Not unexpected but we learned today that Microsoft will unveil the entire Project Natal project to E3 in Los Angeles in June. The big event, being called the ‘World Premiere’ will occur on Sunday 13^th with a press follow-up on Monday 14^th. Whilst not exactly a surprise this is good news for those of us who await Natal with bated breath ‘cos it means that MS have got Natal back on track. We were slightly concerned (:-O) after the no show at GDC. 

Project Natal Full Demo at E3

Microsoft claims that the show will be the worlds ‘first look at the future of fun’ so it’s likely that this will be the final iteration and hopefully some completed games.

What I want to know Bill… is ‘where’s my invite to E3?’… maybe it’s lost in the post.

Did you get yours? Let me know

Soon

Steve

Here’s a short video of some Spaniards messing with Natal, they look like they’re having a laugh but the girl looks bored as hell. Nothing new there then . . .

Click here to view the embedded video.

Did you spot the Spanish lady looking bored to tears? That’s all for now byeeeeee!!!

Ste

More rumors about the super-duper Xbox 360 Slim to be bundled with Project Natal when it’s released in Autumn. Michael Pachter told GameTrailers TV that Microsoft will ship a skinny Xbox 360 with Natal and added that it won’t be called ‘slim’. We reckon they’ll call it the Xbox Atkins ….

Super Slim XBox 360

Pachter also confirmed that the Skinny Xbox will come bundled with Natal and retail at under the $300 mark with a larger hard drive, probably 250GB.

Super fuses, we can’t wait!! But what do you think, will it be skinny, latte or the Atkins…?

Steve

After demoing Natal, British TV gobshite Jonathon Ross tweeted that the performance ‘wasn’t quite there’… like he would know. Ross is well known in the UK for opening his mouth without engaging his brain. The Natal unit that he demoed was a Summer 2009 version, do us a favour Jon?…. Keep it it shut…

Jonathon Ross TV Airbag Rubbishes Natal Camera

Hosting an  event in London with various media bods a few days ago Molyneux showed his disgruntlement being blocked from demonstrating the latest versions of the Natal sensor and software. He claimed “It’s always a huge frustration as a designer when you see somebody play a version when you know it’s been exceeded many times over” That’s good news cos I, as well as many others, were a wee bit concerned… More good news, Molyneux also said:

‘So very often you get a position that what a person’s looking at is two, three, four months, a year old and you kind of want to go, ‘no, no, it’s 10 times better than that!’ So it is very, very frustrating; it always is – there’s just countless revisions of cameras since the one at X10 and countless revisions of software’

Another source, probably from Microsoft itself, claimed that the sensor in circulation was only 10% as sensitive as the current version. We’ll see when the ultimate iterration is released, along with a full line up of games, at E3 in July. Peter Molyneux will also reveal details of the much anticipated Fable III at E3.

Fable III for Project Natal

Anyone else think Jonathon Ross is a jumped-up brainless airbag? Do PM’s words fill you with hope for Natal?

Another strange piece of Project Natal news today, this time from Dawn of the Dead, Slither writer and director James Gunn. The horror specialist play-tested a couple of Natal Games at a recent Microsoft bash. One was Richochet, which we reported on here, and the other was a brand-new offering called ‘River Rush’

Zombies Not in River-Rush

Gunn reports on his blog:

“It’s a game where you stand side by side in a river raft, so it’s two people playing at once. To move right, you have to step right; to move left, you have to step left.  As you rush down right rapids, you have to jump up and slap floating stars in the air – the whole raft jumps up every time you do.”

No gore, zombies or shotguns in sight but the director was suitably overwhelmed by what he saw, particularly with the marriage of gaming and fitness, he added “it’s “sort of a dream come true, an hour of playing Natal every night will definitely burn calories” And also “Gunn concluded, “The Natal was an amazing piece of technology and I’ll be the first one in line to buy one when they come out during the holidays… I really, really can’t wait to shoot someone on that f***ing thing.” So he wants one!!!

Project Natal River Rush Weeeeeeh!!!!

Whilst it remains to be seen where exactly in the market MS will pitch Natal, more and more evidence seem to point to a direct attack on Nintendo’s Wii market. I’m not a fan of the Wii, it’s a toy, and I hope Gates’s people don’t turn the 360 into a  me-too glorified Wii with improved graphics.

What do you think? Will MS dumb down the 360 to pull in the dollars?

Ste

Head Honcho Simon Prytherch of Lightning Fish Games, is suggesting that both Project Natal and the Sony Move Toy will probably lure non-core gamers who use their games consoles for recreational play in addition to health and fitness routines rather than for simply blasting aliens and building super-hero’s.

Talking to MCV, Prythrch said he think that these types of consumers may “benefit more” from the innovative movement sensors than traditional hardcare gamers, the more typical XBox 360 audience.

“The non-games sector will benefit more than any other sector from Natal and PlayStation Move,” he explained. “These devices are suited to non-core audiences. The important element of these gadgets is the capability to precisely observe user positions.

“We will see new ways of interacting and new genres emerging as creative minds get to grips with the technology.”

Health and fitness game titles for the revolutionary sensor would certainly not be unexpected, given that games of this genre generate oodles of cash for Nintendo through the Wii.

Use your Xbox 360 and Natal to get from this . . .

To This . . . Believe us, Natal will do this to you ... just buying one makes you slimmer

For Sony’s Move, there is the likelihood that EA Sports Active 2.0 will be available for Playstation 3 and will function with the new controller, and as we’ve reported previously there’s also the prospect of a yoga game for Project Natal and the 360 (Ommmmm ).

Additionally ultra secret sources maintain that Rare are developing a workout title of sorts, and with the rumours of Microsoft touting for advertising business in magazines ‘for the ladies’ we reckon at least one ‘health and fitness’ title is on the cards. Hopefully MS won’t do too much dumbing down for the general public . . . . Hell I might even start doing Yoga myself . . . OMMMM

‘Til next time

Ste

It’s been all over the web, I’ve seen it, you’ve seen it.. hell even your momma’s seen it. Natal is shit, the lag makes it almost useless … Everyone’s been shouting that the sensor doesn’t work in low light, that it responds seconds after you’ve moved, the demo’s were faked etc etc etc yawn….

MS recently demoed the latest evolution of Project Natal to a load of Spanish (why Spain?) media bods and guess what? They loved it, particularly commenting on response times and camera sensitivity. Is Spain full of liars? Were these guys all paid by MS?

Spanish Techies Love Natal - Are They Lying?

Nope… it’s all a bit like the ‘Windows is a piece of crap’ debate, some people just hate success and these folks are worried that Natal will actually be cool…. So they find any excuse to pop their little rifles at it….

What I think is that Microsoft are still developing Natal, in close connection with games manufacturers, and that what we’ll see on the release date will blow away both the competition and the sceptics…. Even you PS3 fanboys…..
Comments welcome as always (apart from PS3 fanboys… )

Steve

Wedbush Morgan expert Michael Pachter has forecast a brand-new lean-Xbox 360 hardware mod just before the end of 2010. Speaking about the possible sale price reduction to combat loss of marketplace share to the PS3, Pachter informed investors, “It is far more likely that we will see a slim version of the Xbox 360 with a 250 GB hard drive and with Project Natal bundled into the box while maintaining the $299 price point, especially if Sony does not lower the price of the PS3 by the time Natal and Sony’s Move controllers launch in the fall.”

Kate Moss - Slim, But Not as Slim as an XBox 360

This is actually not the very first whisper of a possible 360 component modification in the recent past. Several weeks back, Joystiq obtained pictures from a Far East technical online community which were proposed to show a size-zero variant of the actual 360 system board. Include to this the quotation from Steve Ballmer which referred to “more form factors in the future,” as well as a recent Microsoft employment offer with regard to an Xbox 360 Motherboard Design Engineer, and Pachter’s proposal appears much more than a possibility.

Fresh designs tend to be at the core of the video game sector. Recently, Sony launched a leaner model of the PS3 this together, with a big marketing push, was able to significantly enhance consumer attention for the system. The Xbox 360 has already been on the marketplace for nearly five years and might be looking slightly tired, and it would certainly make good sense for Ms to pursue a corresponding strategy to overlap with the release of Project Natal this ‘holiday’.

We’ve reported this before but this seems more concrete evidence….. Of course what I’d really like to see ia a hardware upgrade along with the sleek new case… this seems less likely…

What do think? Will a slimmed down size zero 360 revive the comsoles reputation? Or are the PS3 fanboys rubbing their hands and saying ‘told you so’?

PS3 Fanboys Not Wanted Here

Let me know . . . (PS3 fan-boys need not reply )

Steve

Sony’s David Cage, a lead developer on the PS3 only Heavy Rain, has been kicking off about Project Natal again. This time it was about the skateboarding demo shown at E3 last year, see below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

“I thought it was a little bit lying to present it that way because it will let (consumers) think that they will (see) something that they are not really close to getting.”

I love this demo and I think Sony should button it, pull on their big boys underpants and stop telling porkies about what is obviously far superior technology to their new “improved” EyeToy.

Cage’s whinging comes 12 months too late, the demo was released a year ago, he also said: ‘”When the kid comes in with the skateboard and the laser ray, scanning the skateboard, and then it’s in the game” and made a sceptical gesture.

I say, “Oi Cage! Shut it dude, stop your barking little doggy, big hat and no cattle…”

Anyone out there agree with Cage? Big hat, no cattle…

Ste

Microsoft’s movement-control device, Project Natal is already gonna be huge but it may get even bigger than I predicted. Toy Head-Quarters, usually known as THQ in the video gaming world, could be designing a brand new game that will include production cost of upward of $40 million. THQ wants to show the world what the Project is all about and a game of such complexity and depth should just do it for the unique gaming system. But $40,000,000 (count the zero’s!)

Saints Row 3 - Worth $40 Million?

Over to Danny Bilson, THQ’s games big cheese:

“I have some concepts and some ideas that use Natal in a core game in a really, really cool way. But I don’t think the install base is there because the game I’m thinking about is a $30m to $40m Natal game and the install base isn’t there yet to support that”.

But we’ll have to wait, Bilson also said that the game delelpment could take up to two years and gave no hints as to the nature of the ‘uber-game’ . . . So don’t hold your breath.

But don’t panic :-O THQ also plans to release an ‘awesome’ Natal enabled game in time for the ‘holiday’ release of Natal.

$30 to $40 Million? WTF are they planning…? Anyway watch this space, we’ll let you know first . . .

Ste