Xbox 360 - Project Natal

Well some time has passed, enough for some privileged testers to get their hands on Microsoft's Project Natal and enough time for Natal's creators to reveal just how the hell this fancy gizmo works.

Wait a second, just what is so special about this Natal thing?
It mops the floor with Nintendo Wii.The Wii revolutionized the industry showing that true immersion in a game was finally possible. It wasn't executed with the graphical power of the Xbox360 or PS3, but who cares? It was fun! Thus became one of the biggest stickest points for the Wii.

The 360 offered sheer graphical power.
The PlayStation continued to expand it's gaming empire with volumes of games.
The Wii simply ignored graphical power and went the route of what was the most fun.

But it appears as of June 1st, 2009. Microsoft has done its share of listening to the community, seen the popularity of the Wii and decided to wage war. Introduce Project Natal, it does something the Wii (much less anything) can't do. Get rid of the controller. The Wii relies on the use of controllers to push buttons and gain information through physical movement. Project Natal requires only one controller, you. No buttons. No controllers. No wriststraps (Wii).

"The only experience needed is life experience."
- Project Natal tagline

But the question of how is something like this possible, is one that is being asked over and over again about this device that has been seemingly pulled from the future. Besides that's what this article is about so it only makes sense to explain it.

Natal (as pictured above, although this has been said to be an engineering model) consists of two cameras. One is an RGB camera used in facial recognition, as well as deciphering different people in the room. In that, two people in identical outfits (or different outfits) can be distinguished and tracked seperatley from one another. The other camera is a combination of an infared projector that allows the camera to measure distance (thus depth) in a room to view the room in 3D as opposed to the usual 2D recognition under any lighting condition. A few privleged testers are saying that they had the privlege of actaully seeing what the camera sees and that wireframes of their bodies appears 100% accurate on the camera and moving towards the camera turns their bodies to red and as they move further away they turn blue.

On top of the two biggest peices of the puzzle, Natal also features a multi-array microphone to detect a wider spectrum of voices (enabling voice recognition) and allowing for Xbox Live headset free communication. Finally, something we more than likely will never be privleged to know is the custom software/hardware running in this device to enable body recognition, and associating voices with bodies in the camera.


This is the official marketing/commercial for Project Natal.

Note at the very beginning it says "Product vision: actual features and functionality may vary." No doubt Microsoft is merely covering themselves, but luckily a few things can be confirmed in the video. Lets run through everything in the video. Note that I'll use "possible" to describe games that weren't demoed, but possible given the games that HAVE been demoed.


Fighting - 100% possible.
Look at Ricochet and Paint Party.

Driving - 100% confirmed.
Testers at E3 tried out Burnout, and it performed exactly as shown.

Monster Game - 100% possible.
Look at Ricochet and Paint Party.

Soccer - 100% possible.
Look at Ricochet and Paint Party.

Skateboard - 50% possible.
Tony Hawk's ride prove you can use a skateboard controller, it only makes sense that Natal would allow you to NOT use the controller. If you can drive with it, why couldn't you skateboard with it? However, scanning your own gear for use in the game? His hand covers a portion of his board, clearly this is one of those ideal dream scenarios. But hey, we aren't saying it can't happen.

Facial Recognition - 100% confirmed.
Demoed at E3, walk in front of the camera and you are signed in. Although who leaves their Xbox on all the time for this kind of encounter? Then again I suppose it wouldn't matter, if you turn the Xbox on you are more than likely sitting in front of it, hell even if you walk away and come back you would get signed in. Hrm. I retract my initial joke criticism of leaving it on all the time.

Connect and Share - 75% possible.
You can already video chat (Xbox Live Vision) so no need to sell us on that. But trying a dress on that your friend shows you? From the video it looks as though she drags the dress and drops it on a completely accurate version of herself on the screen. I could see putting it on your avatar for more clothing options, but yourself? It seems possible given that the camera can do 3D capturing AND the tech exists to isolate the background and you. Combining the two makes this seem possible. No confirmed tests by anyone proves this.

Game Show- 100% possible.
Microsoft already wanted to make primetime gaming a possibility since last years E3. It seems doing this kind of incorporation only makes sense. Even connecting with another family? Why not, of course this arguably the point of Xbox Live. The focus here is on the camera's ability to independently track different family members by slamming their fist into palm, and voice recognition. But the game does pronounce both family's names perfectly. Either Microsoft is about to compile a huge text to speech database, or they actually only have two names in it now.

Controller Free Entertainment - 100% confirmed.
This was demoed at E3 on stage and worked effortlessly. You really can browse the entire Xbox interface with a wave of your hand.


So the moral of this blog post?

"The future is here courtesy of Microsoft."
- Adam Dzak, DorkCorp