Xbox-Natal- Future of Gaming ?

Are you one of those who go weee over the Nintendo Wii,,wait till you see this. Microsoft recently unveiled Project Natal of its gaming console Xbox 360 in  E3 09 (Electronic Entertainment Expo).

Project Natal is touted as the future of gaming,which takes gaming to a whole new level.When Wii came with its motion controller ,it brought in a whole new way of gaming.As a result game studios are designing exclusive games for the Wii to leverage its uniqueness. Now Xbox Natal aims even further …no controller at all. U are the controller.MS calls it Life Experience.Its better understood when seen than to explain so watch the video to see how motion sensors,facial & voice recognition works when incorporated in games. 

If you have seen the video,you might be wondering if this will actually work.Well I wonder the same. At first it is really awesome to look ,but I am skeptical about its practicality.Hardcore gaming like Halo or Counterstrike etc etc will definitely wont be working nice with these settings.Imagine the physical stress that will be caused if you play games like Gears of War or MADDEN NFL or WWE using Natal.Lets say I am playing a fighting game like Tekken, it is physically impossible to do complex maneuvers usually called combos like a back flip kick etc . However  the touchless interface will definitely be a awesome feature ,provided it works smoothly.

Apart from this Xbox is trying to be more than just a gaming console.It has already incorporated media center to  stream digital content to the television.The Xbox live store is also getting better with more content coming in apart from games,like movies TV shows etc.

Also web application integration is also one area Xbox, as a edge over PS3 or Wii .Xbox 360 will soon have Facebook & Twitter,so gamers can easily interact and socialize with fellow gamers.    

Looks like Xbox is really a doing a 360 covering all sorts of digital entertainment…..

Sixth Sense-the Future of Mobile Technology

Just when I thought touch devices like iphones,Tablet pc's etc are going to rule the near future, comes a far more cutting edge technology which looks like as if pulled out from a Sci-Fi movie. Pattie Mae , founder of Fluid Interfaces Group recently unveiled Sixth Sense, a wearable device comprising a projector which projects the virtual world onto any surface an can be accessed with hand gestures…something like in the movie Minority Report.Watch the video to get a peek into the future.

SIXTH SENSE DEMO

Pranav Mistry, a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT's Media Lab is the wizard behind this project, which aims to blend in the virtual world with physical world by making data accessible, anywhere, anytime.

If this becomes viable ad practical, we will be “wearing” our mobile devices either as cap, sunglasses or as “bling bling” chains.Hope the day come sooner………

Happy 40th Birthday Mr.Mouse :-)

On December 9, 1968, at a computer conference in San Francisco, scientist Douglas Engelbart of the Stanford Research Institute demonstrated a small rectangular wooden device, with a single button which could control a computer. The tool had been developed by Dr. Engelbart, and his team as an “X-Y position indicator for a display system” to quote from his patent application. 

And thus the Mouse was born.Though it was not named so people who used it referred it as the mouse as it had a tail similar to the animal.Invented in 1968,the mouse became popular only in 1984,when  Apple launched Macintosh and became an essential input device after keyboard.Unlike its living counterpart,the mouse has evolved into a more powerful,sleek,attractive and more importantly a useful accessory.

But techies say that the increasing touch sensitive technologies are making mouse increasingly redundant and emerging touchless technologies like G-Speak will banish the mouse altogether.

Gpseak-touchless tech demo

Ironically,Logitech today announced it has shipped its billionth mouse.Logitech,the mouse pioneer  will have to watch out for today's touch devices and tomorrow's     touchless technologies.May be one day we might say goodbye Mr.Mouse,but for now its  "Happy Birthday Mr.Mouse :-)"