Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Microsoft, Xbox, Natal, Montion, Sensor | Themes: Home Theater, Digital Entertainment
Microsoft has finally confirmed the months of motion sensing rumors attached to its Xbox 360. On day one of E3 yesterday, the Redmond company introduced a little something it likes to call Project Natal and completely stole the show.
Natal is basically the Wii concept, only better. Microsoft has eliminated the controller to allow the user to control the game with just the movement of his or her body. Combining the Xbox 360 with an an RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone and a custom processor running proprietary software, "Project Natal" tracks your full body movement as well as responding to commands. Natal is apparently sensitive enough to detect a shift of emotion in a your voice.
On stage at the Microsoft press conference, Steven Spielberg said he felt like he was present for a historic moment. “[It’s] not about reinventing the wheel, it’s about no wheel at all,” said Spielberg.
Spielberg is right and gaming with this thing is going to be both amazing but incredibly creepy at the same time. Thinking beyond games like Wii Fit (which is of the same genre as Ricochet and Paint Party, the games demoed by Microsoft) the potential for this kind of device is huge. Walking into the room and having your Xbox know you’re there? Weird, but kind of cool enough to overlook the creepiness.
That said, some activities presented in with the Wii (bowling, baseball, golf) are only made easier by the controller. We can’t imagine playing those kinds of games without something to hold on to. We hate to say it, but we might lean toward the opinion of “you really gotta have both,” if it came to choosing this or the Wii. Which would you guys prefer?
Check out the promo vid here.
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A Gimmick, it will have a few good applications, but in the end, most of it's uses will be using some idiotic gimmick to replace buttons with much more inaccurate gestures or sounds.
Well, its been done(not quite this high tech, but still). Lets just see if they can use it better this time.
A Gimmick, it will have a few good applications, but in the end, most of it's uses will be using some idiotic gimmick to replace buttons with much more inaccurate gestures or sounds.
You are short sighted and you obviously missed the presentation. According to Microsoft and that guy from Lionhead, this will usher in a paradigm shift in the way humans experience the world. Natal marks a epochial change in human history!
Haha, but seriously, your probably right. You have to admit though, the technology looks pretty impressive. When I saw the lady scrolling through Netflix instant by hand, I thought I might actually use that. But then I thought deeper about trying to pause, rewind, and stop movies by waving my hands, and how increadibly easy that all is with a real controller.
"Good morning Dave ..."
Didn't sony try this is that webcam looking thing and it bombed hardcore?
haha, i wonder if they'll start making training programs for this.
like "learn how to fight like jean claude van damme" just do this...
will definitely add a new perspective to interfacing with technology, but its not slated for a 2009 release... i'll stick with mouse and keyboard
When it cooks me eggs and toast in the morning, then I'll be impressed.
They'll obviously still have some sort of controller, but it will probably be smaller and fit in the palm of your hand. You at least need buttons to "pull" a trigger on a gun in GoW or switch to a different weapon in Fable.
The linked video is CGI composite, no real time or real anything (I kind of understand why steven spielberg was there
) but for the sake of the argument let's assume it does and will do all those things. Being a ms xbox accessory it will probably cost a tone at launch, would have a limited game library to work with and will not work as advertised.
I'm not bashing xbox or this concept, I'm just cautious since I've seen this type of wow effect at E3, Computex and CeBit on future products and every time it was a disappointment with the final result.
They'll obviously still have some sort of controller, but it will probably be smaller and fit in the palm of your hand. You at least need buttons to "pull" a trigger on a gun in GoW or switch to a different weapon in Fable.
What if they have you squeeze your finger like you were holding an imaginary gun? Or "reach" over your shoulder as if to pull out another weapon? Oh, the possibilities.
Scratch my previous comment. I'll only be impressed if it cooks me bacon along with my eggs and toast.
A Gimmick, it will have a few good applications, but in the end, most of it's uses will be using some idiotic gimmick to replace buttons with much more inaccurate gestures or sounds.
Anyone mind explaining why the -1'd me?
I really don't understand how you could refute my logic, unless you go with some "I didn't like your tone" argument.
Guys are all missing the point. I can't imagine this is designed to eliminate a controller... yet. What this thing will do is usher in a wave of games that compete with all the crap games the Wii has PLUS Microsoft can ship a controller with their next unit and satisfy the hardcore crowd. Nintenso can't appeal to the hardcore crowd because the hardcore crowd doesn't want to wave a wand around to play games. Microsoft can appeal directly to the Wii fanbase while still maintaining the crowd that it has sold 30 million units to.
Guys are all missing the point. I can't imagine this is designed to eliminate a controller... yet.
I don't think you get the point.
The whole concept of eliminating the controller is a stab at Nintendo for the Wiimote. They aren't getting rid of the 360 controller.
When i was watching the presentation yesterday and Natal and Milo came on i was amazed and fightened.Amazed at where Microsoft plans to take the input device and frightened about the concept of where AI can go,can you imagine this thing sensing what mood im in and finding a movie,game or song to cheer me up? Or then it could decide that i should really not be doing anything of that sort and turn itself off and keep doing so until my mood improves?Maybe ive watched the matrix one too many times.Its funny , i was actually serisouly thinking of buying a Wii becuase of the intresting and different control scheme(plus red steel 2 ,punchout and ea active)now i think i deem it wise to wait and see,the SDK's have been distributed afterall.
I think MS is taking a huge gamble with this. I just don't see it working well enough to be worth it. There is nothing more frustrating than having a game controller that just doesn't quite precise enough(Street Fighter IV anyone?), and I can't see this new "controller" being precise enough to be of use in any hardcore games.
The idea, currently, is not to replace the controller for hardcore games / gamers. It's to attract those casual gamers that Nintendo is dominating.
In the future, as the tech gets updated and more precise, they'll start integrating it into more blockbuster titles. Maybe around the time of next-gen releases, we'll see heavier use of it. Maybe.
I see the option to use a controller staying around for a long time, however.
Did anyone see the Tony Hawk skateboard controller? I laughed for 5 minutes because I thought it was a joke. But the preview for it kept going on, as if it were a real product. Did Microsoft actually make a skateboard controller or was that just a really long expensive joke?
Say what you will about Natal, but that guy Peter Molineux is a bloody hype-pooping machine.
"This is actually not scripted" LOL Peter, LOL!
If you know abit about AI programming and saw the press conference with him, talking about the virtual boy, you'd be blind and deaf not to shake your head and laugh in reaction to all the bullshit he said
Wow, so some people need to watch the video. If it pans out it is full motion capture (it can even tell if you have your hand in a fist or if it's open), facial recognition and voice recognition. If it's all true, it's no gimmick and would revolutionize games.
For the Sony fanboi- you can breath easy as that video is a conceptual vision of what can be done with this. They don't have these apps yet.
Did anyone see the Tony Hawk skateboard controller? I laughed for 5 minutes because I thought it was a joke. But the preview for it kept going on, as if it were a real product. Did Microsoft actually make a skateboard controller or was that just a really long expensive joke?
You mean the one activision made?
guys.. what stops you from grabbing your real club to play virtual golf on the Natal? You could use something that has the real weight in place.. or nothing at all.
And its voice controlled. You want to pause the movie.. just say "PAUSE" no more finding remotes in couches.. Amen.
If holding a piece of plastic helps you then go grab a stick and use it for free?
You could even use a real bat, or golf club.
This is not new thought. Microsoft is the world expert at selling Alpha and Beta quality software and devices. If it really worked, right now today, we would be seeing demo units at major retailers cornering the market on the orders for the next 2 years.
Our tech ability is close but it isn't there yet. (Give it say 5 more years).
We had wireless workstations back in the late 70's linked to mainframes and sold it as a "warehouse pack" to reduce the need for cabling. The reason it didn't take off, it was too unstable in electrically noisy environments like warehouses and manufacturing. It is everywhere now but 30 years later.
Why would you think this is a gimick... Is it because it doesn't have SONY'S name attached to it?
Get lost man!
I think stories about Wii remotes being thrown through televisions will be replaced by stories of gamers tearing ACLs and spraining ankles.
Most Americans aren't fit enough for this type of activity.
That said, I'm looking forward to trying it.
Microsoft needs to stop trying to make new technology and try to master older technology first. Everything they send out it shit. The only reason I have a 360 is because of the games library.
This is not new thought. Microsoft is the world expert at selling Alpha and Beta quality software and devices.
Depends on the hardware. Microsoft makes fantastic mice and keyboards.
So, if you will one day be able to use this for controlling video/music playback, how the heck would it know the difference between you holding your hand up at the system to pause the video/music verse you waving at someone who just walked into the room. You can't even say it will go by what you're looking at by reading your facing direction. I may be looking at someone while wanting to pause the media. The only way to get around that without a controller would be to have some initialize motion/sound capture function like saying "computer" followed by "make me a cookie" or you'd wave both arms high above your head while jumping on one foot followed by the command gesture for pausing which is giving the system the bird... which then if the system is in a bad mood, it would return that gesture with giving you some flashing variant of the RROD just to prove that it is superior...
But really, I personally have all 3 current gen systems and I like some games with the Wiimote but I still to this day hate having to point at the screen to shoot someone with the bow in Zelda. At first I thought it would be cool to point at the screen but it got old fast.
hmm... playing Halo X with project Nata will be very cool... but wait... that means I will need to have a big living room which is well lighted and I can only play my Halo 1 hr a day... since after 1 hr of jumping rolling and running... I would be dead tired...lol
It is a very interesting concept, however in order to do whatever is promised on the video, it will require a very very powerful image recgnition software and hardware without having motion sensors attaching on our body.
Is this possible?... yes... that is how those movie studio doing their special effects and Sony's playstaion EyE already done some of them (not so perfect though)
However, can xbox 360 powerful enough to handle this well enough? ...very unlikely
Can a saperate hardware handle this well enough?.... possible.... dependent how far are they going to push to... and it is also depend on how small (or big)...and how cheap (actually ..how expensive) it is going to be.
Same questions goes to Sony's similar project. Guess we will not be bored of news in the coming couple years..lol
I hope both MS and Sony will prove me wrong just like Nintendo did at 2005 E3 with their "revolusional" Wiimote.
So when does this get used by the pr0n industry?
This is nothing new at all, us in Law Enforcement and the Military have been using systems like this for the past few years. The most common and low tech is F.A.T.S. or Fire Arms Training Simulator. The software can be set up to recognize different forms of hand held objects, weapons, ect and can change the simulation displayed to the officer based on body position and verbal commands given. More complex systems can even recognize such things as stress in ones voice or have the simulation react to stimuli precieved by the user. Not exactly hands free, but XBoxers would kill to use some of the goodies we can already get our hands on...."for training purposes."