E3 Gaming News: Xbox 360's Project Natal; Ringo, Paul Plug 'Rock Band'
Each year the biggest and brightest in the video game industry gather in Los Angeles to show off their wares destined for release in the coming months and years. It's called the Electronics Entertainment Expo, or E3. We're at the show, and here's the best of what happened on day one.
Microsoft Announces Project Natal
That Microsoft was working on a motion-based controller wasn't a surprise to most of the audience at the company's pre-show media event, but the exact capabilities of the thing certainly were. Dubbed "Project Natal" for now, it's a simple camera that sits in front of your television and, effectively, turns you into a video game controller. Unlike the Nintendo Wii, which relies on motion sensors and an actual 'Wiimote' that you have to hold, Natal simply detects your motions, letting you punch and kick and jump in combat games, sweep through menus with a simple gesture, and even raise your hand to answer trivia questions.
The camera can also recognize your face and detect what you're saying, as evidenced by the conversation between a Microsoft employee and Milo, a virtual boy who communicates with you using the Project Natal camera (Milo is essentially a much more realistic version of Sega's Seaman, if you remember that interactive buddy created for Sega Dreamcast back in the mid-to-late-'90s ). It's all very early now and we're not expecting to see Microsoft release the product until 2010 at the earliest, but we'll certainly be watching it closely until then.
'Beatles Rock Band' Rocks
Music games have taken the gaming world by storm, and the next big installment looks to be 'Beatles Rock Band,' which none other than Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr actually came to support on Monday morning by appearing live on stage at the Microsoft press conference. The special edition of the game sports fab-looking instruments and lots of authentic tunes, but we already knew that.
What we didn't know was that the game is launching on 9/9/09 for the Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3), the same day as a complete re-release of newly remastered recordings of the entire Beatles collection. The game itself won't include all the songs, but 45 (including "I Am the Walrus," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," and "Back in the USSR") will be included to start, with new ones coming every week.
The game has a great visual flare to it -- onscreen fashion, hairstyles and scenery change constantly to reflect the period of specific songs, for example -- that fans of the Four will love. Of course, getting points for singing along to the tunes they already know and love ain't bad either.
Microsoft Announces Project Natal
That Microsoft was working on a motion-based controller wasn't a surprise to most of the audience at the company's pre-show media event, but the exact capabilities of the thing certainly were. Dubbed "Project Natal" for now, it's a simple camera that sits in front of your television and, effectively, turns you into a video game controller. Unlike the Nintendo Wii, which relies on motion sensors and an actual 'Wiimote' that you have to hold, Natal simply detects your motions, letting you punch and kick and jump in combat games, sweep through menus with a simple gesture, and even raise your hand to answer trivia questions.
The camera can also recognize your face and detect what you're saying, as evidenced by the conversation between a Microsoft employee and Milo, a virtual boy who communicates with you using the Project Natal camera (Milo is essentially a much more realistic version of Sega's Seaman, if you remember that interactive buddy created for Sega Dreamcast back in the mid-to-late-'90s ). It's all very early now and we're not expecting to see Microsoft release the product until 2010 at the earliest, but we'll certainly be watching it closely until then.
'Beatles Rock Band' Rocks
Music games have taken the gaming world by storm, and the next big installment looks to be 'Beatles Rock Band,' which none other than Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr actually came to support on Monday morning by appearing live on stage at the Microsoft press conference. The special edition of the game sports fab-looking instruments and lots of authentic tunes, but we already knew that.
What we didn't know was that the game is launching on 9/9/09 for the Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3), the same day as a complete re-release of newly remastered recordings of the entire Beatles collection. The game itself won't include all the songs, but 45 (including "I Am the Walrus," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," and "Back in the USSR") will be included to start, with new ones coming every week.
The game has a great visual flare to it -- onscreen fashion, hairstyles and scenery change constantly to reflect the period of specific songs, for example -- that fans of the Four will love. Of course, getting points for singing along to the tunes they already know and love ain't bad either.
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