In what should not come as much of a surprise, Microsoft has reaffirmed its belief that Natal will be useful in everyday, tech-oriented life, not just for playing videogames. Speaking to executives in Columbia this week (talk about an all-time alibi), CEO Steve Ballmer praised the device for its abilities.
“The technology actually is very general purpose, and we’ll see come into the rest of our lives pretty soon,” Ballmer said, after mentioning how Natal was, in his mind, “the most exciting product” the company will bring to market this year.
“If you want to look through TV channels, you just gesture, and the computer recognizes your voice, it recognizes your gestures. You want to see the next sports program, you go like this, it will cycle you through.”
He conveniently left out the part about Skynet killing off mankind. Hmm … wonder why. Anyway, until we start seeing some honest-to-goodness motion games that aren’t essentially tech demos — hopefully at this year’s E3 — I’ll remain more sold on the idea of Natal as tool than Natal as a controller.
Steve Ballmer Talks “General Purpose” Natal [Edge]
Published: Apr 28, 2010 07:30 pm