Not So Cash Strapped Gaming News – Microsoft Project Natal

If you haven’t heard the news from E3 yet Microsoft has just rocked the video game world with the news of its in development, Microsoft Project Natal to give it’s full name .  Natal is best described as fully body motion detection on your console via the use of a modified type of web cam, what this means for games is Wii style moment creativity without the actual controller.  Actually developed by a group called 3DV Systems who were actually snapped up by Microsoft not so long ago.

Yep you should be catching on now, if you wave you arms your on screen characters arms wave too, lift your foot of the ground, yep your characters foot raises too.  The possibilities for this in games is pretty amazing and the technology doesn’t seem to end there.  Throw in voice recognition which seemed to be well implemented in the live demos and you seemingly have the next generation Wii minus the controller with better graphics and seemingly much improved functionality.

Now is probably a good time for your to see what all the fuss is about by taking a look at the following two videos which give you a pretty solid live demonstration of some of the things Project Natal can do, because its much easier to see it in video form than it is to actually describe it.

From cnet

From the BBC

Project Natal no doubt looks very cool and a lot of fun as well, i can already think of lots of really fun party games that could use the technology behind Natal, and fighting games in particular would get a much needed injection of life from this game formula alone. Is a system like Natal actually better than the existing controller format for the Wii? I think it beats the Wii controller, there are more applications for the Natal but its also limited in some other areas where having a controller is actually a benefit. Is the Natal ever going to replace traditional console gaming with a joypad? Hell no, never its not as revolutionary as everyone is making it out to be, its a step in a new direction yes, but its not the evolution of video games its more a sidetrack at the moment. Regardless the Natal looks fresh, exciting and new and i really want to try one out, Kudos to 3DV and Microsoft.

If you want to check out the very informative cnet.com article click here or for the BBC click here. Alternatively check out the official Project Natal homepage here at xbox.com, which has lots more vidoes on the various uses that Natal has.