Project Natal

Project Natal is being developed by Microsoft and will bring control-free gaming and entertainment experience to the Xbox 360 game console. It is an add-on peripheral that will use gestures, spoken commands, or presented objects and images. It is expected to be released in Christmas 2010 for the predicted price of $80.

Here is a video demonstration from E3 last year.


The sensor used is a 9 inch wide horizontal bar. The depth sensor consists of a infrared projector combined with a monochrome CMOS sensor, which allows the sensor to see in 3D under any ambient light conditions. As a result, 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.

Israeli developer Prime Sense software will be adopted by the Natal, which interprets 3D scene information from a continuous infrared pattern.

The Video Game Industry Outlook

Data source:
PricewaterhouseCoopers







According to PricewaterhouseCoopers report, Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2007-2011, they predict the gaming industry will expand at a compound annual rate of 9.1% over the next five years. It is estimated that the industry will grow from $31 billion in 2006 to close to $49 billion in 2011. It is expected the biggest growth will take place in the Asia Pacific region.

The in-game advertising market is expected to grow 64% in the U.S. China will experience the largest growth in any region with a compound annual rate of 14%. Most of the growth will be due to online gaming. However, retail packaged game are nonexistent in China due to rampant piracy.


Data sources:
RIAA, MPAA, The NPD Group









The chart shows the growth by the three industries from 2002-2006 and it reveals that the gaming industry has grown while movie and music have shown a decline.


Data source:
Veronis Suhler Stevenson







The consumption of video games per person in the U.S. averages around 75 hours per year.

A Video of the Evolution of Video Gaming

The video i posted from YouTube illustrates the evolution of video gaming from a time it was something individuals did on a game board to the visual representation on a screen through the use of a joystick or game pad. We have come a long way from the days of simplicity (Pacman) to an age of complexity (Gears of War). The basketball clip shows how the graphics changed as we added more pixels giving it more definition. The basketball characters have evolved to what we see today which are close to their accurate description. The recent jump from 480i television to 720p and 1080p television shows how far we come in less than five years. Standard def has been replaced by high def. What is in store of the future of video gaming? We will find out more next week.