Microsoft had a pretty big day today at the E3 Expo, unveiling an entirely new control system for its Xbox 360 console among other notable announcements.
Dubbed Natal, the system is a fully hands-free control system which uses facial recognition and multiple motion sensors to allow users to playback games using their body motions and not buttons.
The system is still in early stages, but Microsoft has sent full functioning prototypes to all big game developers.
Showing off the technology, developer Peter Molyneux said the system could recognize facial expressions as well, determining the mood of the player or players and “reacting accordingly.”
Will Natal be successful however? Piers Harding-Rolls, senior analyst with Screen Digest, says it will depending on a number of factors.
“I think the technology looks very interesting but its success depends on the content and how easy it is to use,” Rolls added.
“The other aspect is cost and how they will get it out to the user base. That said, I think Microsoft would like to get it out sooner, rather than later.”
“Sales of the Xbox 360 hit their peak in 2008 and are now in decline, in terms of console sales, so you would expect them to get it out as soon as possible to rekindle interest in the platform.”
Also notably at the show Microsoft announced they had made deals with Twitter and Facebook in an effort to make “full integration between three of the largest social networking sites on the planet.” The third being, of course, Xbox Live.
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Result for: expressions
The much anticipated launch of the Sony PlayStation 3 exclusive game LittleBigPlanet has been pushed back until October 27th after background music using Qur’an verses has caused controversy.
At the beginning of the third world, the background song, “Tapha Niang,” sung by Toumani Diabate, uses a couple of verses from the Qur’an which roughly translate to “Every soul shall taste of death” and “All that is on earth shall perish.” The lyrics have caused controversy and therefore Sony has pushed back the launch in order to remove them.
Sony has responded to the claims with a press release:
“During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur’an. We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence that this may have caused.”
The delay is worldwide.
