this no joke it be out fall 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8078767.stmTear-jerk moments are hardly as plentiful in videogames as they are in films or literature, however photorealistic or intricately plotted the game in question. Famed director Steven Spielberg knows why.
"So far the videogame industry has not allowed us an opportunity to cry while we're playing a videogame," he told the BBC today, while attending the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles.
"Because we're too busy putting our adrenaline rush into the controller, or into wherever we have to swing our arm with the Wii controller, to get a result, to achieve a level of success.
"Because of that," Spielberg went on, "there's no room for a videogame to break your heart." Awww.
Those with a lot of tissues to burn through can rest easy though - Steve's on the case. Or rather Microsoft is.
At its E3 press event yesterday evening (GMT), the company unveiled a new gaming technology called "Project Natal" which can detect and respond to the player's movements, expressions and voice, right down to the minutae of tone and body language.
Think the Wii's motion-sensing remote mixed with Sony's EyeToy camera games. The potential applications are enormous. Various track-suited performers were shown kicking virtual balls around, and dressing up their avatars by miming the putting-on of clothes.
One upcoming game which uses the Natal tech is Milo and Kate, which lets you actually swap fashion tips with a virtual ten-year-old. Scarily brilliant.
"I think, in terms of a technology, we have a little more room to be much more emotional with the Natal technology than we ever have before," Spielberg enthused.
"It's up to the industry to create the titles that are going to be most accepted. This is going to try to bring those people who are intimidated or scared of the technology, of what the buttons do or what the controller does.
"This is going to give people who don't usually play videogames access to a whole new world that we know is so compelling, but they haven't quite discovered yet."
The above video has been glammed up a fair bit, but it should give you some sense of the possibilities. Project Natal has been tentatively slated for release by autumn 2010 at the earliest. It's exclusive to the Xbox 360.
