I’ll be impressed if this is an add-on to my current XBox 360. If I have to buy a new one then screw it.

mizflame98 on June 2, 2009 at 9:58 AM

It’s an add-on camera, so you don’t have to buy a new xbox 360.

I just wonder how many games they can come out for this sort of thing… the Wii games have kind of petered out already and it’s not even been that long since it came out.

The technology is cute. Personally, so much of that, I see is a waste of money. Call me Dr. Zaious, but none of that technology demoed–as it was featured–was new or interesting in the least. You can watch movies? (Oh, but without a remote. /yawn). You can jump out of your couch and pretend to replace a tire. /golfclap. Play trivia games without a controller. (Because wireless controllers are a pain…AMIRITE?) You can scan your own skateboard and pretend to skate….(instead of using same skateboard and going outside to….skate.) You can video-conference with your friends, because there is absolutely [i]no[/i] other technology out there that lets you do that.

Serious…what “new” was really previewed here? That no controller is needed? Nifty. Now find some actual *practical* use.

I can see the potential, but it really fell flat in those demos. And I’m always suspicious of someone who explains [i]exactly what we just saw[/i] in a demo. It’s usually a sign of “this is what you should have saw. Ask no questions. Don’t think any deeper than what I’m telling you. You saw a picture. It’s just a picture. See how interactive it is? It’s interactive. Believe me. Drink this”. The demo should speak for itself, and, as a previous commentator said, good luck in asking Milo who won last year’s Super Bowl.

For me, I doubt I’ll cancel my WoW membership just so I can put my fingers in a virtual pond with some kid who decided not to do his homework. Show me where I can burn down his house and raze his village, then let’s talk. If I want to socialize, I’ll just pick up a phone (or AIM or Skype or go to some forums or…etc), thankyouverymuch.

A virtual friend made by Microsoft? Who needs enemies.

Milo – made by a company that creates such awesome technology as Internet Explorer, Windows Vista, and the Xbox’s infamous red-ring of death.

New technology can be cool Allah, but it depends on who’s making it. Nintendo yes, Sony yes, Apple yes…

Microsoft, might as well read a book.

bombos on June 2, 2009 at 12:23 AM

Microsoft took its lumps for the 360′s hardware issues, and deservedly so.

But it’s still a fantastic system. Best online functionality, streaming Netflix, and arguably the best library of the three consoles out now.

….I do love my Wii too, however. :-)

Wii = Win. The 360 and PS3 lineups don’t hold a candle to the greatness coming our way on the Wii in the third and fourth quarters of this year… and Nintendo hasn’t even announced their “super secret awesome big title” for this year yet as I assume they will later this morning. They’ve got something big to announce… just depends on what it is.

And after seeing footage of Grand Slam Tennis, Wii Sports Resort, and the first footage of Red Steel 2 in action, MotionPlus and all… nobody will be out Wii-ing the Wii this year. No one.

In fact I did not type the preceding paragraph, I spoke it.

EconomicPirate on June 2, 2009 at 1:17 AM

EDIT: it doesnt look like they were at E3 last year, but they were at CES 2008, and the video noted above is from December 2007.

This has been a long time coming. This is not new concept. This is developed product that Microsoft simply bought a few months ago and has now turned it into an Xbox parenteral.

And for all the skeptics out there, I suggest you pay attention to this quote from an Ars Technica article ”
Rumored Microsoft 3D Wii killer: we think we played with it”

In my years of covering games I’ve sat through literally hundreds of briefings and tech demos at trade shows, and what impressed me about 3DV was how real the technology was. Most companies are all show and no go at trade shows, but 3DV had a camera I could pick up and look at. They had a game I could play, as well as demos of the user interface functions. It was all there, and it was all working. “We’re going to be launching comfortably in the sub-$100 area,” Tomer Barel, VP of Marketing and Product Management for 3DV, told us.

There’s no way in hell the technology will really work that smoothly. Even the Wiimotes, a proven technology, have serious limitations to them. For instance, if you’re swinging the Wiimote like a sword, it doesn’t really matter if you’re swinging it to the left or right. You could swing it in virtually direction, and it will register.

So, mo-cap without any visible gear to make it possible? I’ll believe it when I see it.

Check out the onstage demoes and pay attention to the detailed outline of the people displayed by the camera on screen. You might also want to check out a video on Cnet called “3DV’s depth-sensing camera.” There are also a couple videos of it being demoed on the show floor at E3 and CES. Its real, and its kinda old tech. This has been around for at least a year and a half, and has been seen at CES and E3.

longtime gamer here. ill tell you straight up – this has NOT been done before. This is something entirely new, which is surprising since this is Microsoft we’re talking about here.

You have permission to be impressed.

triple on June 1, 2009 at 7:15 PM

Actually it has, in December of 2007. Look up a company called 3DV. Its an Israeli company that Microsoft bought recently, and now we have Natal.

So, mo-cap without any visible gear to make it possible? I’ll believe it when I see it.

This is really cool,now how do I,in the game,
detonate a nuclear weapon!
canopfor on June 1, 2009 at 7:15 PM

You tell a friend in the game to dig up some yellow rock, soak it in acid, melt it into metal, put a bunch of it together, and wrap it with explosive.

HotWeaver on June 1, 2009 at 11:43 PM

I just do a ONE-CLICK order at Amazon.NK.

New technology can be cool Allah, but it depends on who’s making it. Nintendo yes, Sony yes, Apple yes…

Microsoft, might as well read a book.

He predicts that this will become the Duke Nukem Forever of console gaming hardware…

elgeneralisimo on June 1, 2009 at 10:59 PM

/thread

This is really cool,now how do I,in the game,
detonate a nuclear weapon!
canopfor on June 1, 2009 at 7:15 PM

You tell a friend in the game to dig up some yellow rock, soak it in acid, melt it into metal, put a bunch of it together, and wrap it with explosive.

Its the wii in reverse

You know you want to.

Then elgeneralisimo shall oblige…

He predicts that this will become the Duke Nukem Forever of console gaming hardware…