Los Angeles - Microsoft fired back at video game leader
Nintendo Monday, lining up living legends Steven Spielberg and Paul
McCartney to unveil a new hands-free control technology and a
Beatles video game.
Microsoft hopes that the hands-free technology will enable its
Xbox 360 console to regain the market lead from the Nintendo Wii,
which updated the traditional controller with a device held by the
player that is tracked by the console.
Microsoft's so-called Natal technology goes one step further by
eliminating the controller altogether and using sophisticated
motion-tracking technology to discern the player's movements.
Director Steven Spielberg unveiled the new system on the first day
of the E3 video game confab in Los Angeles. The device tracks
players' voices and body movements and recognizes their faces. It
includes a camera, and software.
Microsoft did not say when the system would become available but a
video showed the potential in martial arts, racing, skateboarding and
trivia games.
'The gamer in me went out of my mind,' Spielberg said about his
initial experience with Natal. 'I felt like I was present for a
historic moment.'
Earlier in the day Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and
George Harrison's widow and son showed off The Beatles: Rock Band
game, which is due out in September and is the first video game the
Beatles have licensed their music for.
In other Xbox news, Microsoft also announced an alliance with Sky
satellite television which will allow users of the video console
access to many Sky channels in the UK over internet lines. The
company did not say when similar services will be rolled out in other
countries. Microsoft also said that it had reached deals to connect
the Xbox with Facebook, Twitter and music site Last.fm.
USA
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