Microsoft Unveils Project Natal

01 Jun 2009 at 20:55:59 by Andy Alderson

Microsoft wowed the assembled masses at its E3 press conference with the announcement of new controller technology, codenamed Project Natal.

Microsoft's Don Mattrick asked "can we go beyond the controller...can we make you the controller" before unveiling the new motion capture and voice recognition tech.

Project Natal appears to simply be a small box that connects to the bottom of your TV which captures in real time your movements and recognises your voice. A video showed a gamer performing kung fu moves as well as another playing Skate and performing tricks by simply jumping around.

Later, a presentation by Kudo Tsunoda showed how you can navigate the 360 menus by simply moving your hands and speaking. However, Microsoft was not done.

Steven Speilberg joined Mattrick on stage to emphasise his admiration of the the project and said "it's not about reinventing the wheel, it's about making the wheel invisible."

Peter Molyneux was brought onstage next and stressed just how important he believes Project Natal to be. He stated how the controller has been "the biggest barrier" to true interactivity and proceeded to reveal that Lionhead has been working with the tech for months. He then showed a video in which a woman named Claire interacted with a character named Milo using only her voice and physical gestures. The conversation seemed astonishingly natural and at one point Claire even handed Milo a piece of paper which was seamlessly scanned by Natal and received by Milo.

We think Microsoft may just have stolen E3 with this presentation and Project Natal is undoubtedly a tantalisingly futuristic method of interacting with your games console. And the best news? Natal is compatible with every existing and future Xbox 360.

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