Life & Technology

Exciting times ahead for the gaming world as Microsoft announced “Project Natal” at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles.

When Nintendo got the ball rolling with its motion controller it opened up a whole new way of playing games, and the Japan-based company reaped the rewards by having the number one selling console with the Wii, as well as gaming publishers knocking down its door to get a piece of the action.

While Microsoft and Sony have been trailling with their big consoles, Nintendo has been making bucket loads. I reckon the balance of power is about to change with Project Natal.

So what is it? Well, we saw the technology in Minority Report, and it’s somehow fitting that Steven Spielberg, who directed that film, introduced it at Microsoft’s press conference at E3. Basically it gets rid of the controller and allows gamers to use hand gestures to browse their dashboard, launch games by talking, and delve into all sorts of onscreen action by using arms, legs and head.

A small box will sit under your television set, which is connected to the Xbox 360. An array of gear sits in the box including a depth sensor, multi-array microphones and custom processors amongst other things.

It certainly makes all other controllers seem redundant, and if the stunned reaction of the gaming press (who are well-known for their blasé nature when it comes to new technology) is anything to go by, Microsoft are on to a winner.

So the boss has asked you to stay behind for an extra half hour to help with an urgent project, but you have a really hot date. Or (s)he’s asked you to take a five percent pay cut for the next few months to see the company through the economic downturn. Maybe you’ve been told that the assistant you were promised to help through the mountain of paperwork won’t be forthcoming in the near future.

You think you’ve got it hard, spare a thought for the poor folk at Canon in Japan, whose boss seems to be stuck in a Dickensian time warp. A little nugget of a story out of Gizmodo US tells us that Canon Electronic’s, Hisashi Sakamaki, believes that chairs and lackadaisical walking are the causes of lower productivity.

To arrest this purported lack of work ethic Mr Sakamaki has found the solution – nobody is allowed chairs in their workplace, and if workers don’t walk at least five metres every 3.6 seconds, then an alarm flashes! Not only that, there is a flashing sign on the ground that says “Let’s rush: If we don’t, the company and world will perish!”

It’s interesting to see that with a high yen, and many Japanese companies posting record losses, that Mr Sakamaki has his priorities straight. And it certainly puts Canon products in a new light! Wonder if he’s going to pay for all the chiropractors that will be needed for fixing all those bad backs due to crappy ergonomics. Time will tell. I wonder whether Canon printers will push pages out even faster in the future with the extra speed generated at head office leaking out to their products!

Microsoft has released its latest iteration of its search engine platform, Bing, into the marketplace in an attempt to take on Google.

Some pundits are probably asking “why bother?” such is the strength of the Google brand. With between 70-90 percent of the marketshare in most western countries, to try and knock it off its perch seems almost impossible, and would be a very expensive exercise. It’s current rival, Yahoo, only has about 15-20 percent share depending on the country, and that hasn’t varied for a long time, and doesn’t look like changing soon.

Sure, others have tried to take a chunk off Google, but have failed. Wolfram is the most recent example of a search engine device, is too narrowly focussed in its objectives to have any impact on Google.

So is it a fait acompli? Is there no hope for any fledgling entrepreneur – or current player for that matter – to take on Google’s seeming monopoly and win? Absolutely! I am of the belief that it is only a matter of time before Google is taken down a peg or two. What needs to happen is for one of the other companies to give their tool something that blows the company away.
Think about it. If I was to say to you, “hey try this search engine, it’s better than Google because of X, Y, Z” and you tried it, and I was right, then like a virus the word would spread. That is all it will take.

I’m not saying Bing will do this, because I haven’t had the chance to have a good play with it yet, but what I am saying is to all those cynics out there – it can be done. And I believe it will only be a matter of time before some starts eating into Google’s marketshare.