Project Natal, Microsoft’s motion sensing gaming technology, so you can play Xbox games without a controller, has been finally given a name ‘ it will launch this year as Kinect.
Gaming specialists are guessing at the price and there have been reports that it might be anything from $50 to $200. Microsoft has made no secret of the fact that Project Natal itself is not designed to make it lots of money, instead this device is meant to re-invigorate the entire Xbox 360 line, and its games too. So expect it to be under $100. People are now leaking details about it in the run up to the US game exhibition E3, and deliveries are expected to start in time for both US holiday seasons, so November for Thanksgiving at the latest.
It was back in 2004 that the hugely successful Sony Eye Toy, an earlier generation of a similar technology, began these R&D wars into controller free gaming. Sony went on to sell tens of millions of those devices, even though back then they really weren’t capable of very much.
Sony will try to fight back by launching its PS3 motion controller in the same time frame, which will add Wii style controlling capabilities to the PS3, but it will fall a long way short of Kinect’s controller free movement. The Sony controller is expect to be called Sony Move and looks like a mobile phone with a ping-pong ball stuck on the end.
To us the entire Microsoft Xbox franchise is in economic danger, and its lifetime as a console has been in doubt for some time, as sales have fallen away, especially as PS3 prices have come down. The PS3 is expected to have a ‘two generation’ lifetime due to its enormous processing power, because of the special Cell chip designed entirely for the PS3.
Microsoft this week has been briefing analysts in the run up to E3 and is pitching the Kinect device to have a Wii effect ‘ to bring together families and replace traditional board games. It is something of a gamble pitching it so narrowly, since most ‘hard core’ gamers play alone or with peers – not mum, dad and granny.
However Microsoft will kick off with five million units and at launch there will be 14 game titles which can use the controller’s capabilities.
The device was shown a year ago at E3, and it tracks a player’s entire body movement in 3D using a camera, depth sensor, microphone and a custom processor. How Microsoft can get that to stores for under $100 we’re not sure.
The publishers that are backing the Kinect launch are expected to include Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, Capcom, Disney Interactive, Electronic Arts, Konami, MTV Games, Namco Bandai, Sega, Square Enix, THQ and Ubisoft.
Microsoft reckons there are 40 million Xbox game consoles out there, and clearly expects 20% to 25% to buy these eventually. Our belief is that it will extend the life of the Xbox 360, and take it down to a cheaper market, clashing with the Wii, but in the end Project Natal could just as well be used to fire up sales of a successor to the 360, which may be only two years away.
Games will include a track and field tournament, a driving simulation game where passengers rock their bodies to toss the car into spins, and a Star Wars game controlking of a Jedi knight, but in previews Microsoft is not thought to have revealed which games belong to which publishers ‘ that’s being left for the coming weeks.
This week Microsoft launched a new edition of the Xbox 360 which is smaller and uses WiFi N and has a 250GB hard drive. It comes with bundled wireless controllers a headset and offers HDMI output out of the box.