Project Natal video features smack talking, scruffy teenagers

by David Hinkle { Jun 1st 2009 at 7:15PM }

One of the biggest announcements at Microsoft's E3 keynote was Project Natal, an ambitious project using camera tech developed by 3DV. The keynote promo video shows off many planned uses for the new peripheral, running the gamut from something as simple as beating up an old, feeble man, to complex voice recognition and scanning features. It's ambitious, to say the least, and only time will tell if the company can pull it off.

Tags: 3dv, e3-2009, natal, project-natal

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Parappa92 @ Jun 1st 2009 7:20PM

Es tu Wii?

Wiizer @ Jun 1st 2009 7:30PM

*Product vision: actual features and functionality may vary.

Destron @ Jun 1st 2009 7:40PM

+1 yo.

BUGz @ Jun 1st 2009 7:42PM

it's a Family Thing guy's.

Unknown @ Jun 1st 2009 7:48PM

@Wiizer
that is exactly what i was thinking the whole video. Most of the things shown will never see the light of day, and honestly i dont think anyone would play those kind of games.

Video game interaction like trash talking a virtual enemy is not my cup of tea. By using a sensor bar type device it would be very difficult to integrate control plus sensor bar action into one game.

I think they missed the hardcore and casual market.
Trying to be like number one is not always a good idea. Alot of my friends as well as myself have owned a Wii and we've all sold ours. PS3 and 360 all the way.

Unknown @ Jun 1st 2009 7:47PM

P.S. by adding *Product vision: actual features and functionality may vary.

they pretty much said- Hey this is our product by don't hold your breath for any of these products.

aced911 @ Jun 1st 2009 8:11PM

There is no conceivable way that this will work half as good as this trailer shows. It's a great idea and I really wish it could work but we still have cell phones that can't understand using voice recognition not to mention xbox live cameras that can't put me "in the movies" without having a "blue screen" background.

Just like "OnLive" has a great idea, they just can't execute. Remember all the promises the xbox live vision camera just couldn't keep? All the tears I shed? *sniff* *sniff*

jahd5000 @ Jun 1st 2009 11:21PM

also agree... i love it but this wont have half this features and it would take forever.
I like it a lot, but for that kind of controlling, i better wait for the next generation of gaming where this will actually work properly and fully underrstood by devs. For now, im sticking to my PS3 DS3 :D

arrrgh @ Jun 2nd 2009 11:35AM

i'll stick to my pseye....which they almost immediately stopped making games for, following its release. yay trials of topoc :S

Destron @ Jun 1st 2009 7:21PM

That video was pretty wahjah.

Nadril @ Jun 1st 2009 7:23PM

I like how that skateboard demo totally shits all over tony hawk's RIDE.

Honestly it is crazy ambitious but there certainly are some awesome possibilities here.

Deezul @ Jun 1st 2009 7:35PM

The same thing I was thinking. "I can buy this cool camera interface that will let me play several different games, or I can buy another plastic peripheral for one game."

LaughingTarget @ Jun 1st 2009 7:48PM

I was just wondering why the skateboard didn't have gigantic fingers painted on the bottom of it.

PSN: John-Paul-Jones @ Jun 1st 2009 7:49PM

LMAO, i liked how the kid had a real skateboard but he instead opted to virtually play inside the house while it was sunny and warm outside

good concept, though

Brendan H @ Jun 1st 2009 8:01PM

I was waiting for the kid to play the game while on his real skateboard.
"Oops, mom, I slipped and my skateboard went flying and broke the TV! Also, I broke my ass. Quick, call our lawyer!"

Haven @ Jun 1st 2009 11:04PM

I chose to play the game instead because the nearest skate park is 30 minutes away.

Misfit Toy @ Jun 2nd 2009 12:55AM

Little Johnny decided to clean the bottom of his dirty shoes on mommy's rug while shredding it up on the virtual sidewalk. A win-win scenario.

Antipilor @ Jun 1st 2009 7:25PM

Yeh, their never gonna pull off even half the crap they showed. We'll be lucky if it can implement any body movement into a game that's playable.

Destron @ Jun 1st 2009 7:39PM

True dat. I'm specifically wondering about individualization - the whole "family" (family in quotes because no family today sits on the couch together to play games) is sitting on the couch cheering the kid on and they're moving about as well - how will the interface decide which movements to track?

LaughingTarget @ Jun 1st 2009 7:49PM

I think that's part of the facial recognition thing they talked about. The movements can be separated by face.

ExpandedFlame @ Jun 1st 2009 8:59PM

at E3, they did show it. a LIVE demo, not a pre-recorded video. but they showed multiple things with people on stage doing stuff. it seemed quite accurate and responsive.

NewJohnny @ Jun 2nd 2009 3:05AM

ExpandedFlame is right, I saw the IG_N HiDef stream and it really does work, voice recognition and all. Peter Molyneux demoed a project that was amazing.

robert borrego @ Jun 1st 2009 8:30PM

hahahha and i thought the wii trailers were terrible.

Lagster @ Jun 1st 2009 7:26PM

looks impressive in vid but imagine it wont work that well in real life. like the bit where it recognises the little kid opening his mouth. believe it when i see it for real. good idea but not sure the technology is there yet and th voice recognition bit. how accurate is that in this day and age(answer not very) and so imagine this lot will be same or worse. i may be bit pesamistic but seriously after shambles that was nxe can you blame me?

Nadril @ Jun 1st 2009 7:27PM

Well I assume the technology will work a bit like a 3D scanner, if I had to guess.

Brendan H @ Jun 1st 2009 8:10PM

There's a video of them doing a real-time demo at E3. An Asian girl kicks, hits and heads balls that are flying at her (saw it on gametrailers.com). There seemed to be a bit of lag between her moves and the game. It could be the lag associated with the big video screen behind her, but I doubt that would account for all the lag. So file this under "too early to tell."

Dan (PSNID: SnapAttack) @ Jun 1st 2009 8:16PM

@Brendan H
So, it's an Eye Toy/PlayStation Eye? That's working out well for Sony after both attempts...

ELUNO @ Jun 1st 2009 8:32PM

Have in mind that the kid actually roars, and being it able to detect audio, I guess it's really possible.

Ringo @ Jun 1st 2009 7:27PM

I call bullshit-riddled video!

Oh hang on, it's E3...

MaRRODkez @ Jun 1st 2009 7:27PM

If they can pull this off and read all that input accurately, then wow, more power to them. However that won't change the fact that holding your hands up on an imaginary wheel looks remarkably stupid. As far as the skating goes, that looks remarkably shallow. You can put your foot down to go faster, and jump in the air to trick? I'm just wondering how they'll pull off a wide variety of inputs.

Quiz game looked cool, but again I wonder how they'll consistently keep track of who 'buzzes' in first, or keep track of where each player is. People tend to move around a little while sitting around gaming.

Doombot (zuburi) @ Jun 1st 2009 7:46PM

To be fair, playing a set of toy drums or a toy guitar also looks remarkably stupid. It's still a lot of fun.

Kenny Powers Fastball (PSN johnnynumber5) @ Jun 1st 2009 7:47PM

I'll bet any amount of money that the final product won't work anything like as fluid as we saw in the video. It's a great concept but at this point it's vaporware. Same thing with the weird little boy simulator (pedophiles rejoice) they demoed. Basically, I'll believe it when I see it. There is no way in the world it will work that seamless and perfect. I just don't buy it. I thought only Sony demoed imaginary tech?

MaRRODkez @ Jun 1st 2009 7:50PM

No, I agree totally, playing toy drums/guitar can look stupid if you care about it. I suppose I moreso meant that there's a lot to be said for the tactile sense or feel associated with having some sort of actual controller in your hands when you do this sort of stuff.

I'd take my Scene-It controllers over pounding my fist into my hand and yelling at the TV over this any day.

lol at 'pedophiles rejoice', nice Johnny

Doombot (zuburi) @ Jun 1st 2009 8:06PM

I hope my post didn't imply that I'm more excited about this than I am :p

It could be okay, but c'mon. Seems like it's just a more advanced version of the PSEye or Xbox camera - and it's not like there's been anything really earth-shattering on them.

I will give it a chance if I see something that looks good being demoed at a store, but yeah. I'm not going out of my way to look for info on it, and I agree with you re: tactile experience.

mr nimblewick @ Jun 1st 2009 7:27PM

Reminds me of the first concept video for the wii.

Looks cool, but I think they should have waited and integrated it into the next xbox. It's not going to make much of an impact as a peripheral.

Mr Khan @ Jun 1st 2009 7:35PM

Supposedly they'll be bundling it with all 360s, once they actually get it to market.

But early reports have this thing at an ERP of $200, which would be insane.

mr nimblewick @ Jun 1st 2009 7:42PM

Even if it's bundled, it's still pretty late in the 360's lifespan. By the time full games are out that take advantage of it, it'll be later still.

If they keep the 360 around longer I anticipate, they still have the problem of the name "XBOX" being synonymous with "hardcore" gaming.

But, who knows. Guitar Hero would be cool if you control it with an air guitar.

iJames99 @ Jun 1st 2009 7:29PM

IDK, I think it looks pretty freakin cool

Rop @ Jun 1st 2009 7:30PM

Ahhh! That was most painful an experience to watch. Kinda like watching the Eurovision Song contest. So campy!

Anyway, I'm wondering what Nintendo thinks of all this, as I recall - if I remember correctly - the company with this Z camera technology first approached Nintendo about this but they were turned down.

If this takes off, It could very well proof to be a contender for Nintendo, perhaps.

crazypenguin @ Jun 1st 2009 7:29PM

ok, just to say, i'm completely biased and hate almost everything that microsoft ever pulls out.

Now that that is out of the way, i really like this, if it actually works this way, but i don't know if it will, i need t see it to believe it. this sorta tech was already sort of introuduced with sony's playstation eye with the picture thing, and the eyepet, but its still diffrent and has it own method. although i'm completely skeptical that they'll be able to pull this off, if they happen to prove me wrong, i may just have to go to the dark side...

SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Jun 1st 2009 9:22PM

i thought PS3 was the dark side? (i double dip in both myself)

but anyway, i kinda feel the same way. i bought a PSEye, which was supposed to be able to do some of the stuff this is supposed to do and i don't have a single game that actually uses it (complete waste of $20). some of the stuff looks cool but i can't see it being that fun in actual practice, like that skateboard game for example. how many different tricks would you be able to do really? and that monster game is the same kind of thing EyeToy on PS2 was doing and it really wasn't fun then either. the quiz show seemed like the most promising thing to come out of this.

i would really like to see tech like this integrated into regular games instead of these mini-game like things they keep trying. these camera peripherals never amount to much and maybe that's because they always try the same formula. release the camera, release like 4 or 5 mini-games for it, and then forget about it. i said in another post about it, imagine playing an FPS and instead of being presented with a button prompt when your forced to make a decision, you could just answer people during a heated battle, and actually throw grenades with a motion and maybe even use a light gun. i feel like that could be awesome. or maybe something like this would be good for NFL Head Coach or a game where you play God (Black & White?).

anyway, if they can pull it off, more power to them, i'm sure it would be great for parties. but until i actually experience it working like that, it just seems like an upgraded version of the same old thing, and i'll just continue to sip my skeptical tea.

Nick8708 @ Jun 1st 2009 7:30PM

Wolfmother!! They alone made the video excellent!

Shagittarius @ Jun 1st 2009 7:31PM

That looks so stupid.

Shagittarius @ Jun 1st 2009 7:33PM

Looks like your gonna need a bigger living room too...

Halwende @ Jun 1st 2009 7:31PM

I must admit I'm attracted to the idea of navigating the NXE Minority Report-style, even though using the controller will likely be quicker and more accurate in real world use, heh

Metayoshi @ Jun 1st 2009 8:05PM

Yea, I was thinking about the Minority Report style interface navigation as well. That's probably the only thing that's pretty exciting to me... Though, the iPhone and every other touched based interface has been doing this kind of stuff for a while now... Hopefully it works well...

Hyams @ Jun 1st 2009 7:31PM

I can't see how this could be implemented into any of the sorts of games I like to play.

At least the Wii-mote works well for shooters. I can't see Project Natal ever moving beyond the sort of mini-games/tech demos shown in that video.

tmacairjordan87 @ Jun 1st 2009 7:35PM

Like all motion controls, it won't. That's why I laugh when people say how great they are, because I didn't see anyone using it to play Alan Wake or Splinter Cell. Pretty sure I saw a regular 360 controller for that.

Even Nintendo doesn't really use them in their "big core" games, because they can't be done well enough.

Dan @ Jun 1st 2009 7:43PM

"I can't see Project Natal ever moving beyond the sort of mini-games/tech demos shown in that video."

I don't think the Wii has even moved beyond the mini-games/tech demos it originally created, just repackaged them in slightly varying colours.

My dislike fro the wii aside, I agree with most points that yeh it looks rather optimistic and I'm doubtful it'll have any particular impact on gaming as we know it, much like the eyetoy and similar attempts at changing the way we play (except the wii ofcourse).