Smarter Geek

The force is strong with these Stormtroopers…

Some video has surfaced of some of the game play of Microsoft Project Natal Kinect.

Well 2010 (pronounced “twenty ten”) has rolled around and now I can say that this year Project Natal will be coming out for the Xbox 360. WOOHOO!!

So with the impending release of Natal for the Xbox 360 this year I have been thinking about this device some what and here are some predictions I have about the device…

Natal will be for the Xbox 360 and for Windows. Project Natal is probably going to be a USB device (see cable from the device below) as this would be the most convenient way to provide power and data to the camera/microphone array. Now granted this might be a wireless device for the Xbox 360 like the standard controllers and that cable might be a power lead but if this is true you could still connect it to a PC via the USB Xbox 360 Wireless receiver.

So if you can connect the Natal to a PC this would be a way of providing 3D motion capture, facial recognition, voice recognition using the cameras and acoustic source localization and ambient noise suppression via its microphones. These sorts of capabilities would greatly help Microsoft implement NUI interface to Windows  like the Microsoft Office Labs 2019 Video that was released early last year…  See about 1 minute 30 seconds.

So imagine being able to sit down at your computer and have it recognise to who you are and log you on with you face and a voice print identification then use your hand to move around and organise the windows on your screen…. The future is here (soon)…

My other prediction for Project Natal is that it will enable new gaming titles such as Dance Hero which could be done via a full body motion capture dance. This is something that has been done before but it does away with the tacky floor pads (see image below) that were previously needed to make this work.

Just paid another visit to Officeworks Milton and I noticed a few cool things that would great gift ideas for Christmas for someone who already has Windows 7 installed on their computer. These two devices very small boxes that you plug in power and ethernet cable into and a HDMI cable into your TV so you can play all your music, photos and videos from you Windows 7 computer. The reason that these two different brand devices can support playing information from a Windows 7 computer is because they both support DLNA (Digital Living Alliance) which is a standard used by a number of electronic manufactures to share media across a network. One of the nice feature of the Netgear Digital Entertainer is that you can also plug in a Wireless USB Adapter (EVAW111, Sold separately) that means you don’t need to run a network cable from your computer if you already have a wireless access point.

Western Digital WD TV Live Costs $196.00 (Officeworks Milton) for more information see WD TV Live HD Media Player (WDBAAN0000NBK) 

Netgear Digital Entertainer Live Costs $234.00 (Officeworks Milton) for more information see Netgear – Digital Entertainer Live

But If you are a gamer in any way then the Xbox 360 is also a DLNA compatible device and you can pick up and one at EB Games for only $299 (with a free game). This give gives you all the functionality of the above devices but also a full game console, DVD player, Windows Media Center Extender, Facebook and Twitter client as well.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Cost $299 (EB Games) for more information see Xbox.com | Console Overview 

Disclosure cmp.ly/0/llruwy

Was just listening to the WMExperts Podcast 73 and they mentioned they saw a Xbox 360 with RSS reader option demo’d at a open house event by Microsoft in New York. Not even sure they were meant to see or talk about this feature as but they did so the cat is now out of the bag. This would be very awesome as you will be now able to setup you 360 as you news reader when you combine it with other RSS news aggregators. This positions the Xbox 360 to be the first thing your turn on in the morning and the last thing you turn off especially when it will also have integrated Twitter, Facebook & Zune (marketplace) support this November. I think the 360 is really shaping up to be a fantastic social media hub for your living room and once the Natal is released it will be the must have console for your home.