MS: Natal will work with "all ethnicities"

Microsoft has responded to rather eyebrow-raising claims that Project Natal has problems tracking the movement of black skin, stating that the technology will "obviously work with people of all shapes and ethnicities at launch".

"Last week at E3, we gave a taste of what to anticipate when Project Natal launches. As we mentioned to everyone who had the chance to play, we were working with tech demos and, as we all know, these can be temperamental," Microsoft told Eurogamer.

"The goal of Project Natal is to break down the barriers for everyone to play, and it will obviously work with people of all shapes and ethnicities at launch."

The company pointed us towards a YouTube video of Sugar Ray Leonard - the retired African-American boxer - playing with Project Natal at E3 last week, and experiencing evidently no problems.

African-American videogames journalist N'Gai Croal was reported to have had problems steering Burnout Paradise using Project Natal during a demonstration at E3. Early reaction on NeoGAF claimed that the melanin in black skin interferes with near-infrared spectroscopy, which Project Natal apparently uses.