Microsoft’s upcoming Project Natal has had some slight alterations to its workings. It previously used a built-in chip to determine the player’s movements, however instead, Natal will now use a “software solution” which among other things may reduce the cost of the device.
The camera tracks body movements and enables players to control games with just their body, removing the need for a controller.
The chip, which took all the strain of the device’s processing will now rely on the Xbox’s CPU, and according to Microsoft will use around 10-15% of the Xbox’s processor. Natal lead developer Alex Kipman said that “Natal has to work on the existing hardware without taking too much hardware processing away”.
But despite the positives of removing the chip it also has the negative effect of preventing non-Natal games being patched to use the Natal hardware.
Robbie Bach also announced that Natal would be released in time for next Christmas. This leaves developers just under a year to have their games ready for the release, which Microsoft is claiming will “[remove] the last barrier to gaming — the controller — freeing you to have the experience you want with technology that’s natural for you.”
We’ve yet to see if Natal will revolutionise videogaming like Microsoft claims. The idea of sitting and playing a racing game with just your hands and body will be frankly, either incredibly awesome or terribly shit. There is also talk of a 100ms-200ms delay which is present on the device, with or without the built in chip, with videos as proof. Microsoft’s arguably desperate attempt to get a chunk of the casual gaming market continues, and it seems by next Christmas we’ll be able to have a play with ourselves. Yay.
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“negative effect of preventing non-Natal games being patched to use the Natal hardware”
Negative? Did you see that video of Burnout Paradise? It’s a big, big positive.