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Fri, Aug 14, 2009

Leaked iPod shots litter the Apple press

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Something’s a-brewing in the Apple camp, everyone can feel it. A September event has been banded around and the rumour-mill is in overdrive. The main subject of all this speculation are iPods with cameras. ‘Leaks’ have popped up here and there, some more convincing than others, but pretty much all have the whole camera thing going on. Here’s a nice selection for you to peruse and make your own minds up. I’m betting on 3rd Gen iPod touch (with camera), new iPod nano (possibly with camera, but a big ‘why’ is floating around in my mind on that one) and the phasing out of the 1inch HDD based iPod classic (maybe not in September but these days its seems all but inevitable with the death of 1inch HDD looming). And no, you’re unlikely to see an iPAD or iTablet this year, maybe next year, but it’s highly unlikely to be unveiled in September (although I could be wrong, it’s been known it to happen from time to time).

Hit the jump for more photos and a video of the ‘iPod touch’ with camera.

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Mon, Jun 1, 2009

Xbox Motion Control Camera Project Natal

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True to the rumours that have been flying around for the last couple of months, Microsoft has unveiled a motion control system called Project Natal. Demoed on the stage at E3, Project Natal combines voice recognition and motion recognition via camera to create a lifelike emmersive gaming experience. Not only will Project Natal allow you to interact in games such as driving with a virtual steering wheel, but also navigate the dashboard Minority Report style. I can’t think of anything cooler right now than the awesome interface that Minority Report presented and if it comes close Project Natal will truly be revolutionary. According to the system creator, Kudo Tsunoda, your Xbox 360 camera will be able to recognize you, log you in and then allow you to control the dashboard. I’ve seen some facial recognition based on CCTV cameras before which was pretty impressive but I never thought I would see it in a games console, especially this generation.

A couple of simple games were demoed including Ricochet, a 3D breakout game and a game called Party Paint which allowed you to fling paint at a canvas bucket style yet had enough precision to paint individual leaves on a tree. These are of course aimed at the casual gaming market but I get the impression the Microsoft has plans for Project Natal not only in the Wii/Eye Toy sectors but also integration with more of it’s core gaming experience.

Hit the read link for some video of Party Pain in action. Stick with PixelatedGeek and we’ll bring you more as we check it out.

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