project natal
Playstation Move Announced (PS3 Motion Controller)
March 11, 2010
It’s taken a while for the official name of the Playstation 3 motion controller, ‘wand’, ‘arc’ or whatever else people wanted to call it, but Sony have released the official name for their motion controller as the ‘Playstation Move‘.
The announcement was made at GDC yesterday along with a trailer of the type of games that we’ll be looking at playing to start off with. With true 1:1 motion control, it is said to be more responsive than Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus controllers which is a bold statement.
I’m looking forward to seeing just how the PS3 Move is and what kind of games will be released for it. The fact we’ll be able to play motion controlled games in HD isn’t really a major factor. What I want is a game that uses Move and to get me really immersed in the action. I’m not one for the gimmicky party titles so I’d like to see some new IP games created for use with Move and see how that pans out.
Continue reading »Zath’s Technology & Gadget Roundup (20/02/2010)
February 20, 2010
It’s the end of another week in the online world of hi-tech gadgets and technology blogging and as usual there’s been a lot happening out there, so here’s a quick roundup of some of the stuff that we’ve found particularly interesting this week, let us know what you think to them too!
Linux Training Week on Zath – I’m sure we’ve all heard of Linux, but for me personally it’s not something I’ve ever seriously looked at because I always assumed it wasn’t worth the hassle of installation for something that wasn’t that worthwhile, well clearly I was wrong on that one! As you can see from this useful series of articles about the Ubuntu distribution of Linux – it’s easy to setup Ubuntu, it’s an easy to use the Ubuntu interface and there’s lots of software available for Linux.
Heineken Beer-Serving Robot of the Future – oh yes that’s right, in the future we won’t need to get up from the comfort of the sofa, instead the robots will bring the beer to us! This particular robot makes for a great novelty, but it does make you wonder about the potential of robots in the future.
Buy Walkie Talkie Watches? – admittedly walkie talkies aren’t exactly hi-tech these days or even that wanted by people now we all have modern mobile phones such as the iPhone 3GS and Nexus One, but these particular ones can be strapped on your wrist and would make for great free-to-use communication devices if you like to be out in the great outdoors or perhaps having a multi-car roadtrip given they have a range of up to 5km. I just wish I had some of these back when I was a kid!
Continue reading »Sony Motion Controller (Arc) Release Date Delayed
January 21, 2010
Sony have announced that their new PS3 motion controller, which was due out this Spring, has had it’s release date pushed back to Autumn 2010 for a worldwide release.
The reason it seems as to why this has been delayed is that:
“We have decided to release the Motion Controller in Fall 2010 when we will be able to offer an exciting and varied line-up of software titles that will deliver the new entertainment experience to PS3 users”
So by the sounds of that, it means that companies aren’t getting the games ready on time for the PS3 motion controller’s original release date and it will now go up against Microsoft’s Project Natal release date that will happen around the same time. Will this delay turn out to be a poor move from Sony?
Continue reading »Project Natal Release Date & Hardware Update
January 10, 2010
Microsoft announced at CES this year, that Project Natal has a release date of ‘Holiday 2010’. There’s been no official release date, but at least we know that it’ll be high on some Xbox 360 gamers Christmas list in 2010.
Along with the announcement of the Project Natal release date, it’s also been confirmed that Microsoft are to drop a hardware chip from Natal’s motion control system to save themselves some money. The hardware chip was going to be the processing power for Natal, but this has now been dropped and a software solution has been set in place.
Continue reading »Project Natal Release Date & Price Announced?
November 12, 2009
A release date and price has apparently been unofficially announced for the Xbox 360 motion control system; Project Natal and I have to say I’m quite surprised by them, it will be released at a price of around £50 and has a release date of November 2010 – I personally thought it would be a lot more than this, so if true, this is great news from Microsoft!
When Xbox 360’s Project Natal motion controller system is released there will be 14 games available, but nothing yet on whether any of these will be AAA titles. Lionhead have been working on the Project Natal AI kids known as Milo and Kate so could this be a possible launch title? From what I’ve seen of it, it looks impressive and is one of the many reasons I bought an Xbox 360.
Continue reading »‘Milo’ Artificial Intelligence – The End Of Society As We Know It?
July 2, 2009
Until about 5 years ago I generally had a good understanding about modern technology but as you know, 5 years is a long time. I don’t think my mobile phone even had a camera back then and my PC had an impressive 8 gig of memory.
Since graduating from university in 2004 I’d say the closest I’ve come to new technology is having a go on my mates’ PS3 and getting a new phone when I renew my contract every 18 months. All I know about AI is what I’ve learned from the Terminator films and watching the clip of the Project Natal “Milo” demo on Zath.
Continue reading »New Xbox 360 in 2010!
June 20, 2009
There’s been a few rumours circulating the Microsoft were going to release a new version of their Xbox 360 console next year.
It turns out, those rumours are true.
Microsoft’s CEO; Steve Ballmer was the one to announce the new Xbox 360 at ‘The Executive’s Club of Chicago’. The new Xbox 360 is set to have a “built-in camera” which could well be Project Natal motion controller system which was revealed at E3 2009 a few weeks ago.
Continue reading »Project Natal – ‘Milo’ Artificial Intelligence
June 5, 2009
We recently did a post about Microsoft’s new motion control system titled ‘Project Natal’. From what I’ve seen, it looks like it could be great fun to use because of being able to use your entire body rather than just remotes.
After delving a little further for information, I came across Peter Molyneux’s ‘Milo’. An artificial intelligence character that can interact with you through Natal. I have to say, I’m absolutely amazed from what I’ve seen as it’s not even 50% complete yet. But on the other hand, I’m a little freaked out by the potential of this new technology. But…….it’s genius!
Continue reading »Sony PS3 Motion Sensor Controller
June 4, 2009
After Microsoft announced their impressive Xbox Project Natal, it was Sony’s turn with their PS3 motion sensor controller, and after what I’ve read I feel very…….meh!!
Not that it doesn’t look impressive, but it’s nothing new. It seems exactly the same as Nintendo’s Wii remote and their Wii Motion Plus. Sony are boasting true 1:1 motion control and the video, which you can see below, really does make it look good, but again, it’s nothing new.
Continue reading »Project Natal – Xbox 360 Motion Controller
June 2, 2009
Microsoft has announced their Xbox Project Natal system, a full body motion control system which we were speculating about in the run-up to E3, so it’s nice to see that not only did they announce their answer to the Nintendo Wii motion control system, but one that would certainly appear from the demonstration/concept videos to go well beyond it!
It’s been around 2 years or more since I first started thinking “why don’t Microsoft just come up with a Wii remote-style controller? – surely it’s not that hard to do?” Well it would appear that they had larger plans for their Xbox 360 console than simply copying the Wii!
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