The next step towards AR?, Move over Wii! Options

[imperialus]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,524297...test=latestnews

Microsoft's New Xbox Motion Sensor Blows Wii Away

Go ahead and look in the mirror. You're looking at the latest game controller for Microsoft's Xbox 360.

That's right, it's you! Microsoft took the idea of the Nintendo Wii motion controller five steps further by allowing us to control our games with our bodies — there's nothing you have to hold.

It's called "Project Natal," which sounds like a top-secret government operation, or a new energy drink. Microsoft is known for changing the name of its products before they launch, and I sure hope it does in this case.

But despite the funky name, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor after seeing the demo during the Microsoft press conference on Monday at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles.

When you consider the underwhelming reception given to Windows Vista, the Surface interactive table, the Zune portable media player and Windows Mobile, it's not a stretch to say that Natal could be Microsoft's home run of the decade.

Natal uses cameras and a microphone mounted to a Wii-style sensor bar to detect the user. It recognizes movements, talking, and can even tell the difference between me and my grandma, and not just because she's better looking.

The system has plenty of goodies, such as voice and face recognition, video chatting and speech commands. After scrolling through your movies with a mid-air hand wave, just call out "Play movie!" and "Steel Magnolias" will start rolling. Love racing games? Why not grip an imaginary steering wheel and burn rubber?

Don't worry about buying a whole new console — Natal is an add-on accessory for all existing Xbox 360s. That's great news for gamers who are tired of shelling out big bucks every five years for a whole new system.

Of course, everything looks great on stage at a well-produced Hollywood-style event. The real test will come in your living room when Uncle Chester has to catch an imaginary fish with his imaginary rod at the next family gathering.

If it's done right, every family will want this. If it's done wrong, you'll be dusting off your Wii bowling shoes and it will be a big embarrassment for Microsoft. But it certainly seems like Natal's got tons of potential.

It may be fun to play virtual horseshoes or lawn darts with your 5-year-old, but what's in it for hardcore gamers?

Microsoft Corporate Vice President John Schappert, who led the keynote address, told me that he's excited to see what happens now that developers are able to get their hands on the development kit for Natal.

Will we see "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" and "Halo" using this new controller-free technology? Schappert says that's what Microsoft is hoping for.

So that means you could be diving behind your couch to avoid an incoming grenade attack. Or jumping off the coffee table to ambush a Nazi in "Saboteur."

I recommend stretching first and wearing sweatpants.

Something tells me this will create a whole new breed of lightsaber kid.

[KCKitsune]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,524297...test=latestnews


Something tells me this will create a whole new breed of lightsaber kid.

Nothing wrong with lightsabers! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Maelstrome]

as long as microsoft does try to rely solely on third parties for the games using this, i think it will be fine.

i remember a few years back when the "hardcore" gamers started bitching about motion control. now it seems everybody is on board for it.

[Adarael]

My officemate worked on Natal, and I have to say it's a pretty neat piece of hardware. It works great for what it is, and it'll track your distance, full body position, basic facial expressions, distance, color, etc. Take the announcements with a grain of salt, though - it won't track fingers or any fine detail like that, just your basic 'hand shape'. And subtle expression changes get lost on it. But in general I've been very impressed with it.

[hobgoblin]

so basically microsoft took the sony PS2 camera and upped the kinds of things it will respond to?

[Heath Robinson]

Adarael's information coincides with what I've seen from things some of my friends have been doing for their final year work. Apart from the mesh networking stuff, my university also does some motion-tracking and human-interface work. So one of my friends has been working on how people interact with motion-tracking displays.

They're not too great at fine movement because they need to account for crappy cameras and people with poor motor control. I still think that the WiiMote is the better control system.

[Adarael]

In response to Hobgoblin:
Not really. Similar in concept, but very different in execution.

-The PS2 didn't have a camera I am aware of. My bad. I forgot about the EyeToy.
-The PS3 Eye can 'recognize' things in the same way a celphone camera can with those 'photograph the block and get content auto-downloaded' - it's based on set shapes and high contrast, not organic shapes. That's why Eye of Judgement has to have the high contrast borders on the cards. Natal would be able to recognize the actual graphics on them, *if those graphics were actual objects*.
-The Xbox Vision camera can do similar things to the PS3 Eye if anyone would ever code for Vision. But nobody outside of some niche games do anything but let Vision slap your mug on a model.

Natal uses two lenses for binocular photography, a microphone, and rangefinding to identify your position. It identifies key points on organic shapes like any other biometrics-capable camera and maps your expressions with those, and basically does the same thing with your body position.

[hobgoblin]

-The PS3 Eye can 'recognize' things in the same way a celphone camera can with those 'photograph the block and get content auto-downloaded' - it's based on set shapes and high contrast, not organic shapes. That's why Eye of Judgement has to have the high contrast borders on the cards. Natal would be able to recognize the actual graphics on them, *if those graphics were actual objects*.

i think thats a condition of the specific game, not a issue with the camera in general.

i suspect that eye of judgement was coded the way it was for ease of cpu use, so that they could use the rest for something else.

basically, turn the card into a variant of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code

and spend the rest on fancy animations and other 3D effects...

still if natal have binocular vision, its indeed a step up from what sony have been doing earlier.

[Adarael]

Yeah, that's really what I meant. While you could code something for the Eye to do biometrics and guesstimation at distance and position, that kind of code would eat up a lot of processor power and would necessarily be game-specific, OR some kind of downloadable extension. As it stands, they do the QR code type stuff (I couldn't remember the name), including a truly awesome trick for a recent Famitsu back cover - which for some reason I cannot find the video of.

Natal does all the processing with the hardware, freeing up the 360 to do purely game stuff. I think that, when combined with the rangefinding function and binocular vision of the hardware, will do really well for the end-user. The recent review on Kotaku about playing Burnout Paradise with Natal really show some of the problems, though - accelerator pedal depth being really touchy, et cetera. It ain't perfect, but it's pretty neat.

[hobgoblin]

bah, drive like a true rigger, flat iron, all the way! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/silly.gif)