Microsoft announced at E3 last year their plans for Project Natal. Is it just a Wii knock-off or will it be a changer of the game?
Project Natal is a motion control and voice recognition system for the Xbox 360. People will be able to control there home entertainment using voice commands and gestures. There won’t even be a need for a traditional controller. The sensor is a nine inch wide bar consisting of an infrared sensor that allows it to see in 3D in any light condition. The software technology will allow voice recognition, facial recognition and gesture recognition. It will also allow tracking and mapping of up to four users at at time from 48 different skeletal point on the human body.
So far Project Natal has gotten pretty good reviews. The only game that has been tested is the dodgeball game that was demonstrated last year at E3. The most common complaint is of a slight lag time.
There is a short list of games announced for Project natal with more being announced as we draw closer to its release. So far there is Paint Party, Meet Milo, Ricochet, Alan Wake and Burnout Paradise.
Sony is releasing a similar item so only time will tell which one will dominate the market. Both are set to be released during the 2010 holiday.