Microsoft’s E3 experience will consist of more than just a bunch of new games being revealed and announced, or even Project Natal finally being given a name and being unveiled…It will also consist of a scintillating pre-E3 performance by the legendary surrealistic and acrobatic troupe, the Cirque du Soleil, who will perform an interpretation of Project Natal, for the world to enjoy, one day before E3 officially begins. Any guesses on the name Project Natal will finally be given? Let us know in the comments section below! We just hope it’s not has boring as “Move”.
Project Natal
A platform that enables a player’s movements to interact with or control the game control the game, by interpreting videos taken by a 3D camera in real-time, Project Natal has great potential to revolutionise how we play games, and, how we interact with the digital world.
Certainly one of the most looked forward to unveilings of the year, Microsoft has decided to go all out, and explode the controller-free gaming platform, Project Natal, on to the gaming scene with a “broad-ranging, first-of-its-kind programming partnership” with MTV. MTV, the channel partner and owner of various gaming sites and networks, will as a whole not only provide exclusive E3 coverage for Microsoft, but also air “The World Premiere of Project Natal for Xbox 360 experience”, which will be a “spectacular live performance imagined by Cirque du Soleil”, apart from also airing the “Xbox 360 Media Briefing”, which will contain the other game announcements and breaking Microsoft Xbox 360 news, including previews of Halo: Reach, Gears of War 3 and Fable III.
A Microsoft spokesperson seemed very excited about the partnership: “We look forward to making entertainment history again at E3 Expo 2010 and can’t think of a better partner than MTV Networks to exclusively share our news, experiences and Cirque du Soleil’s amazing creativity with an entirely new audience.”
Spike TV will air the Xbox 360 Media Briefing live on Monday, June 14th, and the World Premiere of Project Natal on June 13th, and it’s a pity that we will not be able to catch it in India. We can however, catch not-so-live HD streams of the two events on MTV’s GameTrailers.com. Local times? Check here.
So, what do we expect and hope from Project Natal? Augmented reality that’s looks like Minority Report style digital interaction, simple on-rail games that let you do the finer stuff while controlling your movement linearly, sports games that just like the Wii will be quite addictive, and also just like the Wii – some sort of fitness training. What could be really interesting though is the possibility of “simulating” a 3D effect with the 3D camera tracking head and eye movement of the player, and not requiring glasses.
Nearly a dozen Project Natal ‘core’ games will be unveiled over the conference, apart from games that will provide some Natal mini-game support.
Amazingly, apart from Natal being unveiled and named, and the ‘cool’ performance by Cirque du Soleil, not much other jaw-dropping action is expected from the Microsoft camp, except of course, for some super exciting new game announcements and try-outs.
Check out our full list of expected games below:
Crackdown 2
Gears of War 3
Halo: Reach
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Fable III
Fallout: New Vegas
Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
Medal of Honor
Portal 2 or Half Life 2: Episode 3 or a combination!
Rage
Enjoy a super-long Gears of War 3 gameplay trailer in the meantime:
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