Microsoft to Revolutionize Gaming, Entertainment
A woman interacting with Natal
A revolutionary new develpoment coming out from Microsoft called NATAL has been unveiled and promises to create an interactive experience unmatched by anything ever seen in video gaming and entertainment in general. Already on display at the E3 09′, Microsoft anounces the new controllerless systems, breaking the bonds with hand held controllers and moving into a new realm of gaming which will see gamers using their own body to control every aspect of the XBOX360 experience. Not just huffing and puffing about upcoming ideas, they put their projects on display and showed off the latest generation of consoles that will change the way we watch movies , play games and listen to music.
Starting off with XBOX 360 that logs you in via facial recognition, your avatar automatically comes up. Once you’re logged in your avatar will mimic all your movements – no controller is necessary. The console will sense your movement, follow you accordingly, and you will simply navigate the XBOX360 console system by waving your arms to the left or to the right. Expanding their connections with social media, they have partnered up with Facebook and Twitter. From the main menu you can connect with your facebook friends or even Tweet something like your last bonecrushing boss kill.
Games will be able to be played without any controllers and you will simply do what you would normally do in real life. For example, if a ball is coming at you , you can kick it, hit it, even headbutt it if you want to. Also on display were martial arts games, where real kicking and punches control your customized avatar. Some games will incorporate voice recognition, like in game show formats for example.
A really exciting aspect that they are offering is the on demand 1080P downloadable music, TV, and videos which will allow you to connect with freinds and watch a sporting event at the same time. Your screen displays the sporting event, and at the bottom of the screen you can see the sillouettes of you and your freinds enjoying the show together while talking and watching at the same time.
Shane Kim, Coroporate Vice President at Microsoft Game Studios said ” making great games is the heart of what we do … we were able to reveal the product of the future…… we got a chance to level the playing field ….”
NATAL means ‘rebirth’ , and this really is a rebirth. This technology will render Wii controllers useless. Not so much in the hardware, which obviously includes a webcam and microphone, the real magic is in the software. Using a 3D depth map for full body motion capture and some highly intelligent software, it is able to compensate for motions not captured by the camera, thus enhancing the gaming experience.
Once of the last announcements made was about an AI charactor named Milo. Milo is a virtual, interactive avatar that uses facial and voice recognition to carry on conversations with you. As with the rest of the system, no controllers are needed and you can interact with his world using the movement of your body. You can even hold up a drawing to Milo, and he will reach up, grab it , and have his own copy of it to evaluate. He speaks very fluidly and naturally and appears to understand what you are saying to him. Little was said about Milo as he is still under development, but Microsoft promises to let a select group of gamers interact with Milo themselves to report back to us.
With all the changes in gaming and entertainment happening we have crossed yet another threshold bringing humans and machines ever closer together. In just a few years, it will be very common for humans and computers to start interacting in a more natural and casual manner, with voice, body language, and facial recognition. It will be easy to see this technology cross over to other industries, not just gaming consoles. For example, you may be greeted at work by a timeclock that looks at you, recognizes you , logs you into work, tells you good morning, and even reminds you when your late. While shopping for clothing, you can simply upload your avatar and then use a virtual changing room to select the clothes that look the best, and then Twitter your freinds to see if they agree.
As computers are able to “recognize” their owners, a stronger bond will start to form, especially if we give the computer a voice, and get into the habit of actually talking to our PCs instead of just yelling at them. Once we start down that road, we are certainly on the path towards the final stride. This revolutionary step is either one small step for man, or one big step for Machinekind.
