14 DAY TRIAL // Up until now, most of the talk about the motion tracking Project Natal has been coming from Microsoft and directed at gamers who own an Xbox 360 or are interested in picking up one in the coming year. But it's also nice to see how a more casual crowd reacts when exposed to the gesture-based control scheme and if their interest is strong enough to generate sales for the new device.
At the D: All Things Digital conference that is organized by The Wall Street Journal, Molly O'Donnell, who is a director of marketing and communication working with the Xbox 360 team, offered a demo of Project Natal.
The video (which you can see embedded at the end of this article) does not show off anything really new related to the motion tracking system, as the main focus is the well known ball demo that encourages the player to use their entire body to get to a bouncing ball. The video is interesting because it displays how people who are presumably not hardcore gamers react to the new Microsoft peripheral. The show's host has an especially telling reaction, giving up on it rather quickly.
Project Natal is set to be launched at some point in the fall, battling hard for gamers' money with the Sony made motion tracking solution called PlayStation Move. Recent rumors suggested that Natal might cost around 200 dollars on release but Microsoft has not officially announced a price for the gadget or a clear launch date.
The company has revealed that it will be holding an official event just before the E3 trade show during which it will unveil both an official name for Project Natal and the videogames set to support it when it is available to gamers.
Here's the full presentation video from the D: All Things Digital conference: