"Sync is here at the annual E3 video game convention, which officially starts tomorrow at the Los Angeles Convention Center, but there was plenty of big news at today's Xbox conference.
Confirming a month of speculation, Microsoft unveiled the "Natal" (pronounced "nuh-tall"), a codename for a device that sits in front of the television and lets you interact with your games using your body and voice – no controller required.
Filmmaker Steven Spielberg introduced "Natal" to the audience of video game industry types, while a Microsoft spokesperson explained how it's the world's first to combine an RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone and custom processor (running proprietary software), all in one bar-shaped device.
Due out some time in 2010 for the Xbox 360, the gadget tracks your full body movement in 3-D. For example, you can kick an in-game ball to score on a net or catch it in midair. Walk up to your TV and let the sensor read your face to log into your Xbox Live account. Or use your voice to call a play in a football game.
"The next step in interactive entertainment is to make the controller disappear," said Spielberg, who currently has a game he conceived (Boom Blox Bash Party) on the Nintendo Wii. "With 'Project Natal,' we'll see games that bring everyone together through technology that actually recognizes us."
Gimmicky or gotta have it?
At a "behind-closed-doors" demo of Project Natal last night, I tested the new peripheral -- which looks like the eyes from the robot Wall-E -- on three different games:
* One was a driving simulation (EA's Burnout) and instead of holding a controller I gripped an imaginary steering wheel in the air and usd that to turn my car's wheels. Step forward with yoru right foot for gas or step slightly behind your body to reverse. Wow.
* The second demo was the dodgeball-like exercise Microsoft showed onstage, where you must wave your arms wildly to stop red rubber balls thrown at you (as if you were trying to stop them from leaving the TV screen). When they bounce back, they break bricks and that's how you complete the level (think Breakout or Arkanoid).
* The third and final demo was Peter Molyneux's "Milo" artificial intelligence demonstration. A young boy is on a tree swing. I tol him my name and within a second or two, he hopped off, called me "Marc" with a British accent and walked towards the screen to say hi. I tried to "talk" to him, which didn't go as well as the onstage demo (perhaps it was staged, somewhat) but when I told him a joke (as instructed by Peter), he laughed. Apparently, he doesn't understand words yet but intonation, tone, volume (e.g. if you get mad, etc.).
Project Natal works, folks. And I'm excited to see how this Xbox 360 peripheral (likely due out in a year or more) will change inteactive entertainment as we know it."
