Natal uses "you" as an input device.

You’ve probably heard about Project Natal by now. It’s Microsoft’s “secret” project that lets you use your body as the input device for the Xbox Live. No controllers, no wires, no headgear or gloves. If you liked using Nintendo Wii’s controller to play games you’ll love the freedom and increased capability of using your body.

I recently got to experience Project Natal first hand. Timely because today sources report that we’ll find out all at the E3 Conference this June. A few observations:

First: This IS going to be a really cool step forward in gaming/entertainment and the future of humans as input devices.

Second: Don’t even think about using your tennis lessons. On a cold New York evening a few weeks ago, my colleagues were invited by Microsoft to come over to a nearby loft and play a game called Ricochet. It’s sort of a cross between table tennis and soccer. As balls are heaved at you on the screen (often multiple balls at once) you could swat, kick, or head butt them back at the screen. Natal–which was an add-on peripheral to an Xbox when we saw it demo’ed–tracks your movements and the balls respond to your thwacks. Ricochet showed my body as a shadow silhouetted on the screen (thankfully not true to real body proportions–everyone looks identical). It turns out that Natal was much better at responding when I faced the screen and moved my arms and legs to the side.

While it appears to know about backhands and tennis’ side stance, playing it sideways is not likely to win you as many points. Another game speculated for release includes an interactive story about a boy, Milo, and his camera.

Third: Clear the Area

Reyne Rice, a toy trends expert, got more points than me during our demo session (she faced forward) but she had other, arguably more serious, problems. Rice’s shoe (no laces) flew off her foot in a serious kick and came inches from smashing the screen. While Natal is said to be less dangerous than Wii, which suffers from occasional flying controllers (even with a wristband), it’s best to dress appropriately. No flying clothing.

Fourth: Beyond Blue Screen

Those who’ve followed gaming, animation, and filmmaking know about bluescreen technology where background images are projected onto a blue screen and the actor or weatherman interacts with the graphic. There were many early attempts to use bluescreen technology involving a player interacting with a game image on the computer screen. Natal is much more nuanced, recognizing all sorts of gestures, and reportedly it will recognize voice inputs as well.

Observation Five What the Tech!

As any good geek would, I asked the Microsoft PR folks a few tech questions and got very little in the way of satisfying answers. The Natal unit is currently shown as an add-on peripheral. It’s a horizontal box smaller than a DVD player. Clearly, the box holds a combination of digital camera and motion sensors. As best I could tell, there was a green camera light and a red one in the unit, which suggests two cameras that do some sort of 3D magic. Intrigued, I discovered that the cameras probably work together, one to capture the image and the second to give it depth.

Once a 3D picture is compiled, software magic takes over. Basically, Natal knows about various skeletal systems (height and body type) and knows about the kind of movements its games cause people to make. At PixelSumo, geeks can get a more in-depth explanation. And, at PopSci, you’ll get a good sense of the amount of processing power it takes for you to thwack a ball with your head. Staggering.

My bets on some of the hottest trends at the show:

eBook Wars: You’ll have seen most of them before the opening day of CES, but you’re going to begin to see a features war over book readers. Color readers, readers with two screens, readers with backlit screens, pocket readers, multimedia readers, and so on. The good news? All this talk about reading may resuscitate the printed word. If you’re at CES, visit the eReader exhibit on the CES floor and the HigherEd Tech Summit.* Both will be discussing how ebooks will replace those high-priced printed versions.

3D: James Cameron may be getting all the 3D glory on the big screen this season, but there are plenty of folks at CES leaving their 3D mark. Look for notebooks and netbooks from the likes of Acer (3D glasses required). SONY, Mitsubishi, and Panasonic will be showing the next variant of 3D TV (glasses required on most, not all). Even the gamemakers (keep an eye on PlayStation) will be supporting 3D output. ASUS has just announced a 3D gaming notebook, the G51 J 3D. My favorite? Fujifilm has a new camera that shoots photos and videos in 3D and requires no glasses. The trick? Two sensors built into the camera.

Mobile Phones and Their Apps: There are now over 100,000 iPhone apps; that’s a pretty big business. But the iPhone is being challenged by Android, RIM Blackberry, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Palm, and Nokia’s Symbian environments. As consumers, we want to know what apps are worth paying for; as a developer, you’ll want to know what apps to create for. These topics will be visited in multiple places on the show floor, but the Mobile Apps Showdown should be a nice culmination of an app-ified world.

Mind and Body: Take a motion sensor, add some software and a cloud computing app, and you’ve got the recipe for a healthier body. Look for everything from digital pedometers with online recordkeeping to elaborate systems that measure your energy output and give you enough readout to put the Challenger’s dashboard to shame. Watch for biofeedback, relaxation, remote medical data collection, and more.

Telepresence: Yes, it’s a Trekian buzzword, but get used to it. Simply (probably too simply) put, telepresence creates the illusion that something is near you, even though it is not. Video conferencing, distance learning, remote medical diagnoses–all of these rely on telepresence. Look for Cisco to take the lead, but IBM, Microsoft, and others will express their violent interest in this topic.

Augmented Reality: A close cousin of telepresence, augmented reality was beginning to seep into our collective consciousness at the last CES. It’s back, and in general it describes a technology that adds a level of information on top of your physical reality. Point your phone at a person and it might automatically recognize them and offer the person’s vital stats for you. Point a digital camera at an object (say, a museum) and have entries about that object appear on your screen. Making augmented reality more real are manufacturers like NVIDIA. Its new Tegra chip packs the power of a PC onto a single, small chip.

* Disclosure: My company, Living in Digital Times, produces the Mobile Apps Showdown and the HigherEd Tech Summit at CES.

iFart: There seems to be a fart virus in the mobile applications stores. iFart, the daddy of these apps, was grossing $10,000 a day and it’s only a 99 cent purchase. (You do the math.) Since iFart’s introduction, Apple approved at least 14 more fart apps for distribution through the store. If you hear the sound of gas passing from your kid’s iPhone you’ll be one up.

Moonwalker: This is the Michael Jackson version, not the Apollo version. In 1990, SEGA released Moonwalker, an arcade video game starring Michael Jackson. Michael maneuvers through a pool hall, a dark alley, and a graveyard, fighting thugs, robots, and zombies on a quest is to save children. The game even includes Bubbles the chimp. Michael prances and shows his moves as “Bad,” “Smooth Criminal,” and “Beat It” create the soundtrack. If he gets too many hits he falls and cries “help me,” begging for another quarter. There were a number of home versions as well and the Michael Jackson games are popping for sale as collector’s items.

Virtual Jihad: There have been a number of these games and variations since 2003. The early ones depicted Americans searching and shooting in the hopes of finding Saddam Hussein. The newer variants have Al-Qaeda hunting down George Bush.  Some are variants of the BattleZone game. Maybe we should let these guys play the game instead of the real war, but there’s something offensive about watching kids play a game that so imitates the realities of war.

Others to steer clear of: Blades—a violent game with a sexpot heroine. Manhunt 2 for its extreme violence. When in doubt about a game’s appropriateness for kids, the best choice is to go to a site like the ESRB or Common Sense Media and check out the ratings.

A Publishing System for Young Kids: Tikatok

The cofounder of this site was sitting in a bookstore with her kids when she realized that every book on the shelves was written by an adult. The epiphany? Create a site where kids can publish. Tikatok brings out the storyteller in every kid, allowing them to see the fruits of their labor shared with others on the web. Posting a story is free. Creating a book and selling it has varying costs depending on the size of the book. Story Sparks, an idea generator, helps those with writer’s block and it’s relatively easy to add artwork, too. (Average price for printed copies is around $20.)

A Stay-cationer’s Dream: Wii Sports Resort

Players participate in a virtual vacation on an island with 12 different activities. Basketball, table tennis, canoeing, archery—the games are eclectic and tons of family fun. Sports Resort is one of the first Wii games to use Motion Plus—Nintendo’s new accessory. It allows the game to track the motion of your forearm and wrist which makes table tennis and archery more realistic. But the new accessory adds to the price and doesn’t add anything new to older Wii games. ($49.99)

Summer of Apollo:

This one won’t cost you a dime. The moonwalk (no, not the Michael Jackson kind) has captured and re-captured the imagination of kids and adults everywhere. Earth.google.com/moon is a joint project of NASA and Google. You can zoom in and actually see the 1969 footprints from the first spacewalk and take an guided tour narrated by Apollo astronauts.

A Quirky Game for Teens: Little King’s Story

For the teens in the house, this quirky masterpiece mixes adventure, strategy, and a heavy dose of whimsy. The plot begins with a young king that inherits a mess of a kingdom. Done in something similar but not as irritating as anime style graphics, the game includes cultural references and clever innuendo as the king (you) assembles his motley crew of subjects. Be warned: there are scenes with drunken and crude behavior. Normally I’m no fan of the anime style nor lengthy multicharacter games, but this one seems to be the pacesetter. And if you don’t believe me, see what the gamers have to say. ($49.99)

And what should you be avoiding this summer?

THQ  Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter:

Just introduced on the Wii, this game combines kids creativity and game playing.  Using a set of familiar looking paint tools kids design their own characters to star in video games.  The characters can even articulate their limbs, giving them lifelike moves.  Once the character is completed you can  place it  in a simple game, drawing in your own obstacles as you go. You can even draw a bridge to get you across a river with a special action ink, or a draw a ball that bounces.  The game you play is the one you’ve created. That’s both inspired and loads of fun.
Leapfrog  Zippity 

Zippity looks like a cross between a pogo stick and a Dance Dance Revolution mat. It’s played on the Wii. Young kids will stand on the  mat,  with their stick held firmly in their hands . On a TV screen they’re be watching their favorite Disney characters and using the stick they’re interacting as they watch  Using Playhouse Disney characters like Winnie the Pooh and Mickey, Zippity presents  kids with dances to do, jumping and movement, and learning fun.  Priced at $79 it’s a mini-Wii game for the mini-est users.

NetPal 

A netbook of their own.  Disney and ASUS teamed up to create a $350 netbook designed for kids. That means safe browsing, parental controls with plenty of room for parents to adjust, customizable screensavers with themes from Disney’s Cars, WALL-E and others.

An ASUS netbook under its skin, the Netpal has an interface that’s all Disney. The keyboard is spillproof and a Shock shield protects the netpal  from damage due to  accidental drops.  Naturally it’s available in Princess Pink and Magic Blue.

Leapfrog Tag Reader Jr:

 Leapfrog’s Tag Reading System used a special magic digital pen to read aloud to young readers.  Now the youngest pre-readers get a Tag of their own, called Tag Jr.  Instead of a pen, the handheld device is shaped more like a big rubber stamp.  The child presses the tag reader junior to the book page and all sorts of things begin to happen.  Stories get read, songs are sung, shapes and colors called out.  The books are made of really durable heavy cardboard so the system is dribble and drool proof.

Imagine Series: For girls who dream about what they want to be when they grow up Ubisoft created a series of  unique videogame introductions to the working world. Last year the big hits were Imagine Doctor, Movie Star and Babysitter. .This year they’re adding artist, boutique owner, detective, fashion designers, salon stylist, zookeeper and a few others to the lineup.  The games have become quite successful. Each gives you a taste of a career with simple games from picking patterns for fashions to putting together clues to solve a mystery. For girls ages 6-14 available on Nintendo DS.

It’s a jungle out there.  If you’re looking to help them practice  reading, math, critical thinking, color matching  … whatever, there are hundreds to choose from ranging from the mundane to the sublime. And no way to know for sure much about what’s inside the box.

Leapfrog, known for mostly top-notch products for kids just made it much easier to buy the right product and better still, to watch how your child is interacting with the toy.

The company’s new website Learning Path offers parents a portal into their child’s learning.  Learning Path charts a course for parents to make good product choices by grouping choice by age and skills. Parents receive tips and ideas from educators. But most important the child’s product can be linked to the website and parents get feedback about how the child interacts with the product. 

Here’s a quick look at some of the types of things you can expect to see in the new line:

EARLIEST LEARNERS

Focus is on products like Fridge Phonics and Pre School Medley. (Still, not quite sure I love the sound of little kids recorded voices singing and saying words without much difference between singing and saying,  but the Leapfrog folks assure me that the kids prefer it.

With slightly more coordination kids are ready for products like Zippity. Zippity is sort of a colorful cross between Dance Dance Revolution and  Nintendo Wii  but made for a three to five year old who play games where their using their bodies to interact with the device, without needed the dexterity to succeed with a full blown Wii.

SCOUT AND FRIENDS

Scout, a cuddly plush dog becomes the mascot to preschoolers with a collection of products that look just like mom and dad’s high tech stuff. There’s a PDA that teaches words and letters and has some fun built in emails and calendar functinos that revolve around Scout’s life.  A Scribble and Write is like a high tech version of the tracing books we used to use to learn to write our letters.  Trace the letters by following the screen’s LED dots.

TAG READING FOR JUNIORS

One of the newest products is the Tag Reader Junior  ($35 when it’s released later this year).  TagReading Kit  is a pen shaped device that can interact with books to read, teach words and more ($50).  Once you have the pen you keep replenishing your library of Tag books at about $14 each.  Tag Jr. is a stubbier, snowman-like stamperr instead of a pen.  As it touches the book, a sturdy cardboard affair, it also responds. 

Things I like:

The books and materials were high quality, compelling stories.  Many Tag books are liscened from companies like Disney and Scholastic so the child is engaged in the literature.

The tag pens bring a fun element to reading books, but it’s a book you’re reading, not a game screen.

The parents web site and the kids’ website are basically two views of the same content.  Parents can see where there kids like to play (learning words? shapes? math? and kids can get more content and games from the web.

After years of mostly quality one off toys, the Leapfrog strategy took a giant leap forward.

Game development is a part of many colleges computer science curriculum and in a number of high schools like this one in NYC, building a game is required learning.

Last week I took a look at Kodu, Microsoft’s new game development language that’s easy enough for kids to master and create their own games. Theoretically, it’s supposed to be just as easy for parents, but having watched the demo I’m dubious. And because the language is for developing games on Xbox Live only (meaning you’ll need the Internet access for Xbox), its applicability is limited for many families. But the price is right: It’ll be available for a minimal fee on the Xbox Live Community Games Channel later this Spring.

There have been many programming languages designed for kids—but none, even the popular Logo language, let you create a very rich game experience. Kodu gives young developers programming modules that can fit together like puzzle blocks. They also get 3D characters (20 of them) with various attributes (some fly, some are strong, etc.). And they can design those space-age background terrains easily.

The essence of game programming is that the characters can have rules associated with them that describe their behavior and consequences. So, for example, you might build a routine that lets your character “move forward” until it “bumps” a “tree.” Simple movements like that are not hard to master. But when you start trying to follow a tree bump with a falling apple or allow the character to move around the tree without touching it, you’re adding some serious complexity. Programming a game is like creating a storyboard on steroids because everything is conditional. Yet, somehow, kids like the one in this video. (Microsoft’s demo at CES last year.)

Microsoft deserves kudos for giving kids a platform to create games. They say that ultimately there’ll be a PC version for use in schools and they have a few school curriculum projects in the works now.

Guaranteed that the kids who create a game using Kodu will never think about a game the same way again, and they may turn out to be the next Will Wright.

I’ve been scanning the reviews of the new DSi and becoming convinced that the techie crowd doesn’t understand that “something’s happening here.” Most reviews are using words like “evolutionary” and missing the point that when you put a camera, good microphone, and some great software in a portable game machine, it changes the nature of the game. I spoke with Warren Buckleitner, founder of Children’s Technology Review and the director of our Kids@Play Summit program. Warren calls the new DSi a “Digital Sandbox.”

By adding two (yes, two) digital cameras and a sensitive microphone, the DSi heralds another level of creativity and exploration. The two cameras (one faces inward so you can capture photos of yourself and one faces the outside world) come with software that lets you pull, yank, meld, and manipulate images using software special effects lenses. The sound and music tools let you use the DSi as an MP3 player, but, more importantly, lets you sample the sound of voices, birds chirping, and teachers lecturing, and then edit and manipulate them. The DSi, if used well, will unleash fantastic amounts of creativity.
To read more on why Warren thinks the DSi is magic in a kid’s hands, read his DSi impressions.

For a great synopsis of what’s new and different with more emphasis on the technical specs, I’ll point you towards John Davison’s review on WhatTheyPlay.com.

They’re back and about to repeat history in Vancouver in 2010. A joint venture by Nintendo, Sega, and ISM (creator of Olympic interactive games for the past 17 years), Mario and Sonic at the Olympics is the only interactive game licensed by the Olympic Committee.

I got to tour the Olympic site with my plumber and hedgehog mascots. (That’s me, the non-Olympian in the middle.) The game, created for the Wii (used with or without a Wii Fit) is really a conglomeration of mini-games based on Olympic winter sports. While the game won’t start shipping until late fall, I got to try out a few of the competitions.
The most cooperative play medal goes to the bobsled, where you all shake your nunchuks in unison to get your speed up, and then shift your weight left and right as the bobsled does its thing. There’s a ski race that’s best played with a Wii Fit addition. And the speed skating game is best for shapely calves.

The inventors are convinced the game provides a great family experience, easy enough for every aged person (including those over 30) to master. And truly, the play is easy. If you can lean and wave your arms, you’re good for the GOLD.

Still, something doesn’t feel quite natural about Mario and Sonic as Olympians. Goofy, bouncy, jumpy, and fun, they’re lots of things, just not athletic. I’m thankful that at least they’ll be bundled up for the winter Olympics. A butt-crack-showing plumber and a hedgehog in a swimsuit would be the only thing that’s more bizarre.

There’s an expected crowd of 1.6 million heading to Vancouver this January. If you’re not there, you can turn down the heat (brrrr…) and fire up the Wii. The game will be available for the DS as well.

For the youngest digiterai, ages 2-5, LeapFrog showed the Tag Reader Junior and Zippity. Tag Reader Junior is a pre-reader friendly version of LeapFrog’s popular Tag Reader. A magic pen (one chunky enough for the pre-pencil set crowd to grasp) senses information that’s embedded into the invisible grid on pages of tough cardboard picture books. When the pen touches a word, a color, a thing, stuff happens. Of course, pre-readers initially use this as if it were a stamp pad and not a book, but it does make books a delightful exploration. Price: $35

Zippity Learning System

LeapFrog and Disney Playhouse teamed up to create this game that’s a cross between Dance Dance Revolution and Wii Sports for the preschool crowd. Kids dance, jump, and move as they learn preschool skills. The mat is used to run and jump and the baseball bat-looking contraption (called “the bopper”) is used for upper body movements. Games feature Mickey, Darby, Goofy, and other Disney Playhouse favorites. $79

For older kids, Lego’s RC Car combines the love of building with Legos with a love of race cars. After you build your own Lego RC Car you use the radio controller to drive it round the tracks. Crash? Just rebuild your car. $39.99 for a 92-piece kit gives you two different designs.

Lego also announced a new set of Lego building bricks that will tie into a new website from the company. The site, Lego Family Time, will offer building plans each week that kids can follow along with or modify to their liking.

TechnoSource’s Printies Design Studio is an all-in-one craft studio that lets kids create unique stuffed animals using just their PC and printer. First they design their animal using the included software–choosing their favorite features, colors, patterns, and expressions. Then the creation gets printed on the special fabric sheets that can be used with any ink jet printer. Once the printing is done, kids stuff their animals with pillow stuffing, add feet and stickers. Best news is that there’s no sewing or gluing. $19.99 for a kit with six animals

One of the most open-ended play tools comes from Jakks Pacific. The EyeClops Jr. is a full-blown nightvision camera that allows kids to see in the dark. The inventive games you can play in the dark with nightvision goggles are never-ending. But, at $40, parents won’t be spending anything near what real nightvision goggles would cost even though the experience is quite similar.

In the same vein, the EyeClops Mini Projector is a real working mini-sized LCD projector. It projects a VGA quality image. The image can be projected up to 70 feet, and can receive input from all sorts of gadgets: DVDs, game players, PCs, iTouch, and others. When it ships this fall it will cost under $100. A pocket-sized projector for under $100–adults are going to want to buy this one, too.

At $150, the product that left me slightly aghast by its price tag was TechnoSource’s Rubik’s Cube Electronic, but it’s a must for Rubik’s retro lovers. Instead of manually cranking the cube, you swipe your fingers across a row of colors using an iPhone-like swipe. The cube glows to your touch. An accelerometer inside the cube lights the squares and keeps track of which side of the cube you’re working on. Unlike the traditional model, the electronic version features hints for you when you’re lost and it will solve itself when you’re thoroughly disgusted.

These products aren’t on the shelves just yet. You’ll see them start to roll out over the summer and into the fall.