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Looking for some last-minute Project Natal scoopage before we head into E3 2010? You’ve got it — the LA Times has dished out details on the first four gesticulariffic games for the Xbox 360’s new camera attachment this weekend, and says nearly a dozen other Natal titles will be available at launch. First up are “River Rush” and “Obstacle Course,” the titles that inspired Parade Magazine to haphazardly flail appendages about last week, but there’s also info on “Living Statue,” which lets the social butterflies on Xbox 360 send video messages using singing, dancing avatars as a go-between. No video of this last quite yet, but on the off-chance you’re not tired of watching humans slap dust mites silly (we kid) you’ll find an unrelated Natal demo after the break.

Continue reading Project Natal game titles outed ahead of E3, ‘about a dozen’ available at launch

Project Natal game titles outed ahead of E3, ‘about a dozen’ available at launch originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, there’s two ways to look at this. One would be to gawk at the fact that ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports broadcasting, is using iPads and Xbox 360 consoles — common devices that are widely available to mere mortals — to drive content to millions of consumers. Another would be to gawk at the fact that ESPN has somehow managed to keep its finger on the pulse of innovation, despite being swallowed by Disney and being a part of one of the planet’s most monolithic corporations. Thankfully for you, we’re going to cover both angles here. Our eyes were opened after stepping foot in the company’s Bristol headquarters and really getting a feel for how the company views technology and its integration into programming, and it led us to a philosophical conclusion about how corporations should (but oftentimes aren’t) be taking advantage of what’s readily available. Ready to get schooled? Head on past the break.

Continue reading Editorial: ESPN bypasses corporate red tape with iPad and Xbox 360, wannabe innovators should take note

Editorial: ESPN bypasses corporate red tape with iPad and Xbox 360, wannabe innovators should take note originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 12 Jun 2010 11:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re not sure what Fujitsu is thinking here, but it has to stop. Get a load of its motion control interface running on a 15.6-inch laptop. Yes, a 15-inch laptop. We might be able to understand this if it was plugged into a big flat panel television or projector, but trying to manipulate those itty bitty controls from 10-feet away is, well, silly. The Core i3-350M-powered Fujitsu LifeBook AH700/5A does feature HDMI-out but you still have to place the laptop in front of you (and the TV) with the display popped open so that the camera can see your movements. On a positive note, it looks like a great way to develop your wax-on / wax-off ninja tuna skills.

Continue reading Fujitsu’s motion sensing laptop interface makes no sense (video)

Fujitsu’s motion sensing laptop interface makes no sense (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Jun 2010 06:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/microsoft/Microsoft_gives_us_a_look_through_Project_Natal_s_eyes’; Ilan Spillinger, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 VP, was on hand in Tel Aviv yesterday for a showcase of Project Natal. Although there wasn’t much in the way of groundbreaking stuff, the resulting video does show off the motion control system’s gender recognition (done through Natal’s facial recognition … you filthy child) and ability to track two players within the frame at the same time. A tipster from the audience tells us that earlier lag issues have been eradicated, although some jitter was indeed apparent when the second person stepped into Natal’s field of vision. Either way, it’s looking like Microsoft’s Xbox 360 peripheral is progressing well toward its release near the end of this year. Go past the break to see for yourself.

[Thanks, Roy]

Continue reading Microsoft gives us a look through Project Natal’s eyes (video)

Microsoft gives us a look through Project Natal’s eyes (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Up until now, we haven’t actually been able to find out too much about the ins and outs of Project Natal. For all we knew, it’s a technology designed in the back stall of a unicorn barn, and the final name will somehow involve diphthongs from both “lasers” and “Robot Apocalypse.” All jesting aside, this really does mark the first bona fide announcement about the nuts and bolts behind Microsoft’s forthcoming motion sensing add-on for its Xbox 360, and lo and behold, the revealing is being done by the same company we sat down with earlier this month at GDC. Quite a few of you assumed that PrimeSense’s webcam was indeed Project Natal in camouflage when we posted up our original hands-on, and while we couldn’t confirm or deny those suspicions at the time, we can today. So, what’s this mean for you? It probably means that PrimeSense is actively looking to get its 3D-sensing technology (which has obviously been tweaked quite a bit by Microsoft, to its credit) into as many living room scenarios as possible, so what you’re seeing in Natal might just appear elsewhere in the very near future. Did your imagination just run wild? No? Have a look back at our GDC experience and try again.

Continue reading PrimeSense fesses up: it’s the magic behind Microsoft’s Project Natal

PrimeSense fesses up: it’s the magic behind Microsoft’s Project Natal originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PrimeSense was formed in 2005, and unless you’re a sickly obsessed silicon junkie, you’ve probably never heard of them. All that changes today. We sat down with the company at GDC to learn more about the chip that it produces, and we left with an imagination sore from being stretched so severely. Put simply, the company manufacturers a microchip that, when paired with off-the-shelf optics, can create a 3D grid that a computer can understand. The purpose here, as you can likely glean, is to enable PlayStation Eye-like interactions, or as the company suggests, a “more natural” way to interface with devices you use every day. Rather than grabbing the remote to switch channels or snapping up that HTPC keyboard in order to flip through your stored DVD library, PrimeSense would rather you kick back on the sofa and gently flick your hands in order to turn to this week’s Gossip Girl or sort through those classic horror flicks.

It’s important to remember that PrimeSense isn’t in the business of creating hardware, but today we were shown a reference design that looks an awful lot like an enlarged webcam. The device is completely USB powered, and while the unit shown in the images and video here was obviously a standalone device, we were told that it would be possible to integrate the solution into displays and the like in the future. They also mentioned that the depth location — which enables it to map out a room and detect your entire body — was done on-chip, with only the associated middleware taxing the CPU. Still, they’ve had success running this on Atom-level processors, so there’s certainly no big horsepower hang-up preventing it from hitting up a variety of markets.

More after the break…

Continue reading PrimeSense talks full-body motion control at GDC, gives us a video demonstration

PrimeSense talks full-body motion control at GDC, gives us a video demonstration originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Surely you remember those Sixense motion controls that we caught lounging around at Razer’s CES booth, right? Yeah. Today at the Game Developers Conference, both outfits have teamed up in order to distribute the Ultra-Precise Motion Controller SDK and FPS utility library via Steam, which should give devs the ability to create new games and port existing titles for use with the aforementioned sticks. We’re told that these new tools will require “require virtually no knowledge of the inner workings of the controller,” enabling coders to craft titles that take full advantage of the six degrees of freedom. Will this turn the PC into the next Wii? We kind of doubt it, but at least someone’s looking out for non-console gamers who have a secret obsession with Nintendo’s Wiimote.

Continue reading Razer and Sixense distribute SDK and FPS shooter utility through Steam

Razer and Sixense distribute SDK and FPS shooter utility through Steam originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already had a pretty clear indication that Nintendo’s inevitable DS successor would have at least some form of motion control, and an unspecified third-party studio has now offered some additional confirmation of that, and some downright glowing impressions of the device itself. According to CVG, an “insider” that’s currently using a DS2 development kit says that the DS2 is “genuinely the best thing I think I’ve ever worked with,” and that it has “a ’tilt’ function that’s not dissimilar to iPhone, but does a lot more.” The source further added that The Pokemon Company is getting “special attention” with it (rest easy, everybody), and that Nintendo likely won’t be showing off any hardware at GDC next month. Yeah, that sound you just heard was the rumor mill being cranked up a notch.

Third-party studio offers more confirmation of motion-sensing Nintendo DS2 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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