There has been a lot of fuzz lately (and I mean a lot) about Microsoft’s new peripheral device that was announced back in the E3 of 09. Countless sites have wrote about it and rumors have spread like wildfire as it is widely believed that with that, the whole “gaming experience” will change.
But what is Project Natal? Some say its nothing but a usual overhype from Microsoft, others, embrassing the positive side, support it fanaticaly and can hardly wait until the release date.Peter Molyneux has even said that the introduction of Natal in the gaming world will be similar to the one of the mouse in the computer systems. For now all i can say is that untill the next E3 where a lot of things are going to be revealed I try to keep a neutral stance against it.
Natal was first mentioned in last years E3.Until then little is revealed but the following information is confirmed so you can rest assured. What we know is that a company named 3DV initialy inteded to sell the product to Nintendo , whose boss, Satoru Iwata, refused saying that he would only invest on whatever he though would appeal to the Nintendo audience.After that Microsoft saw an opportunity there and started the development of Natal somewhere in 2008.Natal consist of a peripheral device(pics and demo at the end of the post) which contains an RGB camera, a depth sensor, a multiarray microphone and a custom processor all that running a software enabling Natal to run on every Xbox 360 console.
Now all these may sound exciting but I remember about 5 years ago that I used to have something similar to that…hmm what was it called….oh…Eye Toy ! and it even run on PS2!!So what sets Natal appart from eye toy and other similar devices?Acording to Microsoft Natal is nothing like the rest of ‘em.Unlike traditional 2-D cameras and controllers, Project Natal tracks even the slightest of your body movemets in 3-D space, it also understands several emotions by analyzing the pitch of your voice and evenmore, it is claimed to be able to understand facial expressions, making it able to recognise each person individualy.
Now eventhough I really want to believe all the above from Microsoft, I simply can’t. I mean, c’mon lets be realists, motion controllers are not even close to the accuracy required to replace standard controllers, and I don’t see how Microsoft with theoriticaly no experience on that field will manage to fullfil all their promisses.Additionaly, as stated from a developer, “Natal is not made to replace the controller”.From my point of view it seems like an overestimated addon for the xbox which in the worst case senario will end up like eye toy and sixaxis.
Now to conclude, eventhough I am not convinced from Natal I like the fact that motion sensors are getting back in fashion and I am sure that the due to the market competition that exist,these systems will be pushed to their limits in the near future.
**Rememebr to leave a comment if you have something to add, thanks**
PICS AND DEMO
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