Xbox 360 gets Motion Controller with Project Natal

Microsoft unveiled for the first time to public a Motion Controller for their Xbox 360 codenamed ‘Natal’ at the opening of their annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Xbox 360 is a premier video game and entertainment system. With the addition of “Project Natal” Xbox 360 becomes a ‘No Strings’ attached gaming entertainment.

This Xbox Addon allows users to control games, movies, and anything on their Xbox system by their hand and face gestures without the need of any controllers.

Project Natal, pronounced “nuh-tall” is a code name for a new way to play with no controllers required. Natal senses a wide range of human actions with the help of a group of sensors. Also it is capable of doing this for multiple users simultaneously.

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, ‘Natal’ tracks your full body movement in 3-D, while responding to commands, directions and even a shift of emotion in your voice.

The 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.

The Project Natal SDKs have just started arriving and depending on how long it takes developers to bring motion control support to games, it could around one year to see the product in the market. Xbox lovers will thus have to wait till mid of 2010 to get their hands on Natal.

Check out this demo video of Project Natal from Microsoft