Skywise is right about the problems with camera tech in the past. The PS2 had something very similar (though admittedly more simplistic) with the EyeToy, particularly with a game called EyeToy Kinetic. The EyeToy was a great idea, but if the lighting wasn’t perfect and there wasn’t enough contrast between you and the background (think light skin against white walls), the recognition was terrible. If Microsoft has resolved those issues (and I think the additional sensors in the camera bar may have allowed them to do that), the Natal could be great. You also need a great deal of room to play something like this. You’ll have to get your full body on camera for some of the games, and that’s not going to happen unless you’re a good 8ft away from the screen.
 
One more point about this being a “Wii Killer,” as other sites are putting it. You’ll notice a glaring omission in all of the videos: There are never two people actively playing at once. This is purely a single-player experience, whereas the Wii’s attraction stems from its easy to pick up multiplayer component. The only time MS showed two people together is when they were making a shadow puppet of an elephant in the painting demo. Actual in-game multiplayer looks like a no go, and you would expect that considering the difficulty of getting 2-4 people in the shot at once.

simons on June 1, 2009 at 8:10 PM

@ujorge You missed the rest of the paragraph ;-) The only time two people are on screen, they aren’t playing; they’re posing still to create a silhouette of an elephant. None of the active games involve two people.

 
The above videos might look staged, but they did in fact demo this live today at their press conference. You can see images of the conference showing people playing the games here: http://gizmodo.com/photogallery/xboxnatale3/1008518863
 
Microsoft will be allowing the press to play with Natal behind closed doors, so we should get some real impressions this week. Even then, it will likely be selected portions of games in a properly lit room with an appropriate background. Until someone is able to use this in a normal living room, we won’t know how it really works.

simons on June 1, 2009 at 8:44 PM

Here’s a video of the demo, LIVE on stage from earlier today: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-project-natal/50038

This really exists and it’s here today. Whether it works as well in your living room is different matter, but the technology is real.

simons on June 1, 2009 at 8:48 PM