Yes, it was actually announced a while ago but what do you want? I just started here. Project Natal is the newest control scheme by Microsoft for the Xbox 360. If it sounds and looks familiar it’s because the Sony Playstation 2 had the Eye Toy. While Natal (pronounced nuh-tall) is similar in the sense that it is a camera watching your moves while you interact with the virtual environment, there is where the similarities end.

Natal is a sensor based add-on featuring “RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone, and custom processor running proprietary software”. Basically it will do everything except hold you afterwards and cook breakfast in the morning. The cool thing is that it will track up to 48 “points of interest” on a subject and can track up to four players at the same time.

Of course you are asking, “Why would I buy this when I already have a Wii?” Well that’s where this thing gets really interesting. The sensor will recognise facial features and you have no hand-controller at all. Again, this might not wow some people but thinking about the possible uses of a system that can map numerous points of articulation on a human body, translate that into a virtual space and do it ACCURATELY, is the kind of thing that people have been wanting/dreaming/dreading for years. Let’s keep this aimed at entertainment uses though and say that there is nothing stopping this type of technology from literally putting you inside the game or movie or digital comic or whatever. And what pray is the best part? No controllers accidentally thrown into the TV screen during virtual bowling.

The thing I don’t get is Xbox having Steven Spielberg to help push the launch because he is known for… video gaming? Spielberg was quoted by BBC News as saying, “The video games industry has not allowed us the opportunity to cry… We now have a little more room to be a little more emotional with Natal technology than we did before.” Creepy. I’ve never understood why he gets off on hurting people’s feelings but obviously senior Spielbergo has never played Chrono Trigger.

Is Xbox 360 Project Natal what it’s cracked up to be?

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Featured Contributor: Eric McDonald

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