Project Natal: Microsoft's Controller-free Gaming

The collective geekgasm heard round the gaming world last week was palpable as Microsoft released their ambitious plans for a future of video games in which the only controller used is that of the player's body. Using a camera based control system that utilizes a complex system of body, voice and kinetic recognition, Project Natal (pronounce nut-ALL) will let the gamers of tomorrow us their own body movements and voice commands to control their characters in the game, an innovation that stands to leave the Wii controller in the dust. Combined with the multi-user online platforms of today's gaming world, this stands to be the possible hallmark of a new age of gaming. The official commercial released for XBOX illustrates the coming day in which participants' bodies are increasingly an important part of the game, making the line between virtual and real world gaming and socializing every grayer.

One of the many benefits of controller-free gaming is the incredible opportunity it presents for home based exercise. Whereas today's serious gamer is caricatured as the pale faced and pudgy introvert thumbing controls in his mother's basement (the nemesis is South Park's WoW episode comes to mind), the dedicated gamers of tomorrow may well be more athletic and toned than most after endless training to beat virtual ninjas, master computerized skateboard parks, making the extra point to with the game and completely complex quests with their social network of fellow competitors. Just checkout this demonstration of one of a prototype game that is similar to old school Atari Breakout that was shown at the 2009 E3 Conference. The player is required to be in constant motion to keep bouncing back the multiple virtual balls to chip away at the games walls. Goodbye couch potatoes.

Although Project Natal is far more than just a glimmer in Microsoft's eye, don't expect this to be hitting the shelves in time for Christmas. There isn't any official release date as of yet, but industry insiders are tossing around the time frame of late 2010 as an approximation for the Project Natal gaming system and first generation of games. For those who happen to be curious as to how Project Natal got its name, it was apparently named after the home town of Brazilian born Alex Kipman, a major leader of the project.

Sources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH_gDreIdcM&feature=related
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/06/camera-e3/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oACt9R9z37U