Xbox: Project Natal Blog » painting

Project Natal at CES 2010

Carl Kenner — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:05:25 +0000

Project Natal’s most recent appearance was at CES 2010 earlier this month.

At CES, Microsoft gave a really boring introduction, then showed a new video called “Innovation Journey”.

This is my favourite video, since it actually explains how Project Natal works, shows what Project Natal’s depth sensor is actually seeing, and talks a bit to some of the people behind it. And of course it tells us the release date!

Note in particular the scenes where it shows on the screen a 3D view of what the depth sensor is seeing, with the different object types colour-coded. Notice how there is a black hole in the background where the camera can’t see what’s there because it’s blocked by you standing in front of it. But aside from that, it has a very good 3D model of the scene. You can see how easy it would be to recognise different kinds of objects from this sort of information, even without the colour data that you also get. Much more powerful than just a camera like eye-toy.

We also get to see a (blurry) close-up of the back of the project natal hardware.

At CES 2010, Microsoft also talked about Xbox Live, and their own version of Nintendo’s Virtual Console. The Xbox is getting a virtual arcade called Games Room, where your avatar can walk into a 3D arcade and see and hear all their purchased arcade games in their 3D cabinets in attract mode before you play them. You can also invite friends and play against them online. They have 30 different arcade games that you can buy.

And they talked about how people will be able to rent and watch videos online quickly, using Xbox Live.

Project Natal Parody

Carl Kenner — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:34:31 +0000

This parody has nothing to do with Milo. It is a parody of most aspects of the original Project Natal announcement video. It’s very funny:

Project Natal Live Demonstration at E3

Carl Kenner — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:53:36 +0000

The 9 minute live demonstration at E3 was even more impressive, since it demonstrated the technology was already real and working.

First they showed logging in by facial recognition, then they showed how your avatar on the login screen followed your movements. Then they showed how to choose a game with hand gestures.

Then they showed the Xbox 360 Project Natal game Ricochet, where you must bounce balls off your body to destroy blocks like in Breakout.

And last they showed the game Paint Party, which will be another Project Natal game for the Xbox 360. It involves throwing paint at a canvas with hand gestures, changing colour or mode with voice commands, and making stencils with the silhouettes of your and your friends’ bodies.