Rumor: Natal test kit photos reveal 'motorized tilt mechanism,' power cord

Glossy...

Bad place to put it! Someone would lose their ass if that thing fell over XD

i would guess its simply for developers, adding a motorized tilt and external power source would just add to the cost. when peripherals like this are all about making cheap with a low cost of entry.

bigger the userbase, the bigger the dollar signs potential developers see.

Well, there is no reason can't sense the controller in your hand and have it register the movements of the controller...
I mean I'm not a tech-expert or anything, but it seems plausible.

* no reason IT can't

It will be like the evil eye of Sauron, following your every (insignificant) move across the room.

on the supposedly real quick start guide for natal there is an outline for the 360 but it is very different

Looks like a prototype head from a Metal Gear Rex... hmmmm

Once this comes out, my girlfriend will never be able to play a game of UNO again...

Why would this thing require power? Isn't the USB enough?

That's why Natal interests me so much more than Move; it could still be used with a standard controller.

The real question is why MS sends their products to he tested to Italy?

If only they would create something that fits in your hand where you could just move a stick.. or, press multiple buttons to "control" an avatar on-screen, so that you wouldn't actually have to get up and move around.

"...it could still be used with a standard controller."

Agreed! It'd be cool even as a supplement to the standard controller and nothing else. Like if you're playing a tactical squad game, you could raise your arm with a fist to stop your crew. That even seems easier than having to disengage your left thumb from the stick and fumbling with the D-Pad.

Hopefully this won't come with a power cylinder block like my 360....

Well it does track object's.. so why not..
Could have it in a Kojima game, where gestures are used, and have one of the bosses watching your controller.. so that you have to hide it from Natal in order to beat it...

Hopefully the new revision of the Xbox 360 will have a power output for Natal so I don't have to use ANOTHER outlet. I'll buy a new form factor simply for that!

That's kinda cool.

But as long as its

if i WAS going to get this, external power would be a deal breaker.

Moving my TV stand, left speaker, to plug in a stupid camera... no thanks.

It's like the 32X all over again! Big, black, ugly, and requires it's own power cord despite the fact that it's connected to the console! And I'm sure the games will be shovelware! Where do I sign up?!

well that's odd ... I said they need to keep it < $75 lol

You guys gotta think bigger than that. The ability to use a regular game controller and Natal simultaneously, is a game changer.

Think back to the Milo & Kate demo, and Imagine if you will, what this is going to do for RPGs and adventure games. Games where you can play normally with an Xbox 360 controller, but dialog with NPCs is controlled by Natal. So instead of a screen or menus full of dialog options, you converse with NPCs in an almost normal manner - where things like facial expressions, body language and vocal inflections, determine the path of dialog trees, as much as actually what you are saying to the NPC.

Milo & Kate Demo E3 2009 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDvHlwNvXaM

Take a game like Mass Effect 3. Whether you score Paragon or Renegade points from a conversation, could largely depend on HOW you ask a question, just as much as what the question is. Take a simple sentence like, "Oh yeah, I'll help you out." On the surface, the sentence appears Paragon. But a simple change in facial expressions, body language and vocal intonations to reflect sarcasm when the sentence is said, and suddenly it becomes Renegade. You cannot get that in games currently, but Natal opens up a whole world of things you can pull off that are currently impossible with current game hardware.

And Mass Effect is not the only RPG series that could take advantage of this technique. Imagine what this will do for every RPG series from Final Fantasy, to Fable . . . from Namco's Tales of series, to Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series. Fallout: New Vegas is coming out this fall, if Bethesda/Obsidian shows up at E3 with this type of Natal support for New Vegas, then I know which version of the game that I'm buying.

And not just RPGs, what about adventure games? Most adventure games are a point and click affair, which is already perfect for Natal to begin with - being able to sample objects in the game environment, by directly interacting with them by hand. Add in the ability to talk directly and naturally to NPCs, and suddenly adventure games which have been in decline since the late 1990s, would quickly become a hot genre again.

And this before we get to efforts that have come along to make adventure games, less point and clicky and more intuitive - games like Indigo Prophecy and Shenmue, have all the hallmarks of classic adventure game play, but without the point and click interface. Now imagine something like Shenmue 3, being able to intercourse (talk, not sex, you dirty boys) with NPCs, and interface with in-game objects using Natal. Even Heavy Rain. True it's a PS3 exclusive (at least for now), but David Cage was originally designing the game to utilize a motion controller similar to the in-game ARI system.

ARI (video) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga22yQ1e7Jo

After watching that video, the similarities between Heavy Rain's ARI system, and Project Natal, should be self evident. Replace ARIs shades with an HDTV, replace ARIs glove with Project Natal, and you have pretty much the same interface.

Plans for making an ARI-esque motion controller (minus the shades) for Heavy Rain were scrapped due to the expense of making one, and the fact there would only be one game on PS3 to use the controller. However with Natal, Heavy Rain, and many other adventure games could use similar controls right out of the box, with no other expense to the gamer.

David Cage Discusses Heavy Rain Motion Controller - http://www.destructoid.com/gdc-10-quantic-dream-designed-its-own-motion-control-device-for-heavy-rain-166630.phtml

The possibilities are endless here for either genre. And the ability of being able to use Natal simultaneously with (or without) a standard Xbox 360 controller, only opens up more possibilities - a lot more possibilities.

to track your hand movements while your sat on a couch can be done by any decent webcam on the market.

the includes the eyetoy, ps move and also the microsoft livecam.

To be able to do voice recognition, any microphone can be used. Everything mentioned here can be done with existing tech available for both the 360 and ps3.

Please understand what is unique about Natal is its 3d vision, its ability to track a person in 3d space. To do that the person needs to stand up and move around and specifically move towards and away from the camera, this is where natal moves from being just a normal webcam to the natal.

To detect sarcasm in voice tones requires a specific voice detection algorithm that can detect changes in your voice and then equates them to whether or not your being sarcastic.. The ability to pull this off on a pc which can have a truly massive amounts of ram would be difficult, to do it on a console with very limited ram would be verging on impossible. Also it could be done on all consoles today if it was going to be done, why would you need the natal ? all you would need is a webcam and a microphone.. Detecting facial expression is best done with a webcam running facial recognition software, let me direct you to this patent:

http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/sony-patents-ps3-emotion-control-626668

"Sony patents PS3 emotion control -- Sony patents a controller for PlayStation 3 that knows when you are happy, sad, angry or excited"

Maybe your thinking about the wrong console and getting all excited, sorry to burst your bubble.. I dont think most of you actually get what is so unique about the natal and what is software and what is hardware related and what is so truly unique about the natal, please remember its all about 3d tracking, its all about tracking your movements real time in the real world (x,y,z axis), anything else can be done with a webcam and a microphone.. any x,y tracking can be done with a good webcam any voice recognition can be done with any microphone any facial recognition can be done with a good webcam and the list goes on..

Natal is all about tracking in z thats whats so brilliant about it, now apply that to gaming scenarios and you can see its implications (hint it will be absolutely brilliant at making exercise games, it will imho destroy the wii in this area) It skeletal tracking should be perfect for doing stuff like Pilates and Yoga it can determine the position of your body and be absolutely perfect in working out if your doing a stance properly, imagine for example a martial arts tutorial where it needs to track your stance do you have the correct posture and the correct stance ? it would be awesome in that regard, this is the sort of stuff the ps3 wont be able to do because it doesnt track legs and on the wii you would need the wii fit board, but even then the wii fit is not big enough to track most martial art stances and probably wouldnt be able to see if your holding your leg right if for example its some tkd lesson.

I wonder what the purpose of the tilt function would be?

but what do i know

@McDuck

Natal is like a webcam as a Tivo is like a VCR. Yes a VCR can do just about everything a Tivo can, but the Tivo does it much better. In the same way, excluding the 3d aspects, a webcam with a mic can do the same thing as Natal, but Natal should be much better at it.

The 3d information from Natal can be used to separate a person from his background. That should lead to better tracking in more varied environmental conditions.

Also remember that the software is a large part of the Natal package. You cannot simply discount that. If you believe the hype, Microsoft has done some truly innovative things with the engine behind Natal and to ignore that would be like ignoring the latest features of the Unreal, or Crytek engines. Yes it would of been possible for a game developer to implement some of the features of Natal before, but it is an entirely different situation to have those features already baked into the platform.

Tivo , VCR ? really ? I dont think so, doesnt make sense sorry. (Did you know Tivo runs Linux ? )

sitting in a couch you need background information removed.. Nearly all digital cameras on the market are sold with facial recognition software, its that same software already available on the ps3 and that same sort of software going into the Natal.. That same software doesnt need 3d tech to be able to detect hand movements while sat in a couch.. Again if you stand up and want to play thats a different matter entirely the z-axis kicks in.. If you want to sit in a couch and order commands by waving your hand or pretending to lob grenades no natal needed, just a good (high fps) webcam

As for the software I agree it is mainly software.. The main thing to understand is that Microsoft shouldnt be getting the credit for it Prime Sense and 3DV should as they are the ones that invented both the hardware and software .. Microsoft have been integrating there software stack into the xbox not the other way around look at the demos of prime sense, low and behold there is a woman sitting on a couch with her husband/bf flicking through videos as exactly demonstrated with the natal and they also have live demonstration of it working.. All pointing to both the software and hardware already being written its just a case of integration and localization so for example picking up different accents and languages calling menu commands..

Dont get me wrong I am sure it has involved a major amount of hard work getting the platform stable on the 360, I wouldnt at the same time attribute the device to microsoft, if I did that I would know that it wouldnt work right at all, Microsofts track record isnt exactly all that great..

http://kotaku.com/5506525/the-power-behind-project-natal-primesense

oh and wouldnt you know it:

http://playstation.joystiq.com/2006/08/15/ps3s-eye-toy-to-incorporate-3-d-mapping/

Weird how things work out right ?