Time picks Natal as one of 2009's best inventions

Winning awards for inventions that aren't out yet? Hmmm...

I just invented the world's first perpetual motion machine! ...I'm not ready to show anyone yet, but I still deserve to win this award!

Most people think of Time as a river flowing in one direction, but I have seen the face of Time . Time is stupid.

No other source in gaming news has the credibility of Time Magazine. Riiiiiight.

Similar to most of the developers for Natal and probably Microsoft themselves, no one knows what this thing will be capable or not capable of when it eventually launches.

I know one thing it won't do: force feedback. Unless you put something back in the players' hands you can forget about actually "feeling" anything when you play a Natal game. How will you switch weapons? What about changing from in-car to behind-car views in driving games on the fly? And say goodbye to precise controls. I don't think there's enough calibration in the world to set it to have the same accuracy as a gamepad.

i still don't see how some of the best selling games we've had so far would benefit from something like Natal.. I don't see how Modern Warfare would play better without the controller. Unless the industry develops some new genre of games to go along with this type pf control.. beyond the crappy mini games that have been demo'd... I remain unconvinvced that this is a move in the right direction.

Seriously? The power of marketing at its best right there. This hasn't even come out yet and there is absolutely no way that it will do everything it promises on launch. NO WAY.

If it could then others would already be introducing the technology long before MS got its hands on it and we wouldn't be waiting for an release date that might never come.

When Natal does what that trailer promised then I'll agree its great but until then its just a great idea.

South Park last night pretty much nailed how these republican talk show crazies (like glenn beck) get away with saying all of this ridiculous BS about obama.

It's ok only if you say it as a question like: "Is Obama a muslim?" or "Does Obama want to take your guns away?". That way when someone calls them out on that BS they can just say "we're only asking a question!"

I think Bobby should be Man of the Year.

His ruthless exploitation of franchises has paid off spectacularly!

And since exploiters seem to win...(Putin, Me, etc)

They're blowing Natal out of proportion.

But in vitro meat is fucking awesome.

Along with the other stuff on that list.

Sweet so .....a WEB CAM....won tech of the year.

Apparently TIME writers are easily impressed :D

this is just a robust eyetoy....
Defenilly Microsoft IS a master of hype.

Natal....Ares Rockets....and nothing made by Apple

Thank you Time for doing something right this year.

Bobby, You may not realize this but when Obama got elected, the collective world sighed relief after suffering for 8 years of warmongering. Plain and simple, the man inspired many people around the world to do better. The Nobel Peace prize is not a US centric award.

PS. Congrats on your stocks - interesting timing. ;)

@ OrchardPear - You know, in 2007 it was considered anti-American to speak out against the president and government by the Right. How times have changed...

I just have a problem with media outlets using what was seen in a video clearly labeled "product vision" and saying that the final product will include all the features demoed.

Natal was listed in Discover magazine and they still made the claim that you would be able to scan everyday objects to use in game. Specifically mentioning the skateboard from the pre-rendered video.

The facts about the Natal camera system based on what has been shown only show a system barely more effective than the PS Eye. The resolution of the camera can track movement within inches, not millimeters and even within that has shown to have major limitations dealing with distance, movement, and lighting.

It is sad that in the modern world it is not what you do or how it turns out that matters, just the intention of what you did and the possibilities of how good it could have been if it actually worked. This is proven when people can get a top award for the bet that future intentions will materialize into good without any action actually being taken. Why does success of everything have to rely on hype?