I reach for my beer, whoops! I am exposed. How will it know if I am pulling the trigger?

Someone walks in front of the TV while playing… this happens all the time, it registers this and suddenly my character is off running when I was trying to be stealthy/ enter an area etc.

My cat/ dog/ gerbil walks in front of the screen, again interrupting play while playing Halo Wars. Gee thanks, I just ended what I was starting to do.

NO FEEDBACK (ie a rumble pack).

How will the amount of light/ shadows play into how my body is “read?”

Did I mention that I already bought a Wii?

F41lZZ0R3D Uberfail.
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http://www.deliriousdreams.co.uk Delirious

@Brian:
The RGB camera has a depth sensor and so is light independant, it also tracks multiple bodies so I would imagine if someone walks in front of the screen in a single-player game it would just ignore them – it also supports voice commands so re firing weapons would possibly be down to voice commands, but that is down to the game developers.

The camera tracks your body in a 3D environment as opposed to the Live Vision cam/EyeToy which creates a 2D picture.

Obviously the xBox team has put a lot of thought and genius into this – full-body motion capture has been used for a long time for computer generated 3D film-making, which enables characters designed in 3D programs (StudioMAX, Maya) to move naturally (instead of key-frame/stop-frame animation).

so NER!

as an aside, it would be funny if developers took into account of pets and if a pet walks in front of the camera it puts that pet on screen – imagine Rainbow Six hiding behind a box and your dog comes upto lick your face – Oh noes! You’ve been spotted! Shoot the dog and RUN!
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Maurice Osborne

The demo at E3 seemed pretty convincing to the acuracy of the game experience using this controller. You figure all of the different stage lights and everything would have effected the unit’s performance. The movements of the characters on screen seemed to represent everything including the persons wrist movements. I’m really excited for this one, and it’ll probably be the reason that i’ll pick up a 36o. My only concern is that it is comming relatively close to the end of the product life of the xbox 360. This could mean that they will release this new product to boost consol sales right before they jump to the new system. That would be pretty harsh, but Bill Gates isn’t a kabillionaire for nothing after all.
http://www.geeky-gadgets.com Fatgadget

Hi Maurice

I think Microsoft is hoping that this will increase the product life, I remember reading somewhere that they are looking at a 10 year life cycle for the 360, which means it has a few years left in it yet.

Plus they are adding tons of new features to it all the time, lets hope it stays around for a few more years before they release the next one.
Kevin

when is this out?
http://www.freeringers.net Tim

Microsoft doesn’t want to release a new console. Console’s lose money, software makes money. The longer they can keep the 360, the more money they can make. A 10 year lifespan seems a little long, but they went overboard with the speed of the 360 and PS3 to allow for a very long product life.

Project Natal will allow the 360 to have a longer product life, which is good for Microsoft.