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Yoga Natal game appears on GAME retailer's Xbox 360 release schedule (update: Amazon UK too!)
Time for some more salacious prognostications about the future, courtesy of the wily folks over at vg247. The team there claims to have obtained internal documents from UK video game retailer GAME that lists the release dates for forthcoming Xbox 360 titles. The listing is headlined by new iterations of Crysis, Call of Duty and Metal Gear Solid, but the highlight for us gadget junkies is at the very end: Yoga Natal, scheduled for an October release. Now, even if this doc comes straight from the horse's mouth, game release dates are notoriously prone to fluctuation, so let's not read too much into that October date. What's intriguing is that Microsoft does indeed seem intent on creating specialist games for its Natal experience, and it may be that they'll all include Natal in their titles to make compatibility abundantly clear. Or this may be just a big bad April 1-related hoax, we'll live either way. [Thanks, Matt R.] Update: We've now also discovered a pulled Amazon listing for Yoga Natal, and we've stashed a screenshot of its Google Cache version just after the break [Thanks, Ian].
Ultra vague accelerometer patent filed in 2006 seems to cover every touchphone on the market, granted last week
We're going to try and avoid the hysterics: patents are a complicated business, and the fact that they're business usually means that in the worst case scenario, an appropriate amount of money can make problems like this go away -- nobody's going to take our phones away from us. Still, in what we have to chalk up to regular United States Patent and Trademark Office hijinks, or perhaps just a very forward-looking innovator, Durham Logistics (some secretive LLC based in Vegas) has been granted the patent to pretty much any use of an accelerometer in any computing device ever. Its "Method and apparatus for controlling a computer system" describes basically any use of a motion detection sensor in changing the state or implementing functionality in a device, which would obviously apply to most every smartphone on the market, along with a good number of laptops that use accelerometers as free fall sensors to know when to park the hard drive. The patent was applied for back in 2006, and is based on earlier patents from 2004 and 2001 to give it some extra cred (Apple's own motion control patents, for instance, weren't filed until late 2007). Still, it's rather general, vague, and obvious, and all the examples given seem to be about scrolling, selecting icons, and swiping through pages (not popular uses from accelerometers currently) so time will tell if it will hold up in court if Durham decides to go after any one of the multi-billion dollar companies that are currently "infringing."
PlayStation Move requires only 2MB of RAM, developers breathe sigh of relief
While it's a crying shame that Sony's PlayStation Move won't have full four-player support, at least the technology is efficient; our buddies at Joystiq are reporting that the camera-and-wand based motion control game system will only minimally impact game performance. Quizzing Sony's David Coombes, they found out that the advanced image processing required to make sense of your wild, flailing movements will take only 1-2 MB of RAM. Of course, when you consider that the PS3 has only 256MB of fast XDR memory to begin with, that 2MB isn't as "insignificant" as Sony would have you believe, but coupled with the company's claim that the whole shebang takes "under a frame" of the Cell CPU's processing time, we're inclined to think it won't be much of an issue for the end user. Assuming they fix that nasty lag, of course. Check out our full PlayStation Move guide for more details.
PrimeSense talks full-body motion control at GDC, gives us a video demonstration
PrimeSense was formed in 2005, and unless you're a sickly obsessed silicon junkie, you've probably never heard of them. All that changes today. We sat down with the company at GDC to learn more about the chip that it produces, and we left with an imagination sore from being stretched so severely. Put simply, the company manufacturers a microchip that, when paired with off-the-shelf optics, can create a 3D grid that a computer can understand. The purpose here, as you can likely glean, is to enable PlayStation Eye-like interactions, or as the company suggests, a "more natural" way to interface with devices you use every day. Rather than grabbing the remote to switch channels or snapping up that HTPC keyboard in order to flip through your stored DVD library, PrimeSense would rather you kick back on the sofa and gently flick your hands in order to turn to this week's Gossip Girl or sort through those classic horror flicks. %Gallery-87985% It's important to remember that PrimeSense isn't in the business of creating hardware, but today we were shown a reference design that looks an awful lot like an enlarged webcam. The device is completely USB powered, and while the unit shown in the images and video here was obviously a standalone device, we were told that it would be possible to integrate the solution into displays and the like in the future. They also mentioned that the depth location -- which enables it to map out a room and detect your entire body -- was done on-chip, with only the associated middleware taxing the CPU. Still, they've had success running this on Atom-level processors, so there's certainly no big horsepower hang-up preventing it from hitting up a variety of markets. More after the break... %Gallery-87979%
Microsoft's Project Natal lag calculated to be a tenth of a second
Eager for a bit more Project Natal news now that Jonathan Ross let slip what may or may not be a launch date? Then you're in luck, as MTV's Multiplayer blog has taken advantage of a recent Natal demo session to peg down exactly how much lag we can expect from the motion-sensing system (assuming it's not fine-tuned any further, that is). After timing some 40 movements with a stopwatch, the site found that "life-to-screen" transitions ranged from 0.08 seconds to 0.12 seconds, or about a tenth of a second on average. That's obviously a bit slower than the response of an old fashioned controller (or even a Wiimote, for that matter), and is just enough to be noticeable when you're playing. Of course, it's the games that will ultimately matter the most, and we still haven't seen much more news on that front.
Project Natal coming in October, says Jonathan Ross (video)
As unexpected sources of tech news go, UK television presenter Jonathan Ross is pretty high up there. But lo and behold, the man's had a chance to spend some quality time with Microsoft's Project Natal setup and while he's not altogether impressed with the current state of it, his note on when it's coming out is the one thing nobody has known for sure yet. "Got until October" may mean an October release, or it may imply they can work on it through October in time for an early November release (something we heard earlier), but altogether we find this both credible and logical considering the natural urge to try and get the latest gaming tech in well before the holidays. Need more convincing? Skip past the break to see the Wossmeister having a whale of a time with that balloon-blocking game that's embarrassed many a journalist already.
Nintendo said Ninten-no to Project Natal in 2007?
Great balls of console wars fire! A top-level Nintendo insider has revealed that the motion-controlled gaming setup we now know as Project Natal was offered to the Japanese company way back in 2007 and promptly turned down because it was considered too expensive. We're told this decision came from supremo Satoru Iwata himself, who was worried about latency and the purported inability to sell it at "mass-market prices." This implies, of course, that 3DV Systems was fully responsible for Natal -- which Microsoft staunchly denies -- but CVG seems to consider its informant's words to be beyond suspicion. All we know for sure is that the stuff's coming, and awkwardness at house parties is about to reach a whole new level.
Sony's PS3 motion controller might be called Arc, or something far less bodacious
Remember that retooled controller that Sony seemed darn well inclined to bring to the masses with its PlayStation 3? Some might say that was the original Arc, but given that just about everyone laughed the design off and forced the company's hand with the conventional SIXAXIS, there seems to be a distinct possibility that the suits are about to get their revenge. According to "a concrete source speaking under conditions of strict anonymity," VG247 has it that Sony's forthcoming PS3 motion controller will be labeled Arc when it hits retail shelves sometime "this year." If you'll recall, we knew that the device was called Gem (or was it Sphere?) during its internal production, but this is first time we've been notified of a proper name for those "on the outside." 'Course, only time (and high-ranking marketers) will tell whether the moniker will stick, but we find ourselves strangely attracted -- who knows, maybe we're just sympathetic.
GestureTek brings Eyemo gesture control to Android, Momo tracking engine for Windows Mobile
GestureTek was showing off some of its gesture-based options for controlling your TV at last year's CES, and it's now back again with a few more slightly interesting pieces of software. That includes a version of its Eyemo software for Android, which is already available for range of other platforms, and lets developers take advantage of a phone's camera to add gesture control options to various applications -- although that only involves gesturing with the device itself, not your hands. The company's recently announced Momo software for Windows Mobile takes things one step further than that, however, and will indeed apparently let you control a game or other application with hand or body gestures -- although that'll likely work best on a device with a front-facing camera.
Engine Software develops DSi motion control technique, demos it on video
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands... Engine Software has developed a hitherto yet undisclosed method of motion sensitivity for the Nintendo DSi (which we're guessing utilizes the camera). That got your attention, right? Well, wait'll you get a load of this: the company has been kind enough to try the thing out on a game of Tilt -- on video. According to our friends at Joystiq, the company's currently working on a DSiWare title that incorporates the technique. See for yourself after the break.
Apple updates patent for magic wand remote
Apple has updated a patent that they already held featuring a sort of a Magic Wand -- a remote control for operating a media system by controlling an on-screen cursor. That might sound familiar if you own a Wii -- even the pictures look very similar to the way the Wiimote currently works. And the pictures tell us something else: not only does the patent itself mention a "media system," but the user interface looks very similar to the current Front Row interface on the Apple TV. So it's likely that if Apple is updating this patent, they're working on a new remote to control their set-top box. But that doesn't mean it's the only thing they'd use a motion controller for -- I speculated a long time ago that Apple might want to put their now substantial App Store library into play on another platform, and a motion controller would go a long way towards replicating the touchscreen and accelerometer capability of the iPhone. Of course, this patent only means Apple is playing around with these ideas, not actually releasing hardware based on them. But it just shows that they're thinking along the same lines in terms of improving the browsing and interface experience.
Sony says PS3 motion controller was codenamed 'Gem,' might or might not actually be called Gem
We never heard much more of the rumored Sphere codename for Sony's PlayStation 3 motion controller since it cropped up a few months ago, but it looks like we now finally have another name for it besides "PlayStation Motion Controller." That word initially came from EA's John Riccitiello, who let slip the name "Gem" during his talk at the UBS 37th Annual Global Media Conference when speaking about Sony's and Microsoft's new motion controllers. Just odd enough to work? Well, not so fast, as Sony would only go so far as to confirm to Kotaku that Gem was "an early code name for the product," adding that they "haven't announced final name at this point." Not exactly a full-on non-denial denial, to be sure, but it would seem that the door for Gem is at least open a tiny crack. [Thanks, Aaron]
Sony's PlayStation motion controller patents venture into abstract realms
We've seen plenty of PlayStation motion control patents from Sony, some of them surprisingly similar to what we've actually observed of the as-yet-unnamed controller. This new one, however, gets a little odd. The basic structure seems familiar, but Sony's recently-filed patent application deals with add-ons in wild ways that not even the peripheral-happy folks at Nintendo have envisioned. Our favorite is probably the double-ender (Fig. 6B for those of you following along at home), which is probably the most assured recipe for a little brother's bloody nose to be run by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office since the longstaff was invented. So, does this mean more cash to shell out for a "full" PS3 motion control experience? We can't imagine Sony being gung-ho about that strategy in the face of the (as yet) add-on free Project Natal, but we suppose we'll just have to wait and find out.
Square Enix President predicts Wii HD for 2011, doesn't see big impact for PS3 and Xbox motion controls
Image courtesy of GAME Watch Sure, they sound like the words of a man who hasn't begun development of any motion-controlled titles for the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, but we're still intrigued by President of Square Enix Yoichi Wada's statement (he's the guy on the left) that the motion control additions to the PS3 and Xbox 360 aren't that big of deal. He cites the other "pillars" of console use (like video playback) that somehow make motion controls a minor player -- though we'd say the Wii's sales numbers would beg to differ. Speaking of the Wii, Yoichi thinks all three major consoles will start to look rather the same by 2011, when believes the Wii followup will hit the market -- in line with other rumors we've heard for the "Wii HD." Three "HD" consoles with similar input options and similar graphics output certainly sounds like a boon for developers, we just hope there are enough similarities in the control systems and enough "impact" in PS3 and Xbox motion control sales to make mega triple-platform motion-controlled blockbusters feasible. [Via Joystiq]
PS3 motion controller's launch titles will work single-wandedly
The PlayStation 3 motion controller's actual launch date is still shrouded in multiple layers of mystery, but when it finally does make it to market, Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida wants to assure you that you won't be needing to purchase two wands for any games -- at least at first. All launch titles will work with just one motion controller and camera, but there will be some options for those wanting to dual-wand -- "experiences will be enhanced if you purchase a second," he said. That does leave open the possibility of future titles mandating a dual-wand setup -- we wouldn't be surprised if some sword fighting simulators required it -- but at least you can dip your toes in first and see if that bucket of plastic game peripherals really has room for more. [Via Joystiq]
Sony thinks it's a generation or two ahead of the Wiimote with upcoming motion controls
Sony sat down with Eurogamer at the Develop conference last week, and had some interesting things to say about its new motion controller technology -- including a bit of polite smack to talk about the Wiimote. Unfortunately, we're not sure that Paul Holman, SCEE VP of R&D, was referencing MotionPlus when he said that Sony's tech is "another generation forward, or even a couple of generations" ahead of the Wiimote. Holman, along with Kish Hirani, head of developer services, sidestepped questions about MotionPlus specifically, but were more than happy to talk down Project Natal -- with a couple generations of EyeToy already under their belt. What's more interesting is what they revealed about their own product, including built-in microphone that can detect the direction of audio, and the availability of the glowing ball to developers to add immersion -- it can be lit with any color in the spectrum. They wouldn't confirm much about what buttons the controller would have, other than that it would have buttons, but it seems Sony's main objective is providing developers with a broad buffet of control options to pick and choose and implement. They're also sticking by that Spring 2010 date, though the launch could be somewhat contingent upon what games are ready by then. [Via Joystiq]
Bill Gates: Natal for Windows coming to an office near you
The idea of bending over to pick up a virtual tennis racket in front of that 50-inch flat screen in our living room makes perfect sense to us. In fact, we can't wait to see Natal come to the Xbox platform. However, the idea of manipulating an excel spreadsheet on a 15-inch screen within a 5 x 5-foot cubicle sounds daunting, to say the least. Fortunately, Microsoft's plans to integrate Natal into corporate Windows environments appears rather sober, albeit, entirely lacking in specifics. In an interview with CNET news, Bill Gates says that Natal's depth-sensing camera won't be limited to gaming use, "but for media consumption as a whole, and even if they connect it up to Windows PCs for interacting in terms of meetings, and collaboration, and communication." Without going into detail, the Microsoft Chairman adds that use of the technology in the office, "is getting much more concrete, and is pretty exciting." In fact, Bill sees it delivering "incredible value" when used within cubicle farms. Perhaps. We certainly won't argue the value of Natal for gaming or even manipulating content in a home theater setup like we've seen with Toshiba's Spatial Motion Interface, but for the office, incredible value... really?
Sony nabs patent for everyday object motion detection: the fragile glass of your TV won't know what hit it
All we've got to say is that they'd better be selling seats to the first living room demonstration of this tech when somebody gets cute and grabs a real baseball bat for a demo. Sony has filed a patent for technology using the PlayStation Eye which can detect regular objects in 3D space and file them away in a database for later use in gameplay. Naturally, the camera already does object motion detection of a sort with the blocky embedded codes on Eye of Judgement cards, but this seems to be taking that tech to a new level, and would imply that you won't necessarily need to be waggling that goofy ball-on-a-stick controller that Sony demoed at E3 for all upcoming motion control titles for the PS3. But for some reason we're sure we should be scared of whatever combination it does turn out to be. [Via Joystiq]
Sony placing PS3 slim manufacturing orders for delivery in July?
We haven't heard much about the PS3 slim since E3, but that doesn't mean it's been entirely quiet out there -- the hot rumor today is that Sony's signed manufacturing agreements with both Foxconn and Pegatron to build the revised model in time for July delivery. That much we believe, since it's been backed up by a couple different credible reports, but here's where it gets totally insane: there's a suggestion that the slim will be the last PS3 model of this generation, and that a next-gen console based on Sony's motion controller is due in spring 2010. We don't buy that at all, since the PS3 is just entering its prime and Sony was clear that the motion controller was for the existing console, so we think this rumor is getting garbled down the wire -- it's far more likely that the slim is being prepped for an August launch to coincide with those rumored price cuts, and that new PS3 bundles that include the motion controller are set to drop next year. That's just our take on the matter, though -- we'll see how things shake out.
PS3's motion controller: force feedback, up to four per console
Sony has taken a few of its developers aside and doled out a few new morsels of info about its upcoming PlayStation 3 motion controller. Leaving the Sixaxis as the black sheep of the family, the wand supports force feedback from the get-go, and up to four of the devices can be tracked at one time. The technology can work in conjunction with PlayStation Eye's face / head tracking and built-in mic, but naturally that's gonna tax the Cell processor more. The company's reportedly considering some joint use of the motion remote and standard controller, with the example given of holding the wand as sword and DualShock 3 as shield. We're not sure if that'll somehow count additionally toward the max wand limit -- probably not, at the expense of not using the more accurate color-changing ball tracker -- but it's definitely more cost efficient for the consumer than having to pick up another remote. Tentatively launch window is still Spring 2010, which as it turns out is infinitely more than what we know about Natal's release date at this point. [Via Joystiq]
