There have been a lot of assumptions being made regarding Microsoft's Project Natal, especially since it is the only actual “controller” on the market that you have to try out for yourself, as you can't exactly know the real deal just from watching videos or listening to press statements.

As you know, the fact that Microsoft's E3 announcement was very controlled (it must have triple checked even the punctuation marks) and used prerecorded videos, the public response, though mainly approving and excited with the possibility of the human body becoming the controller, was also very skeptical... which is understandable considering what the maker was offering. The Redmond-based giant realized it and decided to put its corporate seriousness aside and produce a live demo of its greatest endeavor so far: Project Natal.

Thus, it let Jimmy Fallon test it and so came to be that Project Natal's first live look took place last night, “Live on Jimmy Fallon.” Project Natal itself behaved admirably though it did seem a bit glitchy and the responsiveness wasn't exactly 1:1. Especially when the guys doing the testing started behaving erratically, the device seemed to have some issues in detecting all of their motions. But since videos tend to have glitches of their own, once again I cannot be 100 percent sure it was the Natal's fault entirely.

While the 3D Breakout-style demo performed remarkably well, Burnout Paradise (a game not designed to be used with Natal, mind you) seemed to be a little too sensitive, as well as awkward to control. Things such as completing challenges (with Natal, you need to keep one of your legs forward to accelerate) that required pressing the “accelerate” and “decelerate” keys at the same time appears to be impossible. But I'll let you be the judge of that by watching the video embedded below.

One more thing: was there too much light in the studio that night or does Kudo Tsunado have very weird eyes? The reason I am asking this is because keeping your shades indoors would be pointless otherwise.




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