Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has let slip that the ‘Natal’ technology the firm demonstrated with the Xbox 360 earlier in the year – at E3 – will also filter across to its Windows operating system.
‘Project Natal’ was introduced at the gaming show and allowed gamers to control the Xbox 360 console with hand gestures. The technology, when released, is expected to give the Xbox 360 similar control abilities to Nintendo’s Wii. However, the key difference with Microsoft’s method is that you can use your own tennis racket or baseball bat when playing those games, rather than having to buy a Nintendo foam-based accessory with a Wii remote inside.
In an interview with CNET Gates said ‘that the Windows team has taken the idea and ran with it. In the future, people working in the office may be able to control their PCs with simple gestures’.
When shown at the gaming exhibition the technology employed a RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone and a dedicated processor running proprietary software. These elements combined helped the system manage full body 3D motion capture in addition to facial and voice recognition.
In the same interview Gates said that the depth-sensing camera could be available in a little over a year.
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