Ballmer drops new Xbox 360 in 2010 hints

By Mike Bantick
Friday, 19 June 2009 10:45

Entertainment

The rumours are strengthening around a revision of the Xbox 360 based around Project Natal.  Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO himself has added weight to theories of a new Xbox 360 sometime in 2010.

At E3 this year, it is pretty much consensus that Microsoft caused the most discussion with the Project Natal Xbox 360 interface.

Project Natal consists of a number of depth sensing cameras as well as voice recognition to create a separate device that can be utilised in a number of ways.

Shown at E3 was Project Natal’s ability as a controller-less way to play games, as well as determine individual’s using voice and facial recognition.

Then there was Peter Molyneux’s Milo.  Where, through judicial use of smoke, mirrors, and well scripted demonstration, the human to AI (young boy Milo) interaction was taken to a new level using the Project Natal interface.

Post E3, discussion began to revolve around how Microsoft was going to package Project Natal.  Was it simply going to be provided as an add-on peripheral, not dissimilar to Nintendo’s Balance Board, or was Microsoft considering a whole new revision of the Xbox 360 hardware to deliver this technology to the home?

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has dropped some hints about how Project Natal may emerge in public.  His comments speaking at a Chicago Executives Club point to a system revision being delivered in 2010.  The upcoming device is described as utilizing a “natural interface” technology that is “really, really, close [to actuality]”.  Ballmer also described the use of motion sensing camera technology.

Based on these obscure comments, tongues are a wagging, extrapolating the words to mean a new Xbox 360 iteration hitting the market in 2010.  And the betting is on a device that will incorporate the Project Natal technology into the console itself, with a peripheral option being offered simultaneously, for backwards compatibility purposes.

At this stage the concrete has not set, there is still plenty of time for Microsoft to shape this rumour into their own factual derivation.