The Way You Move: Xbox 360 'Natal'

Microsoft Xbox 360 Motion Sensor Controller Demo

At this year's E3 conference, Microsoft unveiled it's much rumored motion sensor technology code named "Natal". Gamers would be able to play titles on the console using no controllers, no wires, basically no limits. Not only will it pick up large gestures, but it's even supposed to be able to detect minor movements such as wiggling of fingers. What makes this possible is a peripheral motion sensing camera that allows the device to detect pixel distance. In other words, it can detect not only the color of the objects in front of it, but how close they are to one another.


With Sony releasing demos of their own motion sensor technology, many are wondering what the delay was in releasing this and competing with the Wii. Remember a little gadget called the "Eye Toy"? The ability to track motion sans controller has been in development for a while. Consider the games that are typically offered on the two consoles. I would imagine games in the relm of Halo and Grand Theft Auto become difficult due to the currently established mental model of how those games are played. Moving your controller to walk around walls, pressing buttons to shoot make more sense than trying to do that in the real world around imaginary object. It's not to say that it's not possible, but in the initial phases it probably wasn't very practical. However the games demoed in the video would, in theory, work really well with controller-less game play. The gestures used to play these games would make enough sense that you wouldn't have to actually have a physical object in front of you.

The additional features such as teleconferencing and the navigation through the video and menus also seem very possible. There are many applications already using the technology. The only thing that seems a bit far fecthed is when the girl puts on a virtual outfit and models it on the screen. I would be interested to see how that worked in person. All in all what Microsoft has managed to do with this technology is a huge step into the future of game play. At the very least it begins to nip at the problem with obesity and America's sedentary lifestyle by making us get up and move.