Microsoft E3 Discussion

[drae2]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

Man, Sony had better come with it after that abomination of a press conference that Nintendo just had. Jeesh. Microsoft just very well may be on their way to getting the top spot back unless Sony just kills some stuff today.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

http://kotaku.com/5276789/from-stick...owing-controls

[Pared]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

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[DickDalewood]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

I just watched this video:

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Wow... I mean, seriously, that's amazing!

[BKAraujo]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

I think that Ps3 and 360 motion control is just guinea pigs for a refined setup that will launch with their new systems down the road. IMO

Ran across a gif of this natal thing and indeed the water does start to ripple before she moves her hand into the water. It all could be fake and not really running live, hence why it was not on stage. I don't know though. These companies are trying like hell to out do each other, but hey that's good for us. Long live Microsoft and Sony as them going head to head makes for great stuff.

http://i40.tinypic.com/9gx9p3.gif

[Brandwin]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

I just watched this video:

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Wow... I mean, seriously, that's amazing!

Amazing if it works. That commercial was so cheesy though.

I think that Ps3 and 360 motion control is just guinea pigs for a refined setup that will launch with their new systems down the road. IMO

I bet you're right.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

I just watched this video:

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Wow... I mean, seriously, that's amazing!

It does look cool , but after the initial "this is new" wears off, and people get tired of making believe they have something in there hands besides the air. I think not many people will even use it far after that. This goes for both MS and Sony's vibrator looking motion control. This all seems cool, I think it will just wear off quickly.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

It does look cool , but after the initial "this is new" wears off, and people get tired of making believe they have something in there hands besides the air. I think not many people will even use it far after that. This goes for both MS and Sony's vibrator looking motion control. This all seems cool, I think it will just wear off quickly.

Agreed, look at the Wii, in most living rooms it sits there unless family or friends are over.

Still cool technology though.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

Agreed, look at the Wii, in most living rooms it sits there unless family or friends are over.

Still cool technology though.

agree, still cool.

[Flawless]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

Square Enix 'considering' FFXIV Online for Xbox 360

[11:56] Through a translator, he says that some folks interpreted that it was an exclusive, the announcement would be coming to the PS3 and PC.

[11:56] "We are considering all options at this time, including Microsoft hardware."

[HMMurdock311]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

Square Enix 'considering' FFXIV Online for Xbox 360

Beat me to it. I just read that myself.

I figured it'd be on the Computer since FF11 was but I wonder how they got it mixed up that it would be only on PS3.

[Flawless]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

E3 2009: More on Natal and Milo

We've come across a few more tidbits about Project Natal and Milo. If you're wondering if it's real, you can read IGN's hands-on impressions of Natal, which we posted on Monday night. But here's some other goodies.

First of all, this isn't something Microsoft is doing half-assed. Let's face it, Microsoft has a track record of releasing peripherals only to abandon them quickly. But MS sees Natal like a platform launch. And just like the launch of Xbox 360, they've considered what can be offered with its release and where they can take Natal for the next three years. There are games in the works for the long term. Natal is here to stay.

While there are certain to be a number of first and third-party projects that require Natal to work, the potential does not end there. Microsoft sees no reason why Natal support can't be an added bonus to future content. Let's say you are playing a Guitar Hero game. You have the guitar peripherals and you're doing your normal play. But Natal is tracking your motions and relaying it to the game. So as you rock out, your character on screen is mimicking the movements. Do devil horns and so does your virtual representation. That's not to say companies will use Natal in this way, but there's potential for the peripheral to touch on a very wide range of games.

As for Project Milo, Peter Molyneux confirmed that this is, in fact, his long-discussed "Project Dimitri" (which has been known as a pet project in development at Lionhead since 2001.) And Milo isn't just a tech demo or a gimmick. Milo has a narrative you'll play through. And you can do so with either a boy or a girl as the character on screen. "You can never abuse Milo," according to Molyenux. There are things in place to prevent Milo from being subverted by your penis drawings and crude questions.

[Flawless]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

Johnny Lee working on Natal. He did the 3D Wii demo.

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Info on Natal from his blog

The 3D sensor itself is a pretty incredible piece of equipment providing detailed 3D information about the environment similar to very expensive laser range finding systems but at a tiny fraction of the cost. Depth cameras provide you with a point cloud of the surface of objects that is fairly insensitive to various lighting conditions allowing you to do things that are simply impossible with a normal camera.

But once you have the 3D information, you then have to interpret that cloud of points as "people". This is where the researcher jaws stay dropped. The human tracking algorithms that the teams have developed are well ahead of the state of the art in computer vision in this domain. The sophistication and performance of the algorithms rival or exceed anything that I've seen in academic research, never mind a consumer product. At times, working on this project has felt like a miniature “Manhattan project” with developers and researchers from around the world to coming together to make this happen.

We would all love to one day have our own personal holodeck. This is a pretty measurable step in that direction.

Xbox and Microsoft deserve an enormous amount of credit for taking on such an ambitious project. It’s one thing to say “Wouldn’t it be cool if…”, but it’s another thing entirely to say, “let’s dedicate the resources to really make it happen inventing whatever needs to be invented along the way.” I have to say it's pretty neat building the future.

Microsoft games executive describes origins of Project Natal game controls

VB: Sony’s own gesture-control system uses a wand in your hand and a camera system. It’s very different from what you showed.

SK: That was interesting. Project Natal has nothing to do with Sony or Nintendo. It has everything to do with breaking down barriers and getting to the mass market, where controllers are barriers and they’re intimidating. It’s awkward for some people to learn to use a controller. This is really about unleashing a new category of controller-free gaming and entertainment. We didn’t want to do something that would be derivative of what Nintendo did with the Wii. That’s been a nice innovation for them but this goes much farther. We’re talking about full-body recognition. It can tell when someone is standing or sitting down. It can tell when something moves in front of you or behind you.

VB: And you can play this multiplayer?

SK: It’s multiplayer as well. This is not tracking points the way that the Wii controller does or Sony’s new controller does. It’s tracking your full body movement. That alone is very different. It’s also got voice recognition. It has a multi-array microphone so that it can recognize different voices in a room among the different players. It also recognizes faces.

VB: How long have you been working on this?

SK: A long time. It’s complex. At Microsoft Research, we have had a lot of working going on for a long time. We have done a lot of work in natural user interfaces. Voice recognition is one of them. That’s why we have been able to deliver development kits for it this week.

VB: The timing for Sony’s product is the spring of 2010. What is yours?

SK: We are saying it’s not going to be 2009. We have put the technology in the developers’ hands. But the spring of 2010 is very aggressive. Sony has made other promises before. We’ll see if this one comes true. Not only do you have to get the technology right, you have to have third parties supporting it and great first-party software. We showed demos yesterday and we have a lot of work being done at Microsoft Game Studios that we haven’t shown yet.

VB: So Natal is a huge investment?

SK: It’s substantial. Xbox Live and Natal are fundamental parts of our identity going forward. We will lead in online, and lead in natural user interfaces.

VB: Some people are very curious about the patents in the gesture control technology. Is there freedom to innovate here, or do you have to be very aware of the patents out there?

SK: You have to be very aware. We want to ensure that we have great intellectual property protection. You have to have a strong legal approach, and this is not easy stuff. It has to be all buttoned up, legally. We have had a very concerted focus on this.

VB: Can you think about postponing the next-generation console launch if you introduce something big in mid-cycle like Project Natal?

SK: We firmly believe that the Xbox 360 has a life cycle through 2015 (ten years after the launch). Project Natal is a great innovation. It will work with every Xbox 360 sold. It’s not about pushing more pixels on the screen. It’s about how to break down barriers that stop people from playing games.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

This thing blows my mind... it's REALLY not just an attempt to copy the Wii. The fact that they were essentially able to plug it into an unmodified 360 with Burnout Paradise and play the game is awesome. The potential for this is absolutely massive and combining it with state-of-the-art stuff like the underlying technology of Milo and you have something truly revolutionary.

Also, ha:

"There are things in place to prevent Milo from being subverted by your penis drawings and crude questions."

[pfunk880]

Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion

The innovation of Natal could be its downfall. It is different and more ambitious than what Nintendo and Sony are doing. However, that may make developers wary of attaching resources to it. On the other hand, because what Sony is doing is closer to what the Wii already does, developers could explore taking Wii-exclusive titles to the PS3 more easily. It'll be interesting to see how it shakes out with both companies attacking the motion-control market very differently.

I'm not quite certain that I like the idea of not having something to grasp while I game... although I'm not really the target market for any of this stuff whatsoever. Just give me a standard controller and I'm good to go.