In a rare occasion, Ballmer apologized to the masses of gamers who were let down after the excitement of the news of an upcoming next generation console. After reports of gamers talking about the “new console” arose, Aaron Greenburg of Microsoft stated, “We’re not going to be launching a new console any time soon.” This devastated many excited gamers who are looking forward to any hints of next generation consoles to come in the distant future.

“I confused the issue with my poorly chosen words,” Ballmer told IGN. “There is no news in my comments.” Microsoft hasn’t officially confirmed a date for the release of the add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360, but Ballmer’s comments have led many to believe the “controller-free gaming and entertainment experience” will arrive sometime in 2010. Although, the confusion over the “new console” disappointed gamers, many are still excited about the upcoming feature for Xbox 360 which is likely to release in late 2010.

Project Natal, which was announced on June 1, 2009 featured many demos including a game called “Ricochet” where the player can use his or her body to bounce balls at blocks. Natal also allow players to log in to their console faced on facial recognition and try on clothes in 3D. Other demos shown at E3 were “Paint Party” where players can “throw” paint on walls using body motion and “Burnout Natal” where players can race in cars using their body motion to steel the wheel of the car instead of a controller that current gaming technology requires. Because of the new technology behind the project, the announcement has caused the Xbox 360 to gain more ground in the market.

The name Natal comes from Microsoft’s tradition of code naming products from cities. The name Natal, a city in Brazil, was chosen by Microsoft’s director, Alex Kipman, as a tribute to his home country. The word natal also means “relating to birth” where Microsoft shares its view that the addon is the “birth of the next-generation of home entertainment.”

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Microsoft demoed the technique at the E3 which means that the technique is already existing and working. Information on the techniques itself are scarce. From what could be gathered a hardware device is needed that will send the body’s motion and sounds to the Xbox gaming system. The system is able to follow the moves of every person in the room. It can easily identify and distinguish people. Natal cannot only identify people but also objects in the room.

This leads to some interesting new applications. Think of a quiz where the moderator addresses the gamers by name and repeats their answers.

Take a look at the videos below to get a good first impression on what Project Natal is about:

The official Youtube channel offers tons of videos showcasing Project Natal.

There are two factors that can influence the success of the new hardware device. First the price of the device. If it is expensive than it might become a niche product instead of the new default way of gaming. The second is game support by game developers. Game developers need to produce games for Natal or make their games compatible with the product.

What are your thoughts on Project Natal?

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What I like is that the Xbox 360 plays those movies from CD or DVD instead of streaming them over the network. I’m not that up to date when it comes to modchips for the Xbox 360 and possibilities to add a bigger hard drive to store files on it, but I’m sure some of you know the answer.

I would replace my old Xbox with the new Xbox 360 if I could use it as a media center again. I’d also like to know if the noise of the Xbox 360 has been finally reduced or if it is still that loud which would be another drawback.

Divx is supported back to version 5.0 which means that most movies should play just fine on the Xbox 360.

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It took the author 20 days to encrypt the protection using his Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive and lots of free time. He started looking at solutions because he was unable to play a purchased HD-DVD movie using a HD-DVD drive and a HD monitor. I never fully understood why they created such restrictive formats in the first place. They only make their customers angry with restrictions like this, hackers will always find a way.

The author published a youtube movie, here it is:

The faq that comes with the program gives valuable information. I decided to publish it fully as well.

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If you do not delete the personal files on the hard drive before you sell the system the new owner will be able to watch, hear and view them just like you did. What Microsoft did not tell you is that it is likely to recover the files even though they have been deleted by connecting the xbox hd to a computer. File Recovery tools work on xbox hard drives as well.

If the new owner knows what he is doing and suspects you had some personal files on the hard drive he might want to take a look. The same holds true of course for every other sort of storage device that you are going to sell. It is possible to recover files even though you deleted them.

The only secure way that I know that would delete the files safely would be to connect the hard drive to your pc and use a tool like eraser to erase the personal files on it.

You need to unlock the hard drive of the xbox before you can access the xbox hard drive in windows.

It is also a good idea to remove account data from the system before you are selling it, this can be done from the menus provided which means you do not need external tools for it.

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We all know that one solution would be to buy an expensive barebone or multimedia computer that is simply a small computer next to your tv which outputs the signal to the tv instead of a pc monitor. Another option would be to buy a multimedia adapter which is a device that makes it possible to stream media from a computer to your hifi or dvd player. This is indeed a possible solution but it would still mean that your pc has to be running to stream the contents.

The solution that I installed at my home is simple, relativly cheap and offers extra values. I’am speaking of a xbox with a replaced hard drive and modchip installed. I’am talking about a first generation xbox but with the first mod chips appearing for the xbox 360 this will most likely soon be possible with the new system as well. You should check your local laws before you think about buying the parts that you need for this operation, it should be legal in most countries though.

The price of a xbox, a mod chip and a larger hard drive (160+ GB) should be no more than 400$, most likely less than that. It also depends on the type of mod chip that you want to install and if you are doing the changes yourself or let someone do them for you.

It really does not matter which mod chip you choose, I would choose a solder less one if you are not that tech savy and want to do it yourself. There are ways to buy a pre modded xbox on the net and replace the hard drive with a bigger one. All you need is a special partition tool that converts the bigger hd to xbox format. (Slayer) You burn this tool to dvd and run the dvd when the hd has been replaced. Really easy, I was able to do it..

You can setup an ftp server from within your xbox afterwards and connect the xbox to your pc network. Use an ftp tool to transfer files to the xbox. One that you definatly need is XBMC (Xbox Media Center) This is a free media player that plays many formats, this will be your multimedia player. XBMC is only available as a source file, you could try IRC or Usenet for binary versions.

You transfer movies, music and pictures using ftp as well. The xbox has a 100 mbit network card which means transfers are really fast. You are also able to play region free dvd movies on the xbox and play xbox games. (of course).

If you want to enjoy online play I suggest a xbox with a modchip that you can turn off when you want to play online. Microsoft may detect modchips when you connect to them and could ban you.

My Xbox has a Xecuter modchip installed, this was some years ago, think it was three years ago. I never had to replace the hard drive, it is still working and I can watch all sorts of divx, xvid, avi, wmv and the like movies. Never used it for music or pictures but this should be running fine as well.

I think I replace my old Xbox with a new Xbox 360 once stable modchips come out for this system and the complete system will be a bit cheaper. This will most likely happen before christmas because Nintendo Wii and Sonys PS3 come out before christmas as well.

Let me know if you want me to go into detail somewhere or if you are using a different multimedia device.

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