The same technology Microsoft loves
It seems that Project Natal may not shock Nintendo after
all. According to Computer and Video Games, it turns out that Nintendo looked at an early version of the technology and
rejected it three years ago.
3DV Systems, which created the technology and later sold
it to Microsoft for the Xbox 360, is said to have pitched an early form of it
to Nintendo in 2007. Satoru Iwata turned it down, because it was too expensive
and too lag-prone. He also did not like the idea of messing around with the Wii
handset approach and did not want to release it as a Nintendo peripheral.
However the camera technology was improved and flogged to
Microsoft. The dark satanic rumour mill has been claiming that
Redmond has had to scale back its ambition and move most of the motion
processing work to the Xbox 360's main processor rather than having a dedicated
chipset.
This will mean that a Natal peripheral may cost less than
$80. We are expecting to see Natal ready this year.
