Animation Blog

The premise of the successful science fiction Terminator by James Cameron revolves around the battle between humans and a self-aware computer system Skynet which deemed humans as an extreme threat and thus eliminated them through a nuclear blast. When the idea was pitched in movie theaters in 1984, it seemed a very long shot possibility. But today in the present year of 2009, are we seeing the roots of the Skynet technology with Microsoft’s Project Natal?

Introduced to the public during the recently concluded major video game gathering event E3 2009 this June 1, Project Natal is a breakthrough technology developed internally by the 3D animation studio of Microsoft which centers on “controller-free gaming and entertainment experience.” In a nutshell, it allows gamers to interact with the Xbox 360 video game console as though they are just talking to a friend or a colleague.

While the idea may seem impossible, Microsoft was able to achieve it by using an add-on peripheral which allows gamers to interact with the Xbox 360 even without touching a controller – just the use of spoken commands, gestures or through showing various images. The peripheral takes these stimuli from the gamers and interpret them – making the process of conversation possible.

Central to the technology is a sensor device which is a wide horizontal bar measuring up to 23 centimeters. Microsoft relates its technical specifications to be “an RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone, and custom processor running proprietary software.” Because it is an infrared projector with a monochrome CMOS sensor, Project Natal is able to see in full-3D glory under various ambient light conditions.

During E3 2009, the Project Natal technology was used certain video game demos to exhibit its full potential. Some of these games included the block-themed Ricochet, Paint Party, Facial Recognition, Dress Up and Burnout Natal. However, the standout demonstration for Microsoft’s stay in E3 2009 is the personal demo of Lionhead Studios CEO Peter Molyneux which centered on the character of Milo. Milo was seen interacting with a real woman from a television screen as aided by the Project Natal add-on peripheral. The two characters are interacting with each other, with Milo taking cues from the speech inflections and sentence structuring of the woman. Beyond responding with sentences of his own, Milo is shown to have moods and mannerisms. The woman is also invited to interact with the verdant environment of Milo and allows the woman to see her reflection in the water simulation of Milo’s environment.

While there are doubts about the veracity of the demo that it was scripted, the technology is very exciting and even creepy to a fault. Game insiders which were invited to the closed-doors demonstration of Microsoft for Project Natal and Milo were said to give positive reviews to the authenticity of the technology – even though it is still a bit raw.

The trend with science and technology is that people keep improving on previous works and release new developments by the minute. So Project Natal may signify the birth of a new possibility of self-aware computers who can think and decide for themselves. As of now, game developers can still input the range of choices which computers can ultimately choose, but what about in the future? Project Natal was internally developed by Microsoft to usher a new target demographic of Xbox 360 users who are not into hardcore gaming. This is seen as a reaction to the ability of the Nintendo Wii gaming console to attract casual gaming but we must be careful what we wish for when creating eventual self-aware computer consciousness.