New Technology: Project Natal

"It detects the motions of your hands, arms, legs, and body. It then inputs them into the game as if you were using a controller."







Project Natal will change the video game industry dramatically by taking interactive gaming to a new level. Currently the Nintendo Wii is the only true interactive gaming system where you move your arms to play instead of just pushing buttons. The Wii uses a controller that senses the motion of your hands as you move it through the air. The Wii then projects the controller's movement into the game. However, the problem with this system is the controller. People mistakenly throw the controller into their TV's and break the screen. The movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks Squeakquel showed a perfect example of this happing when Alvin was playing bowling on the Wii and threw the control into Dave's LCD TV cracking the screen. However, Microsoft has found the solution to the problem with their next generation console under the code name Project Natal. Natal will eliminate the use of a controller its games. This will be done by using a sophisticated motion sensor that detects the motion of your hands, arms, legs and body. It will then process those movements into the game as if you were using a controller. It can also use the built in microphone and can even scan pictures to display on the TV. One example of this was during a demo of Natal. They had a boy named Milo, who is a part of a game by Lionhead studio. Milo can talk to the woman doing the demo and interact with her. Milo also notices facial expressions and held a conversation with the woman. The woman was also able to draw a picture and hand it to Milo who took the picture and described the picture back to the woman. As of right now, there is no interactive gaming system capable of doing what Natal plans to due this fall. The games on Natal will be fun, tiring and much more interactive. They will actually make the person-playing feel as if they are in the game. All the jumping, kicking, driving and shooting done without having to worry about throwing a controller threw a TV screen. However, now players will have to worry about getting to excited and hitting the TV by hand or feet. Natal will bring us one-step closer to true virtual reality.

Project Natal (2010) Retrived April 23, 2010, from Xbox Offical Site
website: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/projectnatal/