MicroSocial Xbox 360 | Project Natal
Microsoft has been hitting the headlines at E3 with a raft of added functionality for the 360. The least surprising move is the introduction of an on-demand download gaming service that means owners will finally be able to download full Xbox 360 games from the comfort of their sofa. New titles will be available every week and the system will apparently support credit card purchase – which means no more pissing about with Microsoft Points. So far no details have be given as to pricing or release schedules compared to retail.
Microsoft have also announced that Facebook Connect, Twitter and LastFM will all be integrated with Xbox Live later this year. Games will begin to support features like playing against your friends and then feeding game play data and stats back into the system (kinda like Raptr – which suddenly feels a little redundant).
By far the most exciting announcement is controller-free gaming with the gesture based movement recognition system – Project Natal. This is effectively Microsoft’s answer to the WiiMote that combines an RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone and custom processor running proprietary software that can track player movements in 3D. The kit also responds to voice commands, directions, and even shifts of emotions – all delivering ‘a new kind of immersive gaming experience’. The camera and sensor assembly can recognize faces, body movements, objects, and even individual voices, any or all of which can be used to integrate a player into a gaming environment.
Social network integration and controller-free interaction are further indications that Microsoft is attempting to open up it’s platform to a new audience. While neither of these additions is revolutionary, they are both very welcome and pretty smart in a culture proven to be hungry for both casual gaming and social interaction.
UPDATE:
Here is Sony’s motion sensor, which is a kinda augmented reality thingy:
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4 Responses to “MicroSocial Xbox 360 | Project Natal”
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Well, while the idea of motion-sensitive controller-free gameplay is hardly a new idea, I have yet to see a system that tracks motion in as fine detail as Natal appears to. Everything else I’ve seen has been fairly spotty in the camera department.
I saw Cinema Blend seemed concerned that the experience would be -too- immersive. As reported by Newsy, they’re essentially concerned that by breaking down the interface to as close to real life as possible that people will feel more attached to their games. I’m not sure I buy into that, but it’s worth considering at least.
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