Project Natal
The Project Natal sensor device.
Project Natal is the code name for a "controller-free gaming and entertainment experience" by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game platform. Based on an add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, Project Natal enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller, in a natural user interface using gestures, spoken commands, or presented objects and images. The project is aimed at broadening the Xbox 360's audience beyond its typical base. Project Natal was first announced on 1 June at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Microsoft said that over 1000 development kits began shipping to game developers that same day.
Though Microsoft has not officially announced any price or release date projections for Project Natal, it is expected to be released in late 2010. Project Natal will reportedly also serve as the basis for a "new" Xbox 360.
Sensor device
An approximately nine-inch (23cm) wide horizontal bar connected to a small circular base with a ball joint pivot, the Project Natal sensor is designed to be positioned lengthwise above or below the video display. The device features an "RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone, and custom processor running proprietary software", which provides full-body 3D motion capture, facial recognition, and voice recognition capabilities. The Project Natal sensor's microphone array enables the Xbox 360 to conduct acoustic source localization and ambientoise suppression, allowing for things such as headset-free party chat over Xbox Live.
The depth sensor consists of an infrared projector combined with a monochrome CMOS sensor, and allows the Project Natal sensor to see in 3D under any ambient light conditions. The active depth-sensing range of the depth sensor is adjustable, with the Project Natal software capable of automatically calibrating the sensor based on the gameplay and environment conditions, such as the presence of couches.
Project Natal is reportedly based on software technology developed internally by Microsoft and hardware intellectual property acquired from time-of-flight camera developer 3DV Systems. Before agreeing to sell all its assets in March 2009, 3DV had been preparing its own depth-sensing webcam controller, known as the ZCam.
Described by Microsoft personnel as the primary innovation of Project Natal, the software technology enables advanced gesture recognition, facial recognition, and voice recognition. The skeletal mapping technology shown at E3 2009 was capable of simultaneously tracking up to four users for motion analysis, with a feature extraction of 48 interest points on a human body at a frame rate of 30 hertz. Depending on the person's distance from the sensor, Project Natal is capable of tracking models that can identify individual fingers.
Three technical demos were shown to showcase Project Natal when it was revealed at Microsoft's E3 2009 Media Briefing:
- Ricochet - a Breakout-like game in which the entire body is used to bounce balls at blocks.
- Paint Party - where the player can make throwing motions to splash or draw with paint onto a wall. He/she can choose colours using speech recognition, and can pose to make stencils.
- Milo and Kate - a game in development by Lionhead Studios, in which the player interacts with a young child (Milo or Milly, selected by the user at the start) and his/her dog Kate, using items and passing him/her virtual items from real life actions. In an interview after the demonstration, Lionhead founder Peter Molyneux confirmed that the demo was in fact the long running Project Dimitri. In the demonstration available at E3 2009, only Milo was available to interact with.
- Burnout Natal - not showcased as a live demonstration, a demo based on Burnout Paradise in which the player uses an invisible steering wheel to control the vehicle.
- Facial Recognition - where the player is able to sign in to their gaming account purely based on their face.
- Dress Up - Players are able to shop and try on clothes in 3D.
- Monster- An animated game in which the player is a monster and achieves points by destroying and damaging virtual buildings and other virtual objects in a city setting. When the player makes a roaring-like noise, the monster too will roar and a jet of light comes out of the monster's mouth.