Microsoft Project Natal

[Wanbalans]

Hi Guys,

just thought i would share this with you, looks quite awesome

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/projectnatal/

[Signor 65]

Yeah, I saw this while I was watching the news a few days ago. Looks frikking amazing! I wonder what kind of influence this will have on future games and other technology. Obviously a good one :P.

[Miktar]

They strapped two Microsoft Vision Cameras together, and pretend that somehow this is new technology. Possibly one of the best marketing moves I've ever seen. Yes, flipping through your menus using the Natal is cool, but it could have been done with the Vision Camera already. Using two cameras in stereo adds better fidelity to the motion-capture, but it's still just a glorified EyeToy. As with all things, it comes down to how well the games implement the tech, if at all. Personally, I'm not sold by all the hype.

[hideinlight]

Wonder what would happen if you aggressively towards milo.

[Insomniac]

They strapped two Microsoft Vision Cameras together, and pretend that somehow this is new technology. Possibly one of the best marketing moves I've ever seen. Yes, flipping through your menus using the Natal is cool, but it could have been done with the Vision Camera already. Using two cameras in stereo adds better fidelity to the motion-capture, but it's still just a glorified EyeToy. As with all things, it comes down to how well the games implement the tech, if at all. Personally, I'm not sold by all the hype.
Umm. Wrong.
Besides the simple RGB camera you mentioned it also has a depth sensor which is an infrared projector and what makes the technology so special and revolutionary. I've just finished a course on Image Processing and Computer Vision at university and what Natal is doing makes what I did in the course and some of the research being done at my university look primitive.

While I'm also not into the hype, especially with it being another gaming device that encourages me to jump around mindlessly, I just thought I should point out the tech is much more advanced than what you think.

[Miktar]

You're right, though it doesn't change much - they could have released an infra-red projector as a separate peripheral to compliment the Vision Camera.

Of course, I do love the irony in it all - did you see the "issue" the Natal has with people who have, *cough*, darker skin? It doesn't work. N'Gai Croal attempted to use it at the demonstrations for press, and it refused to work with his skintone at all.

I bet he'll have a column in the next EDGE about how peripherals are racist.

[X-Gamer]

Of course, I do love the irony in it all - did you see the "issue" the Natal has with people who have, *cough*, darker skin? It doesn't work. N'Gai Croal attempted to use it at the demonstrations for press, and it refused to work with his skintone at all.

I bet he'll have a column in the next EDGE about how peripherals are racist.

LMAO! LOL ! thats SOOO inappropriately funny. OK I'll stop laughing now...

If this IS true, what possible solutions could they come up with?

[Kensei]

I am curious as to what Lionhead Studios is doing with their project Milo. To be honest, I am more interested in that than actual Project Natal.

But I guess I have always been a fan of Moleyneux and his thinking outside of the box. Often his decisions are a bit, er, strange to most and I do believe that, perhaps, most are dismissing the concept of Milo to a something-I-can-show-to-my-non-gamer-partner instead of seeing the potential for new games that can be made.

:: gets off her fangirl podium::

[TiNRiB]

/off topic/

We speak about this every year, jumping off the hype bandwagon!

back on...

I think Natal was the biggest announcement of E3 only because we never expected it. But I agree with Miktar that its what the Eye Toy should have been.

I love the idea though, I'm a big DDR fan and cant wait to see what they make of this. I love Bemani games. But there are just too many good games out there for me to spend a console's price on peripherals. I mean, thats what arcades are for!

[ioiiooio]

Ultimately it will come down to how well the games are implemented, and I'm not really expecting much. I just want something that's fun to play with your mates. So far it seems they reckon it will cost around $200? Thats just stupid, they may as well make a whole new console - but obviously they won't because it doesn't deserve it's own console, it is a gimmick, an accessory, and it should be priced accordingly.

[dammit]

Can I just state for the record that "Milo" creeps me out. He's a serial killer, I'm sure of it.