New Tech, Design Details Of Project Natal To Emerge At Gamefest In February

Microsoft this week said the latest technology and design details for its upcoming 3D camera solution Project Natal will emerge at Microsoft's annual Gamefest on February 10 and 11, 2010 in Seattle. The Gamefest conference is targeted at video game industry professionals and media interested in learning more are developing games on Microsoft-owned platforms such as Xbox 360. The Project Natal technical track will teach attendees how to approach development for the new control solution. The track will give in-depth advice on "gesture recognition, avatar retargeting, speech recognition, advanced raw stream processing, handling different player environments, and many other topics," according to Gamefest's website. There will also be a Project Natal design track that will focus on " creating new ways to work, building showcase experiences, divining user intent, and designing gestures for UI versus game interactions." Microsoft unveiled Project Natal at E3 in June this year, drawing attention from both specialty media and mainstream media. The system includes a 3D camera as well as a microphone that can facilitate voice recognition. Microsoft plans to use the camera as a way to gain traction with audiences intimidated by traditional controllers. The company has yet to announce an official release date. At Gamefest, there will also be tracks related to audio, CPU and system programming, graphics, Xbox Live, QA, XNA and visual arts. The conference will be held at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. Registration for a London-based February Gamefest will open soon, and a Tokyo Gamefest slated for April 23 is also in the works.