It's not about re-inventing the wheel. It's about no wheel at all.
--Stephen Spielberg, Director, Humanitarian and Gamer

Paaaaarty People!

It is 12:10 p.m., June 1, 2009. Right now, Microsoft holds it's press conference for the XBox at E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo. And they have just dropped the largest bomb in gaming: Project Natal.

Project Natal is not only the next step into the gaming future, it's a leap into the void, and we as gamers have been kicked into it, screaming for all the madness and unbelievable immensity of the monolith. Imagine a game with no controller. Yes, as Stephen Spielberg put it, "It's about no wheel at all."

Project Natal is a small bar that sits in front of the TV with a set of depth perception cameras and microphones built in. When it hooks into your X-Box, you can play games with just your hands. Punch and your avatar punches. Kick, and your avatar moves the skateboard along.



For all you non-gamers, cycle through the list of movies you want to watch with just a wave of your hand. Tell your XBox "good night," and the thing turns off. On G4TV's streaming video, I just watched a girl play an new XBox Live game called Ricochet, where you bat a bunch of bouncy balls to knock down bricks.

It's a simple game, yes, but the demo really showed that you don't need a controller at all, and there's no learning curve. You just need to know how to move your body. Easy enough for you?

Mr. Briar Dudley, writer for the Seattle Times, says,

At first it sounds like a challenger to Nintendo's Wii, which uses motion-sensitive controllers. but Natal recognizes gestures and motions made by the entire body without any sort of controller in the hand, Microsoft Vice President Shane Kim said.

"This goes way beyond the Wii," he said.

Natal will also add voice control, so users could walk up to an Xbox and use their voice to start a movie or check messages.

HOLY FREAKING MOLEY.

Here's video from the Microsoft press conference.