With Project Natal on schedule for a 2010 arrival, it's no surprise that Microsoft's annual Gamefest conference will offer programming tracks designed to get developers up to speed on how best to design for and implement the technology in their Xbox 360 games.
The tech summit, which runs from February 10 and 11 in Seattle will offer two types of Natal-themed sessions. The first, Project Natal Design, promises to help devs with "creating new ways to work, building showcase experiences, divining user intent, and designing gestures for UI versus game interactions." The second, Project Natal Technical, will "dive deep into gesture recognition, avatar retargeting, speech recognition, advanced raw stream processing, handling different player environments, and many other topics."
Avatar re-what? Advanced raw stream huh? $100 says Microsoft just hands attendees Minority Report on DVD.
[Via Gamasutra]
Reader Comments (37)
Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 8:47PM (Unverified) said
I think they stated that there would be a sort of 'bridging capability' where Natal would be used with the 360 and the NextBox, and the games could be used on either platform.
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 8:35PM Special Agent Steve said
I would really like to see an actual game being played on this thing (a new game, not Burnout) to get an idea of the capabilities this has.
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 11:03PM Special Agent Steve said
No, I'm tired of seeing nothing but mini games and "Milo" for the bloody device. I would prefer to see some interesting features- rather than the rehashed webcam games.
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 8:36PM (Unverified) said
Microsoft needs to get this info out a lot sooner than that. If the devs don't have time to make good, original titles, we're going to get either shovelware or just crap. Or nothing. The devkits should be shipping soon (unless it's just a software update to the existing units).
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 8:39PM MystileArmor said
I'm sure they already have devkits. This is more of a seminar to push developers in a direction. I think the whole reason behind it is to do just that, avoid shovelcrap.
Regardless, you're always going to have morons that are looking for a quick cash in, seminars or not.
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Regardless, you're always going to have morons that are looking for a quick cash in, seminars or not.
Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 8:42PM (Unverified) said
I'm just reminded of the issues had in the past with not having this info out in time.
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 8:36PM (Unverified) said
I can't wait for more gameplay videos of Natal... I mean... videos of people 'pretending to play' or watching Kudo do the crab shuffle.
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 8:40PM (Unverified) said
Soon, we shall see if the Wiimote is mighter than the...waving hand.
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 8:41PM Johnnynumber5 is powered by cell said
Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 8:45PM (Unverified) said
That's why they have a 'no video clause', so the media can't show that it's not working properly.
And yet Sony had a working prototype they rushed at E3, and continue to show development of their motion controllers.
Microsoft is still hiding Natal in the closet, and pulling a Peter Molyneux card, and over hyping it.
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And yet Sony had a working prototype they rushed at E3, and continue to show development of their motion controllers.
Microsoft is still hiding Natal in the closet, and pulling a Peter Molyneux card, and over hyping it.
Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 8:46PM (Unverified) said
I think they pulled it out from under the curtain too early, probably because they suspected Sony had the PMC ready to show. There's still time to get it working properly.
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 9:00PM (Unverified) said
@czar: except the Pswand will always just be a fancy motionplus wiimote, even at full potential - Natal has potential to be a lot more.
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 10:26PM Johnnynumber5 is powered by cell said
potential isn't the same as reality. As Greg Oden and Kwame Brown how that potential thing is working out for them.
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 10:51PM (Unverified) said
Natal may have potential, but has yet to show progress since E3.
Just as a simple experiment; Use your mouse wheel and scroll the page up and down, while doing so, use your other hand pretending that you're controlling it. Go even further if you wish, and use your finger to guide the cursor around your screen.
See how long before you get annoyed.
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Just as a simple experiment; Use your mouse wheel and scroll the page up and down, while doing so, use your other hand pretending that you're controlling it. Go even further if you wish, and use your finger to guide the cursor around your screen.
See how long before you get annoyed.
Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 8:42PM usualyksint said
Totaly random but this was the first page of xbox360fanboy.com (page 837)
http://xbox.joystiq.com/page/837/
its funny reading back on old stuff like its brand new
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http://xbox.joystiq.com/page/837/
its funny reading back on old stuff like its brand new
Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 9:45PM Special Agent Steve said
OOozzz, ze chocolate boy made zay funny.
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 9:02PM usualyksint said
I did say it was totaly random, also it kind of relates because this is the latest post (as of writing) and that was the earliest. There, I just made a relation
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 9:49PM MystileArmor said
That wasn't a joke... save your irrelevant shit for somewhere else.
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 9:16PM Nirvash Planeteer Power of Capt said
Shouldn't they have told developers these tips when they first gave them to devs?
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Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 11:56PM Baron Milton Von Crompton said
Gah! I can't wait for this to come out... been longing for that Xbox 360 webcam device thingie for sometime now. Didn't get it then when the price was quite steep. but now they are cheap as dirt, and I'd feel bad getting the Live vision webcam now, only to toss it away when Natal comes home.
I WANT to have something Nintendo related as my gamer pic for my Xbox Avatar gamertag. A snap shot of Mario or Samus would indeed do more than suffice, to quench my anxiety of all things Nintendo related, cause I ain't got a Wii, gah!
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I WANT to have something Nintendo related as my gamer pic for my Xbox Avatar gamertag. A snap shot of Mario or Samus would indeed do more than suffice, to quench my anxiety of all things Nintendo related, cause I ain't got a Wii, gah!
Posted: Nov 24th 2009 4:32AM (Unverified) said
@nikescar - Johnny Lee is on the Natal dev team so I would be surprised if it wasn't.
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Posted: Nov 24th 2009 1:45AM (Unverified) said
I'll take you on re the bet. Let me know what email to send my account details to. ;-)
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Posted: Nov 24th 2009 10:46AM Unvrfd said
Avatar retargeting - if somebody walks between you and the screen, Natal loses your tracking data for a while, so it needs to retarget your avatar. And make sure it doesn't assume that the guy who just walked by is the new you.
Advanced raw stream processing - Natal cameras aren't placed in the same point (that would be physically impossible), the video stream needs to be processed to eliminate the stereoscopic effect.
And I just wasted 3 minutes because it was a joke.
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Advanced raw stream processing - Natal cameras aren't placed in the same point (that would be physically impossible), the video stream needs to be processed to eliminate the stereoscopic effect.
And I just wasted 3 minutes because it was a joke.
Posted: Nov 25th 2009 8:03PM (Unverified) said
You know on how it will do the "automatic signing in" feature? Well, what if you want to sign in as your friend? Like you step in front of the sensor, it signs you in, you sign out, try to sign in on your friend's Gamertag, and you get a big fat error. (just like in Wii Fit. "are you sure you're Bob, because you way 30 pounds heavier?") Which in Project Natal's case would be, "Are you sure you're Jeff, because you're 1 foot shorter?"
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