Posted by: Jane Douglas
The centrepiece of Xbox’s E3 media briefing was Project Natal, a codenamed sensor peripheral that allows for game control without a physical controller.
Senior vice president Don Mattrick unveiled the sensor bar device that sits below the TV screen and detects motion, saying that Xbox was going beyond even Nintendo’s Wii remote offering.
"You are the controller"
"Can we go beyond the controller? Can we make you the controller? We can," said Mattrick.
With celebrity gamer (and, more recently, game-maker) Steven Spielberg on stage to talk up the system, the crowd was shown first video and then live demonstrations of Project Natal.
By means of a camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone and custom processor, the Natal device can track and recognise full body motion in three dimensions – including, Xbox says, subtle gestures and even facial expressions.
That comes coupled with intelligent voice recognition to detect not only commands but also emotional shifts in the player’s voice.
Facial recognition
In the demo, presented by creative director Kudo Tsunoda, an "early prototype" dashboard interface could instantly recognise Tsunoda’s face and sign him into his Xbox account, after which he used hand swipes to navigate through the familiar NXE menu slides.
Two avatar-based games were put on show: Ricochet, a full-body game where the player kicks or hits bouncy balls down a bowling-type alley to destroy boxes, and Paint Party, a paint application with a voice-activated colour picker and motion control painting.
No word on the system’s availability yet, but "developing kits are arriving at Xbox’s partners today."
Molyneux’s Milo
Peter Molyneux took the mic to marvel further at Natal, spurning the traditional physical controller: "The thing in our hands, that has evolved and got more complex, has been the biggest barrier to what we want to create: a connection to our game worlds."
He introduced a video of a Lionhead project developed over the last few months: a character called Milo, a little boy who interacts with the player via Natal, seemingly having full-blown conversations. Whether Milo can stand up to live scrutiny we shall see: we’ve got a hands-on demo with the little guy shortly.
Read all the latest from E3 on MSN Tech & Gadgets.
MSN Tech & Gadget Blog UK 
This is pretty cool technology. I hope Microsoft develop a PC version that could be used to control Windows, it would make an excellent replacement for the mouse, imo. p.s shouldn\’t the headline for the article read "Microsoft unveils hands-free gaming" since the Xbox 360 is just a product, not the company developing it?
It really does not suprise me that microsoft are trying to grab some of the wiis spotlight after failing to beat the ps3 in the high specc gaming sector. This is the signs of a company trying to do anything to expand the product life cycle of their failed product.Seriously after the recall they had shortly after it came out where they tried to save money by putting their own graphics chip in which failed big time and then having to pay a vendor to make one anyway lol FAIL did they actually make any money off of the 360 yet. Stick to operating systems guys its the only thing your good at, oh wait thats a lie vista is terrible and you couldnt even fix it so you got oracle to do it and called it windows 7 i cant believe your actually going to charge customers who already have vista for windows 7 which is the same operating system but fixed and a few extra bits put in to make it look new.Whatever you do dont mess up 7 because it may actually be your last chance before everyone switches to either apple or linux.
PS3……….load of rubbish………Any serious gamer has a 360……i believe the graphics are better and the xbox live network is massive…….This is the next step to gaming…….hands free…..with the wii you need a wii remote or nunchuck…….the games are rubbish and graphics are pathetic.360 is still the biggest games console on the market today……so they had a few gliches……nothing that couldn\’t be fixed……if you know what you are doing.
In response to AdamYou really don\’t know what you\’re talking about. Microsoft make profit on every console sold, where as Sony lose about £50 – £100 per console sold. So to suggest that Microsoft are trying to save a dead console is ridiculous, this has re-invented how games are going to be played in the future with NPCs that react to emotions, this surpasses anything Sony ever dreamed of.Microsoft have created gaming for the next 20 years, where as Sony are going to stick in their small bubble, with an overpriced console and their dream of being a true competitor to the Wii and 360
Ooof go Ryan on the anti-ms bash there..Wii, great console, family oriented.PS3, loads of power, what does it do with it?XBox, best of the 3 imho, get it a USB BluRay player and then whats the PS3 gonna shout about next, Sony missed the boat with the PS3 imho.As for the OS jibes, yeah Vista was naff, 7 is shapping up to be what Vista should of been, as for Apple and Linux, nice, but not mainstream..
I have all 3 and a PC with 295GTX in Sli, Wii, xbox360, PS3 and what does the PS3 do with its power Blue ray Framrate is not as good as stand alone player why with all that rendering power, the Wii is good but could do with more adult games but online the 360 works better than PS3 to be honest the ps3 was a waste of money if fact my pc beats them all put together and the games are a lot cheaper but as consoles go I have a colection even pre console like ZX81 and comodore64 and I may be a bit retro(I have been gaming since the ZX81)but with the games on these new consoles you just dont get value for money the games are to short for the amount you pay same with PC i used to play games like Elite on the C64 for days at a time now you can do some games in less than 8Hrs any at the end of the day its down to what you like the best and with samsung thinking about a console it could all change again but if you want me honest opinion the 360 has my vote
the voice and face recognition might work but as for this aint been used before doesnt any one remember sony eye toy??? worked off movement, 360 still by far best console but make online free to get at sony
the graphics on ps3 are no better than the 360 at the moment, but xbox live is far far better than ps network.i think that if microsoft can getthin new tech way of contolling games to work properly and have some killer software to go with it, the 360 will be unbeatable. of course price will play a major part in its popularity but lets hope they get it right. and soon, i can\’t wait for this. ooh lala.
I think it is fantastic as to what E3 has thrown up this year, not only are they bringing the MGS franchise over to the XBox, massive slap in the face for Sony, but I want to know as to why no-one is really commenting on Milo, think about it, as far as I am aware, this is a completely free and open conversation that can be had with AI, can anyone actually say that they are not excited to be able to interact openly and have any discussion, where by the AI actually responds also to your tone of voice so it can detect moods? coupled together with the way cybernetics are coming along!If Milo works and lives to the scrutiny, then surely is this not a turning point in what can be achieved? And I have to add, its on the XBox, can any other system actually boast this kind of interactivity with AI?
The good ol\’ console wars are still going, fuelled by the ideas being thrown out here!I gotta admit-I wanted to love the Wii, even if only for Red Steel and Zelda but I just couldn\’t get on with the remotes, and Sony\’s copying of the idea at the last moment showed no real evolution of the basic principle; in a way Natal could just be another Eye-toy and that would be a shame-although if it pushes things forward then we could be looking at the next gen already; it comes down to how it\’s used.A lot of the discussion here is focused on facts we know: PS3 is too expensive and, like PS2, simply a platform to get another film format into people\’s homes, and on hardware that needs a rethink-a powerful processor is not the only part of a console that makes a difference.How about evening things up online tho-maybe reduce the fee for people who have been on there for a year or 2? We\’ve shown loyalty to Live, how about returning the favour?
well instead ov pumpin millions into new stuff y dont u get the 360 to run ok its the best console but @229.99 for a elite it seems a bargain but im onto elite number 7 in less than 2 years with problems from rod to disk drive thinks its empty when its not to me losing 2 yrs worth of game saves wen my 360 thinks no hard drive is on when it is BUT I CANT WAIT FOR THE RACING GAME OV THE 21ST CENTURY FORZA3 BRING IT ON
no name is right, i am on my 4th 360 due to the ring of doom, its been out a few years now so surely a company as savvy as the big m could sort it out. however even if this latest 360 of mine goes red i will still get another, can\’t live without the blighter. i have seen repair kits on ebay to sort them but i don\’t know if they are worth it or just someone making money fom misery
just a quickie, i like seeing how people are comparing Project Natal to the Eye-Toy, and it almost works on the same principle, but having facial and voice recognition alone shows that the technology has advanced.But with Last.FM and Sky also coming onto the xbox, wow, this is everything that the PS3 wanted to be, a complete home entertainment system, think Sony just went the long way round and tried creating a maret that wasn\’t there or ready, Microsoft have kind of eased people into it, settle them into the gaming experience first before enhancing the entertainment angle.But agreed, they really do need to sort out the problems that cause the red ring, ointment anyone?
do you have to buy a new consle or do you just buy the sensor with the sowfware?
I MIT BE GETING E3 GAMES AND PROJECT NATEL
Project Natal sounds AWESOME!! I\’ll be gettin it!
Has anyone actually played it or seen any reports from people who have. I can only find this guy who had 5 mins first hand with Natal but I want to know more. Is it really as responsive as the videos and this bloke suggests?http://www.t3.com/news/microsoft-xbox-360-natal-first-play-at-e3?=39035Any rumours what games we\’re likely to see as well? I\’d love to see the athletics games comeback. No more tapping buttons, wiggle joysticks!
put it this way the wii is out of business
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when will be avaialble to buy and how can i get to be part of volunteer for xbox company