natal

Natali Del Conte makes her triumphant return from E3 and joins us on today's show. After suffering through two years with an HTC Mogul, Jeff finally upgraded to the Palm Pre this weekend. Tune in for Jeff's personal review as well as some unfortunate news that has us all reeling...with laughter.

All right, first thing's first: NATALI DEL CONTE. That should be enough to get you guys to listen to today's show. She's finally back from her Tour de California. She was actually at E3 this past week and she gives us the scoop on her first impressions of the event. Actually, it turns out that Natali's been taking some gulps of Jeff's unique brand of Haterade! It's always a pleasure to welcome Natali back to the show, even though she's crossed over the dark side. Welcome home, girl!

We've been talking about the Palm Pre ad nauseam for weeks now leading up to Saturday's release, and Jeff actually woke himself up before the crack of dawn and picked one up. Be sure to listen to the whole episode to hear about the fiasco that happened in line, it's unbelievable, and kind of funny. Pix or it didn't happen, Bakalar! After all that happened, Jeff successfully picked up a Palm Pre, and he loves it! All his contacts from Facebook, Gmail, etc...are now consolidated; music transfers are easy thanks to iTunes (fingers crossed that Apple shows mercy); and the keyboard is surprisingly easy for Jeff's ham shank fingers. Sadly, though, there's one very significant, deal-breaking, horrendous manufacturer's error that needs to be correctly immediately before Jeff turns back into a pumpkin and we lose him forever. Tune in to hear more about this awful glitch and how you can fix the problem!

Although we have to wait until next week's show to hear of Dan's possible escapades with McLovin' and company, along with his (enviable) hands-on experiences, at this year's E3 event in Los Angeles, that doesn't stop us from giving our take on what went down.

Note to Dan: We expect some video footage of actual gameplay, NOT a 15-page slide show...we kid, but, no, really.

Oddly enough, we were all physically suffering from one thing or another before the taping of the show--Joe with his sinuses, Julie with the constant eye twitch, and Scott with...… Read more

It's by far the definitive theme this year at E3 2009. It seems everyone wants in on motion control. At their respective press conferences, both Microsoft and Sony debuted compelling demos of what they envision as the future of gaming.

Microsoft introduced Project Natal, an initiative to allow the user to play games and navigate through menus using body movements in place of a handheld controller. We got to see what game design guru Peter Molyneux was able to do with the technology in the form of the Milo demo, where a human seemed to convincingly interact with an artificial boy on-screen.

While that demonstration leaves plenty of skepticism and unanswered questions on the table (even with a Steven Spielberg endorsement), most will agree it was the rubber ball block-breaking game performance that really proved that the technology has potential.… Read more

LOS ANGELES--Forget the console wars. We're in the motion-sensitive controller wars.

That much became clear Tuesday when, following on Monday's announcement by Microsoft that it was working on Project Natal, an impressive and complex full-body, hands-free motion-sensitive control system, both Nintendo and Sony revealed plans for new, advanced systems of their own.

Of course, Microsoft is the only real newcomer to this party. After all, Sony introduced the Eye Toy, a system that incorporated users' body movements into some games, years ago, and Nintendo's Wii vaulted to huge popularity on the strength of the innovative controls of … Read more

LOS ANGELES--About halfway through a closed-door demo I was in this afternoon of Microsoft's just-announced full-body motion-sensitive control system, Project Natal, another reporter told our host that he was skeptical of what he was seeing.

A minute later, after taking the virtual controls himself of the game "Burnout Paradise" and giving Natal a test, the reporter walked back over to where I was standing and when I asked him if he was still skeptical, he gave me a chastened look and said, "It's interesting."

In other words, he was won over.

Project Natal, as … Read more

Amid an already-good Sony E3 press conference, a time-out was taken amid PSP Go details, PSP games, and PS3 holiday titles to peek into the future at some on-the-horizon motion-control technology. The routine was familiar already: in fact, Microsoft and Nintendo had similar "the future is motion" pit stops in their 2009 E3 press conferences.

Being last, it seemed, would be a disadvantage to Sony. Appearing onstage were two of Sony's team behind the PlayStation Eye and EyeToy, and the general nervousness seemed palpable. When the prototype device was revealed--a black wand with a glowing purple bulb on top--it almost seemed like a joke. But a funny thing happened: the longer the demo went on, the better it got.

Sony's black wand appears to be the PS3's Wii-mote. Configured with an analog trigger and some number of buttons, the wand has one-to-one mapping just like the Wii Motion Plus. The glowing orb, which changed color during the demo, was integral to the positioning technology, although exactly how wasn't detailed in the press conference.… Read more

Yesterday was the first time that I've ever seen Jeff doing actual work at his cube, so I relent for once and let him and Wilson talk about E3 2009. Video games, video games, video games on today's show, specifically about the new XBox 360 Project Natal, Halo sequels, new Metal Gear Solid, the Beatles: Rock Band, and even Facebook and Twitter! Wake me up when it's over.

Yesterday's Microsoft press conference at E3 2009 unveiled some pretty exciting video game news, even for an antigamer such as myself. First up is the new Project Natal, the company's new motion-sensing bar for the XBox 360 that allows the gamer to control gameplay with motion, sound, and even 3D movement. As exciting as it sounds, unfortunately Microsoft didn't mention a release date, so we definitely won't see it in stores for Christmas 2009, which Jeff and Wilson think is a bit of a tease.

Aside from a few big game announcements, the big release news comes by way of everyone's favorite British gentlemen, with Beatles: Rock Band. Paul, Ringo, and even a few surprise visitors were there to kick off the game, and although Jeff is decidedly negative about the rise of plastic gaming, the game looks pretty cool. Check out the slideshow for pictures of Christopher "McLovin" Mintz-Plasse and Dhani Harrison taking a crack at the game.

Later on in the show, we announce the FINALISTS for our 404 logo competition. We received over 150 submissions and while they were all fantastic, we can only choose one for the official logo, so be sure to check out the final slideshow above and vote for your favorite in the comments section! Also, don't forget that even if your entry doesn't win the grand prize, we'll still use it for our mosaic/quilt/poster/sticker/shirt/etc...Thanks one million times over and again to everyone that submitted--you guys rule!

LOS ANGELES--Question: if everybody already knows what you're going to announce at a press conference, can you still surprise people?

Microsoft proved on Monday that the answer is yes; everyone knew that the company would be releasing some kind of motion-sensitive control system, yet no one was prepared for how polished the product, Project Natal, actually turned out to be.

Now, Sony is getting ready for its own moment in the spotlight at E3 here, and the pressure, as always, is on. Almost certain is a newly redesigned PlayStation Portable, or PSP Go, as it's being called. And … Read more

Yesterday, Microsoft raised the bar on the mainstream-interactive landscape with the demonstration of its futuristic Project Natal. Today, Nintendo had a chance for a rebuttal, during which it chose to focus on Wii Motion Plus.

Scheduled to debut in a few weeks when it's packaged in with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, the more accurate plug-in to the Wiimote has its greatest killer app in Wii Sports Resort, the delayed sequel to Wii Sports. Showed off last year as well, two new sports in the package, archery and a three-point hoops contest, were demonstrated once again by Reggie Fils-Aime and Bill Trinen. The accuracy benefits were more noticeable to the naked eye on the archery demo: smaller hand motions allow for greater focus and targeting.

The Wii Motion Plus is a funny update to the Wii, because the advertising around it (virtual swordplay, archery) is exactly the same angle that was used for the original Wiimote. It arrives in a few weeks to stores.… Read more