Microsoft gives us a look through Project Natal's eyes (video)
Ilan Spillinger, Microsoft's Xbox 360 VP, was on hand in Tel Aviv yesterday for a showcase of Project Natal. Although there wasn't much in the way of groundbreaking stuff, the resulting video does show off the motion control system's gender recognition (done through Natal's facial recognition ... you filthy child) and ability to track two players within the frame at the same time. A tipster from the audience tells us that earlier lag issues have been eradicated, although some jitter was indeed apparent when the second person stepped into Natal's field of vision. Either way, it's looking like Microsoft's Xbox 360 peripheral is progressing well toward its release near the end of this year. Go past the break to see for yourself.
[Thanks, Roy]
[Thanks, Roy]























Ghost Recon Future Soldier with Natal based squad control FTW!
I said it before ill say it again.
Black and White 3.
@BlackedOut
How awesome would that be
@snyluc13
pretty damn awesome
@BlackedOut better yet, this could be a nice way to bring titles like Age of Empires or any rts because of this control.
@BlackedOut Black and White 3 would be epic with Natal support!
@AngelLulu If natal is going to suceed, microsoft is going to have to make a clear divide between Natal and the conventional 360. If games are going to have both types of controls, the more serious game developers are going to go elsewhere. Opinions- http://bit.ly/natal-project-original-view
Bout time we got some more Natal news. Should be interesting..
Cant wait till the next official announcement.
Filthy child? So?
@Alexster404 If it really does gender recognition by face, I know some girls that'll likely trip Natal up.
@MowDownJoe
News at 10 Group of girls protesting Natal's gender recognition process.
@Alexster404 Some men as well....imagine if one of those Final Fantasy characters used it....
@Alexster404
Can't wait till my long hair confuses Natal, and I have to enter GUY in manually.
I hope thrte is an option for bro
@The Jambo Natal has facial recognition, so you would only have to tell it once.
@The Jambo Get a haircut you filthy hippie!
Seems nice but still getting PS3 for now.. :(
@NeoPhyt3
Wait? you don't have both systems by now?
@Ipadkiller
So they got one person sorted completely and there is only a little bit of jitter when a second person comes and it's still months away from release. This thing will be awesome. I know I'll make this a day one purchase, I really hope some FPS or fighting games take advantage of this...and maybe some games like yugiohorpokemondigimon...haha
how would it see manly woman or a womanly man or what about burn victims or people that are just ugly or have a horse face ???
@DefPoet
dunno, but i fear it might give my character a third leg!
lol
@DefPoet
Yeah. How's Lady Gaga supposed to get her game on?
@NHAnimator Natal obviously can't see her "Poker Face" silly..
@wickywills LOL +1 sir, +1
@DefPoet
I bet it uses its depth perception for boobies.
@JamesHks
Looks at screen ..... sees female avatar.
Looks down.... sees man boobs.
Major Nelson sir, we have a problem here!
@JQuB3 'Natal obviously can't see her "Poke-Her Face" silly..'
There, FTFY...
@DefPoet
Natal can obviously spot those hot ovaries
@DefPoet What kind of avatar will be used for someone who is a tranny?
@ircmaxell Upvoted, +1
"Move" has a camera and the controls. I'd like to see how GOW will be played using Natal (preemptive reply: No the 360 controller isn't single-hand friendly so enough with the claim it can be held alongside Natal)
"Move" on the other hand, has it all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZxupr5ZsvY
@TareG
you can just shout "bang! bang! bang!" repeatedly at the thing with your pointer finger and thumb looking like a gun.
/s
It wouldn't be the first game to use prop controllers... ever heard of the wii?
@TareG I agree with sonys push to motion controls appear to be further ahead, and im pleased they have put it into a mainstream decent looking game (Socom4).
Im still not convinced by natal; as although the technology is there and clearly seems to be working well, its all just tech demos and *shudder* shovelware.
I want to see this tech demonstrated in a high profile game, and shown in a way that adds something spectacular to it. E3 will be very interesting I think.
@TareG
"Move" will also be more expensive in the long run. Natal can sense 2 people with 1 unit. Want to have 2 people play with move, its like the Wii, you need to "Sets" of controllers.
@trashpants
I don't think we'll see natal used in any MAJOR games coming up this year or early next year (GOW, Reach, ghost recon, etc.) Those games have been in development for years and you can't just throw in a new control scheme without going back to the drawing board. Would love to be proven wrong though.
@TareG Ah bro natal is hands free! So there is no need to hold the 360 controller with one hand. You would hold it just as you do now. And maybe make hand or controller guestures as you play. I think both move and natal will be great in there own way.
@ZeroHour682
I can't believe the majority here agrees with what you said. "You would hold it just as you do now. And maybe make hand or controller guestures as you play....."!!
wow... Yeah I hear that crouching and crawling on the floor playing MW2 is a lot easier than doing it with a controller in your hand.
@trashpants It has been tech demo'ed on Burnout Paradise. Sugar Ray Leonard was trying it, see youtube.
@TareG Wow. Zero imagination. Thank goodness we don't have people like you making games or pushing technology.
Here's an easy one. You're playing, oh, I don't know, some Army based squad game. You hold the controller and control your character just as you would any other game.
You see your AI team-mate standing across the street... instead of mapping even more squad commands in a crappy manner to something like the D-pad (or any of the other crappy implementations we've seen) you raise your hand clutched in a fist. This tells your squad to wait. You peek around the corner, you see an opportunity to attack. You then raise your hand again and gesture to your squad to move out from cover and run over to the car in the middle of the road.... with hand gestures. As soon as they begin to move, you go back to moving your character as you normally would with the controller.
See? SIMPLE. And this is just an off-the-cuff idea. The opportunities for Natal are astounding.
@Gigaflop
OMG... if this entire system revolves around using it for what couldn't even be described as a trivial order given in a whole genre of games called First Person Shooters (in all my years playing FPS, I never needed to do that), then give yourself a pat on the back for supporting this fail system.
@Gigaflop
GAve me goosebumps. I SERIOUSLY want this NOW.
@Gigaflop OH, and Psssssssssssssst: You happen to know what's the worst thing about playing FPS on consoles? Aiming. The mouse/keyboard combo is gold. However, with Playstation Move, simultaneous aiming and shooting couldn't be more natural.
If you ask me, what's more important... telling my teammates to stop, or AIMING AND SHOOTING, it would be an easy choice, wouldn't you agree?
@TareG
You mean Nintendo has it all.
Sony is just Me Too, Too late.
@TareG I cant believe how quick everyone is to forget! There are two VERY important points that everyone is forgetting about. 1. When they first announced the project officially, they made a point to explain that you would be able to map any item to be able to use as a "Controller". Remember the kid that held his skateboard up to the camera, it scanned it and he was able to use it in the game? Why not pick up a cheap gun from the $ store, scan that in, congratulations, the game now shows you holding a gun. Second, the most important point, project Natal picks up on 48 different points of your body. Do you honestly think that a few of those points will be used for your hands? Say 1 point picks up a finger sticking out by itself and another picks up the rest of the hand, or even Natal picks up on all fingers. You put your finger through the trigger hole of your $ gun, pull back, bam, you are shooting.
@JDawg183 1) The skateboard's DESIGN was being scanned to be implemented in the game. It's not used as a "controller", as in your gun example. 2) Moving with hand and finger gestures is a whole lot worse than using an analogue stick build into a grip which you are also using to shoot (e.g. as in the mouse)
@TareG You forget one very important thing. Natal uses a 3D camera, whereas, Move uses a regular camera. 3D Cameras have depth perception, as you and I do. Therefore the possibilities are greater.
@DonnyChi91
Noooooooooo. Actually Move's 3D depth perception is a LOT MORE ACCURATE than Natal's. It's actually a huge differentiator and a main selling point. PSeye detects the change in the size of the glowing ball, translating this into depth in extreme accuracy, compared to Natal.
@TareG
couch potato
If Natal gets the sex wrong there will be lawsuits in the future.