E3 strikes back

Before you can mouth a reply, the looming shadow of a catapult projectile falls upon him.

"Duck," you scream, tackling him off his horse to safety.

As the battle breaks, all questions of trust are forgotten by the knight. "Join us," he yells, as he grabs an extra sword lying around and throws it exactly toward where you stand in real life, just outside the television screen. So drawn are you into the moment that you actually plunge forward, as if to pluck your virtual blade out of thin air.

What I just wrote would have been considered a pipe dream only a few years ago, but could become reality in approximately half a decade, if Microsoft's presentation at E3 2009 is anything to go by.

The large annual games exhibit just came and went, and I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say Bill Gates' group stole the show by unveiling a truly next-generation motion-control device. Called Project:Natal, it essentially consists of a hyper-intelligent camera system that hooks up to your X-Box 360, sits on top of your television screen, and actually recognizes you, the player, as your own avatar, scanning your face in. With Natal, you don’t really see you a character on-screen that represents you. Rather, the perspective shown in the one software demo was true first-person, with the camera bobbing and weaving as you move your head around in the real world. The camera also recognizes all of your hand and feet gestures.

Now, the demo at the show is, of course, a lot more primitive than the battle scene I just described. For one thing, it only has a single character on-screen, a boy named Milo, who answers your questions to him in a tranquil, natural setting rather during a medieval war.

It's perhaps also telling that Microsoft won't talk about release dates for Natal, only stating they intend to make it fully compatible with the X-Box 360, and that some developers already have started work on it.

Admittedly, the designer behind the Milo software demo, Peter Molyneux, is rather well-known for over-hyping things. Arguing that not even science-fiction writers have thought of what Milo/Natal are capable of is a little silly and refutable to just about anybody who has watched an episode of Reboot or The Matrix movie, let alone actual, hard-core science-fiction fans.

Still, one can't argue with the potential for Natal after having seen its demo video.

Was there anything else as exciting or surprising at the show? Probably not. As rumoured, Sony unveiled its own motion-sensing controller, although it does not seem to do anything very different than what Nintendo's Wii will be capable of once its control upgrades are released later this year. And Nintendo managed to turn a few heads with a couple of trailers for unannounced Mario games, as well as a surprise collaboration with Team Ninja over a new Metroid game. I'm rather intrigued by all three projects, but also somewhat disappointed the big N's first-party teams seem entirely focused on sequels or a wave of new "casual" games (though interesting-looking ones) rather than new intellectual property for the hardcore crowd.

Still, though, it was a much better E3 overall than last year's absolutely predictable affair.