Project Natal dated for "holiday 2010"

By Robert Purchese Published 7 January, 2010

It's a ticket to "the coolest party".

Microsoft has announced a worldwide "holiday 2010" release date for Xbox 360's ambitious, 3D camera-driven invention Project Natal.

The date arrived in a video on Microsoft's CES 2010 press site, which featured vox pops from important Microsoft bods such as Peter Molyneux and Don Mattrick. Mattrick said Natal offered a ticket to the "coolest party".

Robbie Bach has announced the date on-stage at the CES 2010 keynote adress. "2010 is going to be the biggest year in Xbox history," he said.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (61) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Nithron #1 2 years ago

    "Mattrick said Natal offered a ticket to the "coolest party around."

    Is it the 80's again already?

  • Lusterpurge #2 2 years ago

    I wonder how long they plan on supporting it since I'm pretty sure that the next Xbox is just around the corner. Maybe it is designed to be forward compatible. Microsoft may be testing the waters with the 2010 launch and if it is any success, then the next Xbox will launch with the Natal integrated.

  • wayneh #3 2 years ago

    Now to wait for the all important price announcement

  • Ryze #4 2 years ago

    ^
    ^

    In winter 2012-3 maybe? No chance they'll launch during this recession, and they'll want the Wii HD to launch and age first in order that they can leapfrog its technology.

    The 360 is huge, and there's no point in replacing it any time soon. The top end games will run just fine on PC and 360 for the time being...

    Any devs unhappy with that option can go for a PS3 exclusive if they prefer. I can't see that, or Wii HD, being the best option for them in comparison.

    Yes - by 2013 the 360 will be the Master System to the top end PC's Mega Drive, but so what? I loved a bit of Choplifter on ye olde 8-bit marvel!

    /waits...

  • Bigglesworth #5 2 years ago

    360 + Natal is the new Xbox, I thought they said?

  • Lee_Morris #6 2 years ago

    I'll place a bet on it being £70. Any more is crazy.

  • mkreku #7 2 years ago

    I'm afraid of the price announcement! Remember, this is the company where a simple Wifi expansion costs £70 and a 20 GB harddrive costs £50 (!). It will not be pretty.

  • Emmit_Assassin #8 2 years ago

    I think they may want to steer clear of a loss leading £30 price tag given the recession. But at least now there's not long till we find out. I'm interested whatever the price. Can't wait to see what the more imaginative developers come up with for this. There are a lot of them developing for it, so there should be someone doing something new and exciting with it.

  • Harmonica #9 2 years ago

    I'm all for being an early adopter but are we to believe that there's going to be things worth buying it for 'holiday 2010'.

  • Gearskin #10 2 years ago

    1 BILLION Dollars!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #11 2 years ago

    Is it the 80's again already?

    Haven't you seen La Roux?

  • darkmorgado #12 2 years ago

    Erm, we're actually OUT of recession now, doofus

    Being negged for stating the truth? All recorded data shows that economy is growing again, unemployment is no longer on the rise, inflation is on the increase and the economy is in recovery. We are out of recession. We may have been the last country in the developed world to come out of it, but we ARE out of it. There's a difference between being in recession, and recovering from a recession. We are in the latter, not the former.
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 09:55

  • Bealsy #13 2 years ago

    Its definitely one of those "what will they do with it" scenarios. It has the possibility of being fantastic fun... but if major developers choose to ignore it, it could be epically shit.

    edit - I reckon it'll be £120
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 09:03

  • DanWhitehead #14 2 years ago

    If you look at the hardware, it's hard to see how it could be integrated into the console itself. Natal needs to sit in a position similar to the Wii remote sensor, where it can "read" the room. People tend to have their actual console tucked away, not lying flat directly in front of the screen.

  • originaljohn #15 2 years ago

    i don't think they'll keep the support for long

  • NorUraeus #16 2 years ago

    I guess cool parties are simply not as cool as they used to be, I have yet to see Microsoft present one compelling Natal non-causal game concept, and I am not sure the world a new device to optimize playing raving rabbids beyond the Wiimote.

  • Eighthours #17 2 years ago

    Mattrick is kinda embarrassing, isn't he? He's like a dad dancing at a wedding.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #18 2 years ago

    Remember the last 'cool party' that Microsoft organised?

    [link url=http://www.housepa rty.com/windows7
    ]http://www.housepa rty.com/windows7
    [/link]

    For me, Microsoft and Cool are polar opposites. An oxymoron even. You may as well talk about military intelligence ;)

  • bad09 #19 2 years ago

    Is it really a year away? Oh god that means a year of constant waffle on the bloody thing!

    / starts EG news counter ;)

  • miiiguel #20 2 years ago

    @ Johny: and that is supposed to be a cool comment, right ? (we're the cool video games ppl, who comment on a video games site. We are cool)
    Edited by 2 at 07/01/10 @ 10:04

  • cnlfailure #21 2 years ago

    It's all about the software. Having spent plenty of time waggling a Wiimote, mashing joypad buttons, strumming plastic guitars, mousing and keyboarding and everything in between the only thing that matters is the software. Whether your tech is hyper advanced or Geldof thick is almost irrelevent, if the software that uses it is no damn fun it'll crash as quickly as it takes off.

  • Weezer #22 2 years ago

    miiiguel, what, you think Microsoft - the company that launched a BROWN Zune and have dancing Balmer in charge - are actually cool? Come on...

  • spazmo #23 2 years ago

    If Molyneux is involved this thing is gonna be pretty damn special. Or that's what he'll lead us to believe.

  • chrisjm #24 2 years ago

    will its support will be better than xbox live vision? cant be worse i suppose.

  • justsomeone #25 2 years ago

    i'm still not clear on what this natal thing actually, physically is. can anyone enlighten?

    i think it's a stick, or a camera, or software or something. or is it a little boy that lives in your TV that you can wave at or something?

  • jag10 #26 2 years ago

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc

  • miiiguel #27 2 years ago

    @ Weezer : I don't know. The question is, what is cool to whom? I dig some realy weird shit, for example...

  • linksdad #28 2 years ago

    My biggest concern is the amount of lighting you will have to have on yourself. Both my xbox and ps3 cameras are universally shit at night time in comfortable lighting. My eye pet is a complete no-no except for during the day, for example and if natal doesnt support low light levels it is going to have a very high frustration rate.
    Low light issues have been acknowledged by sony's idea but my god those wands look ridiculous.

  • Dizzy #29 2 years ago

    "My biggest concern is the amount of lighting you will have to have on yourself"

    Been stated many times before that the IR camera on natal should work in near darkness.

    They will need some big launch-games with this.

    Fable 3?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #30 2 years ago

    Doesn't anyone ever read anything?

    Natal is a combination of a standard webcam, an infrared webcam used for depth analysis that is not affected by low light condiitions, and some processing technology that purportedly can do full-body skeletal motion capture on four players simultaneously. Oh, and it's got a microphone in it, too.

    Plus some APIs that'll let developers use it in games...

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #31 2 years ago

    Wow - Im such a noob

  • jonsaan #32 2 years ago

    It's a me Microsoft. Who Whoooo

  • DavidBoring #33 2 years ago

    i doubt it will feature full motion capture on 4 people simultaneously, would be cool, but i dont think it will happen

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #34 2 years ago

    They will need some big launch-games with this. Fable 3?

    I'll see your Fable 3 and raise you Halo:Reach.

  • barat #35 2 years ago

    I bet they will take the Wii Sports Resort route. Natal technology + mini-games for £50.

  • The-Bodybuilder #36 2 years ago

    I still believe MS should've held out till the next 360 (720?)
    I don't think it will sell that well and the tech will just be copied by the others (as they're doing with the wii).

  • mkreku #37 2 years ago

    I remember when the Wii launched, I couldn't wait to see what they could come up with for the Wiimote. I'm still waiting. I wonder if the same will be true for Natal and Gem?

  • UKGN_Zoidberg #38 2 years ago

    I'm pretty certain they've already said it won't cost any more than a regular game. I'm expecting it to come bundled with a demo game - rather like Wii Play - and all other games to cost the usual amount.

  • Beano #39 2 years ago

    "I'm afraid of the price announcement! Remember, this is the company where a simple Wifi expansion costs £70 and a 20 GB harddrive costs £50 (!). It will not be pretty. "

    I do not agree - it's all about polics and if MS want to get a piece of the casual Wii market, they need to set the price low to attract consumers - and they know this of course :)
    I expect the device and bundled game(s) to be quite cheap.
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 11:40

  • groovychainsaw #40 2 years ago

    if it WAS £50 and supported 4 players (which they've claimed it does) then I just realised its actually cheaper than the the wii. I mean, how much is 3 wiimotes + 4 nunchuks? About £120-140? Motionplus too? I keep nearly getting a Wii (I think its got about 5 games on it now worth having), but can't justify getting all the extra bits to play with at least one other person. £50 for multiplayer frantic waving sounds alright to me. Hell, put a decent game in and I'd stretch to £70-80. Any more than that and I'D still be interested, but I suspect it would be dead in the water. Expensive add-ons just don't work on the general public (apart from maybe rock band...)

  • creepylizard #41 2 years ago

    Why can't we just go back to the good old days of a joysitck with just one button and nothing else, eh? why oh why..

  • darkmorgado #42 2 years ago

    Why can't we just go back to the good old days of a joysitck with just one button and nothing else, eh? why oh why..

    Because then they wouldn't be able to hide the fact that quick-time events aren't actually that interactive

  • woodnotes #43 2 years ago

    @creepylizard: Soooo many great games on the C64 - only one button!

  • metalmike25 #44 2 years ago

    I never thought that chatting up a 10 year old boy was considered the 'coolest party' but if a middle aged businessman says it is then who am i to argue. Bring on the party!!

  • canIdoyabombsforya #45 2 years ago

    "I'm afraid of the price announcement! Remember, this is the company where a simple Wifi expansion costs £70 and a 20 GB harddrive costs £50 (!). It will not be pretty."

    Unlike subsidising us $300 to own the machine in the first place.

  • IronGiant #46 2 years ago

    Have you watched the video? It's basically a Wii without the controller.. no thanks. People jumping up off the couch then flopping back onto it, how ridiculous. This will end up being filled with mini games and gimmicks, will work well for sports and fitness but not much else. Why would you want to sit down in front of the telly and make gestures to move stuff around when the controller is so much easier.

  • tobsen #47 2 years ago

    I would prefer a proper bout of clinical depression to any party that is hosted by Microsoft.

  • justsomeone #48 2 years ago

    thanks jag10 and mentalist(air) - so it's steve balmer channeled into a webcam? i'm still not certain it's a party i wish to attend.

    in all seriousness, given the amount of exposure this thing has had, and the prophetic-sounding "project natal" (as tho it's something being built at black mesa), it doesn't really feel like such a big deal. an enhanced version of the eye-toy? ok, fine, but the coolest party? no.

  • mkreku #49 2 years ago

    Wait a second.. Is Natal exact enough to track head movement? If it is, I could clearly see a use for it in Forza 4! Or Hawx 2.
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 12:48

  • linksdad #50 2 years ago

    They can do face rec through IR now can they?

    Not very undead friendly either!

  • lunnyt00n #51 2 years ago

    So we get a release timeframe but it's still called Project Natal, when do they plan on giving it it's official name then?

  • Drpwnage #52 2 years ago

    Wait a second.. Is Natal exact enough to track head movement? If it is, I could clearly see a use for it in Forza 4! Or Hawx 2.

    Until you sneeze and crash into a wall!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #53 2 years ago

    Why can't we just go back to the good old days of a joysitck with just one button and nothing else, eh? why oh why..

    I spit on your overcomplicated joystick! All you really need is the button.

  • Eraserhead #54 2 years ago

    I would prefer a proper bout of clinical depression to any party that is hosted by Microsoft.

    But... but... what about the Windows 7 launch party? Ah, such crazy times with that new taskbar...

  • darkmorgado #55 2 years ago

    @lunnyt00n, its been so long now I have a feeling Natal will be its final name because its so ingrained in gamers' heads

  • Gl3n #56 2 years ago

    Mattrick hasn't been invited to many parties.

  • Burkey123 #57 2 years ago

    It does look good but it's the software and price that will make it or break it imo.
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 14:51

  • gjgjg #58 2 years ago

    'cool' 'party' sounds like everything but me

  • Chazmeister #59 2 years ago

    It's a ticket to "the coolest party".

    There's a bag of coke and a free voucher for some dominatrix hookers in the box.

  • General_Zod #60 2 years ago

    If I wanted to see someone flail there arms and legs like a rabid monkey I would make my brother watch the strobe light I store for such occasions. I assure you that solution is a lot cheaper and far more amusing then buying a natal.

  • symmetry #61 2 years ago

    When the fuck is "holiday 2010"?