E3: Microsoft shows off gesture control technology for Xbox 360

A video demonstrating how Microsoft's new technology, "Project Natal," emphasizes that it's a whole-body experience.  More from the Microsoft press conference. Credit: David Sprague / For The Times

 Microsoft kicked off the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles this morning by giving the boot to the iconic video game controller.

Microsoft wants people to start using their full bodies to play video games. The Redmond, Wash., software giant showed off a sensor-based technology that recognizes faces, voices and body joints to affect the movements on screen. In a demo game called Ricochet, players can use their arms, legs, torso and head to block an onslaught of virtual projectiles. Another game called Paint Party lets users splash virtual paint onto an on-screen canvas. Players call out different colors to change the palette.

The effort aims to attract a broader audience to Microsoft's console. Most of the 30 million Xbox 360s sold since November 2005 have been snapped up by avid young males drawn to complex shooter or adventure games such as Halo and Gears of War.

To lure women and families to its console, Microsoft last year changed the look of its online service, Xbox Live, to make it more approachable. It also added Netflix's Instant Watch service for movies on demand and is adding high-definition streaming through its Zune video service. Many credit Netflix with the surge in Xbox Live subscribers, to 20 million today from 8 million a year ago. "We know there have been people who have bought the Xbox 360 just to be able to watch Netflix movies," said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of strategy and business development for the Xbox business.

But playing games is another matter. The company's trademark green controller features 12 buttons and two joysticks, far too many ...

... for the novice user. "The controller is still a barrier," Kim said. "But once you remove the controller, what do you replace it with? So we came up with a way people can play games by doing what they do naturally -- by moving and talking."

The technology, which Microsoft code-named "Project Natal" after a city in Brazil, won't be ready this year, and company officials declined to specify whether it would even be ready by next year. The company said it was shipping more than 1,000 kits to game developers today.

"This is about building awareness about our technology," Don Mattrick, Microsoft's senior vice president of interactive entertainment, said in an interview. "We want to talk about our vision and engage third-party developers." 

Mattrick said Natal combines several technologies developed by Microsoft Research, a division of the company that has worked on so-called natural user interfaces, exploring ways for people to use computers using natural movements or voice commands.

While it's too soon to tell whether the technology will click with consumers the way Nintendo's Wii has, independent game publishers are giving it the thumbs up.

Robert Kotick, chief executive of Santa Monica game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc., said, "It's a clever idea."

-- Alex Pham

Comments

[Paul]

Damn, if Microsoft didn't just sucker punch Nintendo.

What on earth is Nintendo going to show in its press Conference tomorrow when they are praising some gadget that attaches to your Wii remote when XBOX says "Screw the Controller all together".

Sony PS3 has now gone the way of the dodo. They need to go back to the drawing board and reinvent themselves.

[Nick]

I saw the demo and it is really impressive. It almost looks like the begining of something new in the interface design. This thing will be big and not only on XBox

[Scott]

Not sure how this will work as a mass-produced item, but it's the sort of cool new technology Microsoft should be investing in, instead of sinking billions in a fruitless chase to catch Google. That interactive table they demo'ed last year is another product with a lot of potential.

Microsoft needs to be an innovator again, coming up with stuff no other company has the resources to develop.

[Ubroc]

Do we have 911 and the subsequent security/military investment in face recognition software to thank for this quantum jump in erasing the boundaries between what is real and what is virtual? When this sensor technology hooks up with head mounted displays a seamless interactive experience, in real time and in your own physical space will be possible for a very affordable price. XBOX not required because the field of play will be the world itself.

[Perry Callas]

There is another highly sophisticated action-interface tool which responds in real-time to physical gestures. It's called a "baseball bat" and it comes in a variety of sizes and weights. Users must practice a short time with this exotic controller in order to learn to hit the "ball," another technological breakthrough.
Using eye-hand coordination and full-body responses, the user must use the "bat" to hit the "Ball" before the "Ball" passes his or her position. Preliminary testing on the paired tools has proven that they are not only exceedingly real in heft and appearance, they are durable and relatively inexpensive. Current consumer concerns include finding adequate platforms in which to experience the full range of the game's capabilities,but developers are confident that, with enough time and commitment, they will make this new, super-real game the rage of the market. Tune in next week for a review of a related new game, "Tag," a thriller which involves one user chasing another and trying to "touch" him or her before he or she escapes.

[rich]

Obesity.
Diabetes.
Failing grades.
Adult children living at home.

Yeah, the video game, er, electronic entertainment revolution has really helped this country become stronger and more intelligent. Is it any wonder America has become a joke in the global community? Or that corporations look elsewhere when recruiting prospective employees? I have nothing against video games, but I find it depressing that children, both adult and juvenile, would rather sit inside and play Wii baseball instead of walking down the street and playing the 3D variety, breathing fresh air and getting some REAL exercise.

Perry Callas' post is not only hilarious, but right on the money.

[Chris]

um, I think rich and Perry are very angry individuals, yes we are all aware that you could never replace the real physical thing but geez, it's something fun for people who aren't gamers to do, instead of just going out and watching a movie (which is INDOORS mind you) they could just hang out with their friends at home, I swear some people want the whole world to be boring, and they jump to conclusions, as if everyone is just gonna rely on interactive games from now on, geez, it's FUN, it's NEW, it's EXCITING, get over it, don't look at it, don't buy it don't even think about it if you don't like the idea, you should feel "lucky" that you're not not part of this crowd that wants a product like this, there you go, you're unique, and your life will now suceed because you haven't given in to games like this. Happy now Rich and Perry?

[Picaro Barsinister]

Rich and Perry,

So, your outside playing real baseball, tag, etc. when it starts to rain. We go home and continue to play using our consoles. You go home and cry "rain, rain go away".

In the summer we go outside and do summer activities. In the winter, we stay inside and do winter activities which include full-body gaming. What do you do? Read a book? Watch TV? Crotchet?

Get over yourselves.

[Perry Callas]

When it rains, some soft, pampered, obese individuals run inside and play with their little video thumb-twitchers, while actual, functioning human beings stay outside and keep playing real sports.

Unfortunately, when the current tube-sock wearing, pajama-clad, pasty-faced, slack-muscled, ineffectual, effete, decadent, anemic, uncoordinated generation meets up with the Red Army for the first time, it will not be on a plasma screen.