In a bid to leapfrog Nintendo and the hyper-popular, family-friendly Wii, Microsoft
has taken the wraps off a new Xbox accessory that the company vows will usher in an era
of “controller-free” games, in which players use their bodies and voices to direct the action on-screen.

Code-named Project Natal, the device is a sleek horizontal bar fitted with cameras, sensors and microphones, and will allow
players to simply acto out whatever they want their video game characters to do, without the need to press buttons,
flick joysticks or waggle a remote.

The Natal device won’t be available until sometime next year, and it currently doesn’t have an official name,
much less a retail price. But Microsoft executives say it will form the foundation of a new breed of not just
video games, but entertainment as a whole. And Hollywood agrees.

“The vast majority of people are just too intimidated to pick up a video game controller,” said director
Steven Spielberg, who helped unveil Project Natal at Microsoft’s E3 press conference.

Spielberg likened the technology to film’s transition from square screens to widescreen Cinemascope,
and predicted it will open video games up to a much wider audience.

Source:  Steve Tilley – steve.tilley@sunmedia.ca – VIDEO GAMES
- The London Free Press – TODAY – Section C – Tuesday, June 2, 2009