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In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Jamie MacDonald, former Vice President of Sony Worldwide Studios (the company responsible for EyeToy), gave out a few pointers to Sony and Microsoft regarding their respective motion controllers. MacDonald warned that gamers are expecting more from the 360 and PS3's motion gaming than they do from the Wii, due to both consoles' beefier hardware. However, he also warned about implementing "traditional long-form gameplay," lengthy sessions of which would leave players "completely knackered."

MacDonald's wisest words came when speaking about pricing the two pieces of hardware. He suggested they follow Sony's strategy with EyeToy, where the peripheral and a piece of software came bundled for the price of a normal game, which kept consumers from "paying a premium for the hardware." That's a sweet thought, but it's a little presumptive -- after all, we've yet to hear a price for the two devices. (Hell, we haven't even heard a name for one of them.)

Just before today's sure to be thrilling investor's call, EA released a fact sheet to the folks gearing up for the hour-plus finance-a-thon -- a fact sheet that revealed two "TBA" EA Sports Active games set for release on consoles in the third quarter of the company's fiscal 2011 (October 1 through December 31, 2010, in human being time).

We've yet to hear anything on a new EA Sports Active title for the Wii, though we did hear some rumblings at E3 last year that the franchise would be headed to Sony and Microsoft's respective motion-based outings. And considering the unannounced titles are set for release in line with the announced release of Microsoft's Project Natal, and perhaps just after the PlayStation Motion Controller, there's a good chance that these pending EA Sports Active releases are for those platforms -- maybe one for Natal and one PlayStation; or one for Natal and Playstation and one for Wii.

Speaking to Gamereactor, Lionhead maestro Peter Molyneux revealed that there will be some big Fable 3 news at the X10 event this week. "There's some very, very big things happening in Fable," said Molyneux, "Bigger than you think, and it's going to really upset people." Molyneux added that he is "really scared" about telling people the news, saying, "They're going to get super pissed off, they really are." Still, he concluded that it's "the right thing to do," and confirmed that he will be demonstrating the mystery announcement at X10 in San Francisco. Joystiq's theory: The entire story of Fable 2 was a dream sequence. Whatever it is, we'll be delivering the news directly from X10, so Joystiq's staff and readers can all get pissed off together.

In the meantime, be sure to watch the whole interview, which also contains some really interesting talk about Project Natal.

[Via VG247]

The image above could serve as kind of robotic Rorschach test. What do you see? A cute little tripod help-o-bot, whose head is cocked curiously to the side, as though it's studying its new master to better serve his or her robotic needs? Or is it a three-legged killing machine, who's observing his new master's weaknesses, which it plans to exploit with its now-charging eye lasers?

Sadly, the answer's not as provocative as either of those two choices -- its actually a photo of a Project Natal prototype, as nabbed by the Seattle Times. According to the report which includes the photograph, Natal units and iPhones are being produced in the same factory. We're terrified of the thought of these two consumer electronics cross-pollinating -- we're pretty sure that's how SkyNet got started.

[Via Siliconera]

Speaking to CVG, MotoGP lead designer Greg Bryant discussed the future of the series on both the Xbox 360 and PS3. Bryant said the development team plans to incorporate Natal support into MotoGP 10/11 in order to implement head tracking. According to Bryant, "the future for [Natal] is through head tracking in racing games." As for future iterations on the PS3, he noted that the team plans to use stereoscopic 3D and "theoretically" enable head tracking with the Playstation Eye.

Honestly, if it turns out anything like this, consider us stoked.

Sure, you could take Bungie's latest foray into Mythbusters territory as full on confirmation of Halo: Reach not having Project Natal support, or you could be like us and remain skeptical of the developer's still-not-straightforward wording. In a recent post on Bungie.net, the company attempted to answer a mess of "myths" about its upcoming Halo game, including "Myth: Reach is being built for Natal!" In answering, the post states, "Halo: Reach is NOT a Natal title and is being developed expressly with the traditional Xbox 360 controller in mind."

That said, rather than outright saying, "No, there's no support for Project Natal in Halo: Reach," Bungie instead chose to loosely word the answer. It certainly doesn't help the situation that multiple Bungie employees have expressed interest in seeing Natal incorporated into the Halo series, with Bungie prez Harold Ryan even saying he could "absolutely" see Reach specifically incorporate Natal. So, about that myth ...

At an event in the UK this week, EA Sports head honcho Peter Moore outright refutes any possibility of his division at EA developing sports games with 3D technology in mind. In speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, the affable exec states, "Believe me, there's nothing going on right now that would say I'm ready to demo a 3D sports game." That said, on the subject of Project Natal and the Sony Motion Controller, Moore opened up to many more possibilities.

"We're getting in sync with Sony's motion controller and Project Natal with what Sony and Microsoft want to do with their publishing partners, so stay tuned for further information on that as we get closer to the date." When pressed for dates on either project, though, he remained cagey, saying "I do not know when they're launching ... certainly Sony has made no public pronouncement at all, and Microsoft has said 'holiday', which obviously gives fudge room." So! Madden Natal: confirmed? Not quite. The exec does note that "core intellectual property" would be heading up the motion charge "in some shape of fashion on those platforms." And considering Moore has already confirmed a version of EA Sports Active for Natal, we have to imagine (and hope) that he has more of that kind of thing in mind.

Project Natal? Sony's Motion Controller/Arc/Whatever It's Called? Psshht, whatever. They've got nothin' on the ARToolKit augmented reality Virtual-On demonstration we just watched. Spotted by Mecha Damashii, the tech demo gets our hearts all aflutter with the prospect of fighting a tiny mech while running from room-to-room in our apartment, dodging lasers. We hear those things are bad news! (Lasers, that is.) Regardless, if the video after the break doesn't get your heart racing, you should probably call a doctor -- you might be dead.

[Via GameSetWatch]

Arkedo Studio, the French developer responsible for the DS's Big Bang Mini and Nervous Brickdown, as well as recent Xbox Live Indie Games like the stylish 03 Pixel, has been thinking about Project Natal. And sadly for us, it decided to think again before going through with its proposed game idea, 2-Finger Heroes.

CEO Camille Guermonprez posted mocked-up screenshots and design plans for the game on NeoGAF, revealing a brawler controlled by players' fingers acting as the protagonists' legs. Occasionally, the game would switch over to segments controlled by hand motions or crossed arms, and award powerups for hand gestures at certain segments (with a penalty for flipping the screen off!)

Why isn't Arkedo working on this game right now? Issues with recognition of minute finger movements -- and localization concerns. "Yup, what can be understood as the victory sign in France, could be a terrible insult in the UK, for instance," Guermonprez said. "And we are not even talking about Italian. Oh, the possibilities..."

Speaking to Eurogamer, Microsoft Game Studios head Phil Spencer responded to criticism that Microsoft takes fewer risks than Sony in first-party development by referencing Project Natal -- "if there isn't risk in Natal then I don't know what's keeping me up at night."

"We're trying to build a set of new games, new experiences that will have the same quality metrics of our past games," he said, "but really entice both existing 360 customers and new people. It's a huge challenge, a huge investment and it's fraught with risk."

Much as he did in our interview, Spencer equated Natal integration with Live integration, suggesting that it will eventually be ubiquitous. "At the beginning of Live it was all about sports, racing and shooting games," Spencer said. "Now if you found a game that didn't have some kind of Live functionality it would seem like it wasn't a complete game. I think Natal is likely to get there as well." That is somewhat at odds with Aaron Greenberg's statement that Natal games would be almost entirely "completely unique, brand-new experiences."

And, as a bonus, he also found time to make one wacky statement about Peter Molyneux. "Haha! Working with Peter is amazing, he's a very creative, inspirational person. Sometimes it's like riding a bull with no saddle, and sometimes it's like reading a great novel, but it's a fun experience." Look for Peter Molyneux's Literodeo among the Project Natal launch lineup.

It may not be the most shocking turn of events, but we would be remiss not point out that Turn 10 -- the studio behind the Forza Motorsport series -- is dabbling in Natal development. The evidence comes by way of a Turn 10 job listing for a business development manager. The listing, discovered by Total Video Games, is looking for someone to "set strategy and drive high quality game content for our Next Generation games including the NATAL platform."

Considering that Forza Motorsport series is the only product that Turn 10 has created for Microsoft thus far, it's probably safe to assume Natal support will work its way into future iterations of the series. Microsoft has already proven that Natal can be utilized in driving games with its Burnout Paradise demo, though its hard to imagine the motion capture peripheral will have the precision for something as technical as Forza.

But who says Natal has to be used for steering? It could be used for secondary activities like shifting, changing the radio station or, most obviously, flipping the bird. We're sure Xbox Live members would just love it.

[Via G4tv]

According to an anonymous source speaking to VG247, the PlayStation Motion Controller will officially be called "Arc" by the time it launches. It was previously codenamed "Gem," with rumors also dubbing it "Sphere" at one stage. As expected, Sony declined to comment on the story.

You know what, Sony? Stop it. You may think you're building suspense here, but all you're doing is creating a lot of work for bloggers who'll have to go back and re-tag all these posts when you reveal the real name. Oh, don't you skulk away, Microsoft, we're including you on this too. If it's Natal, fine, if not, just pick something already. Both of you. Now. Choose.

Go ahead.

We'll wait.

Hello?

We became considerably more concerned about Project Natal's future when we learned it would be pulling its processing power from the 360 and it would seem that the development community is similarly conflicted. In a feature by Develop, probably the most important party in the peripheral's success, the developers, weighed in on the device with a mixed bag of concern and enthusiasm.

Though there was a good amount of positivity and skepticism, the overwhelming sentiment is in line with Weaseltron director Adrian Hirst's wait-and-see attitude: "Microsoft need to start showing some real killer games/applications for Natal before people really start getting interested in it as a platform."

So, here's your chance: What's your Natal prediction?

Over the course of this year's CES, it was easy to get swept up in the fervor around 3D technology. Not Microsoft's Xbox team lead Aaron Greenberg though -- in speaking with G4TV, Greenberg said he thinks "there's a lot of challenges about 3D in the living room." To Greenberg, it's not a question of technology (or lack thereof) that's holding back 3D, it's the home environment. "I don't know about you, but when I play games or watch TV, I've got my phone, I've got all kinds of things going on. I get up, I get down, I'm looking outside at the weather and it's ... I'm not in a dark theater, wearing glasses, staring at a screen. I think it's just a different environment."

This isn't to say Microsoft isn't flexible when it comes to consumer demand -- quite the contrary! "As consumer interest for 3D grows, we'll grow with it," Greenberg admitted. "I think right now we're unsure what level of interest there is from consumers to really want a 3D experience in the living room."

Currently, only a handful of games ( Avatar, Invicible Tiger, and upcoming XBLA racer Scrap Metal, to name a few) support 3D on Microsoft's console. "If it becomes really important and people want to do more with it, we're absolutely happy to support it," Greenberg assured. Of course, with plenty of resources currently invested in the development and launch of Project Natal and its motion-based technology, Microsoft certainly has incentive to keep interest in 3D at arm's length.

Capcom informed G4 at CES that it's certainly working on "stuff" for Microsoft's Project Natal, including a "brand we haven't seen in a while." The publisher's VP of strategic planning and business development, Christian Svensson, explained that it's creating something "from the ground up for Natal." As he put it, "We're not looking at Natal as 'okay, here's a little Natal gimmick that we've worked into some existing game.'"

Svensson added that Keiji Inafune, Mega Man's papa and head of R&D at Capcom, is "really excited" about working with the peripheral (as demonstrated during Tokyo Game Show's Xbox 360 Creator Panel). Not that Capcom is planning to rush the process, mind you. "We're gonna cook something and it's gonna to take a while to cook."