Video game players with less-than-dexterous thumbs will soon stand a fighting chance, with Microsoft Corp. on Monday promising a new method for controlling the action with full body movements.
The Redmond, Wash., software giant unveiled a technology for its Xbox 360 video game console that, as early as next year, could let people toss aside the baffling 12-button controller. Instead, the system's camera and sound sensors detect movement of faces and body joints as well as voice commands.
Microsoft showed off the feature, an answer to the Nintendo Wii's motion-sensing remote and pressure-sensing balance board, at a news conference that kicked off the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, this week in Los Angeles.
The announcement of the system, which Microsoft is calling Project Natal for now, was part of a bid to expand beyond the Xbox 360 platform's core audience of young male gamers. To give more mainstream users something to play with before Natal arrives in stores, Microsoft said it would add ways for players to connect with Facebook, Twitter and other social networks via the Xbox this fall.
"We want Xbox to be the next-generation social and entertainment network," said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of strategy and business development for interactive entertainment.
In recent years, Microsoft has added family-friendly features, including easy-to-play, arcade-style games and the ability to watch movies or TV shows on-demand via its Xbox Live online store.
Last year, Microsoft made a deal with Netflix to stream from a catalog of 12,000 videos, a move that helped propel the number of Xbox Live subscribers to 20 million this year, from 8 million last year. Microsoft will soon add high-definition streaming.
But Microsoft said it isn't ignoring the group responsible for the platform's success -- men aged 18 to 34, who queue up at stores to snap up each new release of Halo, a science fiction-based shooter series.
At the expo, the company showed off a lineup of big-budget action-adventure games including Left 4 Dead 2, a survival horror game developed by Valve Corp.; Alan Wake, an action thriller by Remedy Entertainment; and Halo Reach, published by Microsoft.
The Xbox also scored the next game in the popular Metal Gear Solid franchise, which historically has been exclusive to Sony Corp.'s PlayStation consoles but will now be on both platforms.
