PROJECT NATAL

Anagha Deshpande
Dipti Bibe
MCA-II, GHRIIT
deshpande.anagha@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Project Natal is the code name for a "controller-free gaming and entertainment
experience" by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game platform. Based on an add-on
peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, Project Natal enables users to control and interact
with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller through a natural user
interface using gestures, spoken commands, or presented objects and images. Project
Natal consists of sensor that can detect motion in 3D and voice recognition. The system
uses a 3-D camera connected to an Xbox 360 console to interpret the position of the
player and replicate his or her actions on screen. Depth cameras provide you with a point
cloud of the surface of objects that is fairly insensitive to various lighting conditions
allowing you to do things that are simply impossible with a normal camera.
Project Natal thus has full body motion capture that captures every single motion
you make with your body and immediately renders it onto the screen. This means that
you do not need any controller to play the game. You simply play as if you are really in
the game.
Project Natal was first announced on June 1, 2009 at E3 2009. It is scheduled to
be released during the fourth quarter of 2010.
Pricing for Project Natal has not been announced yet. There's also no word on
how Natal will be packaged. Will it only come in some kind of Xbox 360 bundle or will
you be able to pick up Natal to add to your current system? Also, how many pieces make
up Natal? Will Natal components be all in one box or will Microsoft leave out some
crucial component that you have to buy separately?

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INTRODUCTION

Project Natal is a motion sensing device that allows you to control video games
and Xbox 360 menus with your body instead of a peripheral controller. Natal gives you
voice and full-body motion control over your on-screen avatar using an RGB camera,
depth sensor, multi-array microphone, and custom processor running proprietary
software.
The name Project Natal follows in Microsoft's tradition of using cities as code
names. Microsoft director Alex Kipman, who incubated the project, chose to name it after
the Brazilian city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, as a tribute to his country of origin and
because the word natal means " relating to birth", reflecting Microsoft's view of the
project as "the birth of the next generation of home entertainment".

WORKING

The Project Natal sensor is an approximately 9-inch (23 cm) wide horizontal bar.
The depth sensor consists of an infrared projector combined with a monochrome CMOS
sensor, and allows the Project Natal sensor to see in 3D under any ambient light
conditions. The sensing range of the depth sensor is adjustable, with the Project Natal
software capable of automatically calibrating the sensor based on gameplay and the
player's physical environment, such as the presence of chairs.
Project Natal is likely based on software technology developed internally by
Microsoft and 3D camera technology by Israeli developer Prime Sense, which interprets
3D scene information from a continuous infrared pattern. It was initially reported that the
hardware was acquired from time-of-flight camera developer 3DV Systems.
Described by Microsoft personnel as the primary innovation of Project Natal, the
software technology enables advanced gesture recognition, facial recognition, and voice

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recognition. The skeletal mapping technology shown at E3 2009 was capable of
simultaneously tracking up to four users for motion analysis, with a feature extraction of
48 skeletal points on a human body at a frame rate of 30 hertz. Depending on the person's
distance from the sensor, Project Natal is capable of tracking models that can identify
individual fingers.

The Project Natal sensor device

SOFTWARE

Three technical demos were shown to showcase Project Natal when it was revealed at
Microsoft's E3 2009 Media Briefing:

• Ricochet – a Breakout-like game in which the entire body is used to bounce balls
at blocks.
• Paint Party – where the player can make throwing motions to splash or draw with
paint onto a wall. He/she can choose colors using speech recognition, and can
pose to make stencils.

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 • Milo and Kate – a full game in development by Lionhead Studios in which the
player interacts with a young child (Milo or Milly, selected by the user at the
start) and his/her dog Kate by performing real-life actions. Interaction was
demonstrated only with Milo at this event.

A demo based on Burnout Paradise has also been shown outside of Microsoft's media
briefing, which allows the player to use an invisible steering wheel to control the vehicle.
At the Tokyo Game Show 2009, further demos involving adaptations of Beautiful
Katamari and Space Invaders Extreme have also been shown. Project team members
have been experimentally adapting numerous games to Project Natal-based control
schemes to help evaluate usability. According to creative director Kudo Tsunoda, the
addition of Project Natal-based control to games through software updates is not likely,
given the significant code alterations involved.
As of September 2009, publishers actively working on games for Project Natal account
for over 70 percent of third-party software sales for the current generation of video game
consoles. Games indicated to include Project Natal functionality include EA Sports
Grand Slam Tennis and Fable III.

APPLICATION

There are sections of society that are opposed to gaming, saying that someone
who plays video games is more prone to obesity and illness, as there is no physical
activity involved. And since that is the only way to play video games, they are not good
for the body. So goes the argument. Microsoft seems to have taken that ‘fact’ into
consideration very seriously as the company embarked on a dream project that
would at once do away with the need to have a controller for a game. And yes, they
have finally succeeded at it, and code named this technology Project Natal.
As shown in E3 conference by Microsoft, A boy walks up to his Xbox in the
living room and instantly the console signs in him to his personal account, without a
controller. In fact, no controller can be seen anywhere near him. He then sways his hand
in a vertical motion and on the TV screen the menu scrolls from one option to another.

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The boy ‘says’ a game name and instantly it starts loading. Up pops a character on the
screen, who actually ‘talks’ and ‘taunts’ the boy as the boy takes up a fighting stance and
gracefully punches the air with his fist and the character inside the game takes the blow!
Also the demo showed a girl seated at her sofa, turning her hands as if she was
driving a car and, on the TV screen, the car controls were actually responding with the
steering wheel turning in the direction of her hands! And if that was not enough, the lady
‘chats’ to a man sitting beside her as he asks her to pull into the pit lane. And no sooner is
the car in the pits, the man gets up, points his hand towards one tyre of the car that zooms
onto the screen and then he very gracefully makes actions as if he is taking out the screws
and changing the tyre and that is what happens inside the game. Yes, it is shocking and
simply awe-inspiring at the same time. By the end of the introductory video, it was
getting clear what Microsoft had set out to achieve.
.

Thus, Project Natal is a new game control device that allows “more simple, more
intuitive, more natural” game playing that would be ready for release by the end of the
year.

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CONCLUSION

Based on what Microsoft was showing off at E3, Natal promises to open up a new
world of gaming. It will work with current XBox 360 systems. Microsoft also will release
the Project Natal software development kit to game makers who want to incorporate
Natal functionality into their products.
Though, Microsoft has introduced a Project Natal, the motion-control system will
take time for the development process. Also pricing for Project Natal has not been
announced. But when will we see the device on store shelves?
Many critics have already surfaced saying that Microsoft played a spoof and that
Project Natal is not an actual technology. What the future holds for Project Natal cannot
be stated. However, when Microsoft releases this project to the public, then all we can
say is that we can look forward to some serious gaming entertainment. With no health
concerns bothering gamers anymore, Project Natal is going to be the next best ever
gaming technology that have been developed on this planet.
Xbox and Microsoft deserve an enormous amount of credit for taking on such an
ambitious project.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Search engine
www.google.com
www.wikipedia.com
www.youtube.com

Web Pages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Natal
http://procrastineering.blogspot.com/2009/06/project-natal.html
http://beta.thehindu.com/sci-tech/gadgets/article77559.ece
http://www.gameguru.in/features/2009/12/project-natal-what-is-it-and-what-to-expect-
from-it/