Project Natal, due to be released at the end of this year, is Microsoft’s answer to the Nintendo Wii. Two cameras, a microphone and many hours put in by people writing very clever software has enabled the device to add advanced gesture, facial and voice recognition to the 360. All the consumer has to do is get one and plug it in to upgrade their console This give developers many more tools when creating games etc for the Xbox, certainly an exciting prospect.
Using it for games isn’t something that I particularly look forward to; I imagine that it won’t be particularly responsive, very inaccurate and a bit of a novelty which will wear thin extremely quickly, remind you of any Japanese hardware? Ooooh burn! (Just so you know I think the Wii’s a fantastic innovation, just not a games console… more like an alternative to family board games like Pictionary and Tiddly-Winks).




