Microsoft shakes up gaming at E3
The biggest thing to come out of Microsoft's E3 keynote came last. Following much speculation about whether any motion-sensing technology would come to the Xbox 360, Microsoft did, in fact, announce such a system on Monday.Microsoft Xbox Senior Vice President Don Mattrick unveiled the company's new full-body motion-sensitive controller, code-named Project Natal, which sits near the Xbox 360 console and allows users to control their games, movies, and other Xbox media without touching any hardware.
In its presentation, Microsoft showed off many different uses for Natal, including face recognition that automatically logs a user into his gaming profile, a game that allows a person to manipulate her avatar using her whole body, and a painting program in which a user can throw virtual buckets of paint on a canvas. In this part of the Natal demo, Microsoft showed off a project in the works with Lionhead Studios, in which a real person has a conversation with an animated boy named Milo.
Steven Spielberg (right) joined Microsoft's Don Mattrick (left) on stage to introduce Project Natal, speaking to its importance in introducing new demographics to gaming. "I've been asking the crucial question: How can interactive entertainment become as approachable as other forms of entertainment?" Spielberg said. "The vast majority of people are just too intimidated to pick up a video game controller...Despite the size of (the video game) industry, still 60 percent of households do not own a video game console."
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