“Project Natal is the code name for the new controller-free gaming and entertainment experience from Xbox 360. The name “Project Natal” has several sources. Microsoft Corp. traditionally uses cities as code names. As a result, Alex Kipman, who incubated the project and is from Brazil, chose Natal, a city along the northeastern coast of Brazil, as a tribute to his country. In addition, he knew that Natal also means “to be born” in Latin. Given the new audiences “Project Natal” will bring to Xbox 360, this felt right,” the Redmond company explained.
One thing is clear, with the advent of Microsoft Surface, Windows 7 and Xbox 360's Project Natal, Microsoft is looking to make the NUI pervasive. Essentially, the software giant's vision for the future involves computing surfaces that blend seamlessly into everyday objects and that require nothing more than voice, touch or gesture to understand commands from the end user and to perform the associated tasks.
Project Natal for example is based on a sensor that features a camera, a sensor capable of interpreting depth, a multi-array microphone as well as a custom processor with the Redmond company's software on top. The RGB camera is designed not only to keep track of the user, but also to perform complex facial recognition actions, so complex that Natal is capable of even detecting emotions in its users. The multi-array microphone filters ambient noise from the voice of the user and requires not headset for activities such as chatting.
In addition, the Natal sensor features “an infrared projector combined with a monochrome CMOS sensor [that] allows “Project Natal” to see the room in 3-D (as opposed to inferring the room from a 2-D image) under any lighting conditions. [And a] proprietary software layer makes the magic of “Project Natal” possible. This layer differentiates “Project Natal” from any other technology on the market through its ability to enable human body recognition and extract other visual noise,” the Redmond company stated.
During Microsoft's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) briefing held yesterday(02.06.09), visionary filmmaker Steven Spielberg took the stage to introduce Project Natal and its controller-free gaming.
"Today with cultural visionaries at our side and controller-free gaming on our horizon, Xbox 360 authored a new page in home entertainment history," said Don Mattrick, senior vice president for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. "For us, this E3 is about breaking down barriers - between generations, between games and entertainment, and most important, between video game players and everyone else - in a way that only Xbox 360 can."
Unveiled for the first time to the public was "Project Natal," (pronounced "nuh-tall") and a code name for a revolutionary new way to play, no controller required. See a ball? Kick it, hit it, trap it or catch it. If you know how to move your hands, shake your hips or speak, you and your friends can jump into the fun. "The only experience needed is life experience."
Compatible with any Xbox 360 system, the Project Natal sensor is the world's first to combine an RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone and custom processor running proprietary software all in one device. Unlike 2-D cameras and controllers, Project Natal tracks your full body movement in 3-D, while responding to commands, directions and even a shift of emotion in your voice.
In addition, unlike other devices, the Project Natal sensor is not light-dependent. It can recognize you just by looking at your face, and it doesn't just react to key words but understands what you're saying. Call a play in a football game, and players will actually respond. Want to log onto Xbox LIVE? Simply step in front of the sensor.
"The next step in interactive entertainment is to make the controller disappear," said Steven Spielberg. "With 'Project Natal,' we'll see games that bring everyone together through technology that actually recognizes us."
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