A closer Look At Project natal: Is It Really A Wii Killer?
Monday 1 June 2009 @ 8:09 pm | By Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano 22 CommentsSo if you read Dasuraga’s log of Microsoft’s conference today you read about Project Natal, the suposed Wii-killer functionality of the Xbox 360. Now there’s a video to explain it further.
First things first, I’m a little reluctant to believe everything shown in this video, it could very well be just application concepts. However, if it’s real, if the technology is as good as shown, then this is huge! The technology to clearly capture the movements of several people, with facial and vocal recognition would open up games to a whole new range of experiences in games and applications. Forget flailing your arms around, skating or driving a car, those are blunt and coarse examples of what could be done.
Project Natal is extremely promising, but I remain skeptical, it could very well end up being a supped up eye-toy.
Is this a Wii Killer? I doubt so, not this generation, by the time it catches on and develops to full potential it would be too late in the game to knock the Wii off its place. However this totally changes the outlook of for the next generation of consoles. Now Nintendo has real competition and the only real winners will be us, the gamers. What are your thoughts on Project Natal? All hype? Game-changing? Let us know!
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Abraham 'Velcor' Duarte
David 'KidKobun' Bruno
Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano
Random J
Sol
Are you kidding me!? If this actually works as shown it would give me a reason to buy the 360.
Is soo good that I can’t believe it :O If this really works I buy a 360 too buuuuut… I think this would cost too much <.<
I think the same:
Seems too good yo be true, at least for this generation.
Still, can’t wait for Virtual Kung-fu!
So, when do we change the tv screens to holograph generators? I feel all this a bit alienating, mostly because we have seen this in dystopical or utopical sci-fi. Still, i would love to see how does this recognition technology works.
I still remember how XaviX got so pwned by the Wii…
one other thing to consider is the games… we could very well have the best tool in the universe and have nothing to apply it to…
while it sounds great in theory then the developers would also have to make good software for it…
otherwise its just a fancy, probably expensive, useless addition to the 360.
the games would make me wanna buy the 360.. not just the new shiny hardware…
The Israeli company behind the technology has done some impressive things, but this seems like one of those high concept sort of peripherals. Tech Spec wise you’d need some really fast computing power to get that to work, let alone the cost for the device seems already more expensive than $100. Today’s motion capture technology is processed by super computers. Having this in the privacy of my own home is a stretch.
Also, how much space would I actually need to do Kung Fu and NOT hurt myself?
true.. I’d hate to think about those who don’t have gigantic living rooms to do most of the stuff…
id like to see a concept video of a guy doing the same in a cramped apartment xD
Yea, imagine the potential for injuries, i mean, we all remember the wiinjuries, right?
No strap is gonna save you from these ones.
This is just a ‘concept’ video. If you download it off the xbox live page, in the bottom corner it states that.
But it’s still a fantastic idea if they can pull it off right.
there’s no reason why nintendo and sony wouldn’t shit in their pants
with natal, your whole family can play jeopardy or wheel of fortune. just say the answer
imagine – online chess without controllers
what’s not cool about it?
its cool.. but i must confess… i don’t have a massive living room… while pushing an imaginary button is nice enough i would want to pay for the obviously expensive peripheral to just play game shows…
This looks like a great piece of Tech and its good to hear dev kits are being shipped out already.
Lets hope that developers really get creative it as the possible uses are endless.
I do think though that when it comes to gaming use Sony’s comments about a trigger/button being required is a valid one.
The competition between Sony,Microsoft and Nintendo is really bringing out some fantastic new tech. The “NEXT GEN” looks like being a massive step forward for the way we will control and use these entertainment devices.
I cant wait!!
So this Milo kid is a sort of artificial intelligence. It can recognize a person’s figure, voice , and emotions. It also is connected to the interwebs, correct? well , my question is: what would MIlo do (or have to do) if he witnessed the player choking to death (or any other life threatening situation)? would he connect to 911? You see , if he doesn’t, then who is liable? and if he does, then where is my privacy ? And what if Milo was interacting with a known terrorist.. would he allert the authorities ? and if he didn’t , could we lock him in a “memory stick ” and ship him to Guantanamo Bay for treason?
@Nab.
First there isn’t anything near real A.I. on the human level… yet. So is just another nice looking program no different from NPCs that now interact with you in most RPGs. Second since is a game plataform, where you DO ACT as eather a murderer, terrorist, soldier, alien, etc. And given that this would be the perfect way to go digital with something like COSPLAY, it would be unrealistic to ask any type or “reponsable” behavior on part of this or anyother software.
Reasonable software ha!. I can’t wait to see the fetishers getting a hold of the devkit…Project Sexytime….
ok fine, it is not an AI at all. But it is still a system that monitors you, and it is connected to the interwebs…so it would be the first thing in line to save your life if you were in danger. Everyone will enjoy the marketing aspect of this system, but will anyone wander if it could also serve as a security system? and should it ?
Yes, it could be a perfect security system, at least for the area that it covers,it could register the sound and video of the situation and contact online you friend and/or relatives and therefore help prevent a crime or help in the prosecution of it. But i see that very far away in the future, right now in the mind of de developers all that there is is this: “Can we really make it work THAT well???” I picture the dev team fantasising the most bizzare tortures for the merc team that made that video… yea.. right now, nail out.. one by one… :p
No question about the fact that the ONLY thing on the developer’s mind is to make it work flawlessly. Man has pushed the limits of technology just to realize what started as science fiction, and I’m confident that they will succeed on this project. The problem is that making rules is not the developer’s responsibility (far from). example: the atomic bomb used to be just fiction, and it is now a scary reality. and i doubt that Robert Oppenheimer had any participation in the creating international sanctions on who should or should not own one of his “toys”. and how they should be used , if at all . Do you see my point?
Indeed, i see it. In fact it would be not hard to imagine a hack to actually create some functionalities not originally intended for this particular equipment (both legal and illegal). Like a security system for instance. My bigger doubs are on the real capabilities of the system, the definition of the video, the voice recognition, the sensitivity to movement and the actual interaction with the software. I have no doubt a product with these features (as shown in the video) will be developed, but i see this hard to achieve THAT level of functionality with th xbox 360.
[...] We’re hard at work for all our readers. Plus we’re giving away some great schwag. A closer Look At Project natal: Is It Really A Wii Killer? When we first saw this demoed we had a reasonable amount of skepticism. Let’s face it as [...]
The key word is DEMO. A finished product under non cotrolled conditions is a radically diferent thing. And there is the little problem that no review is really objective.