Xbox360 Project Natal: Your life hub

This little device looks fantastic. It may even convince me to buy an Xbox360 It’s not about the games, you see, but it’s about the way it helps interconnect the world around me.

More at Xbox.com | Project Natal

The ability to directly interact with my friends just by saying their name and seeing them on screen (no more phone numbers to remember while I’m at home) and talk to them over the Internet (no more phone bills) is a real plus. Also, the ability to share information in a “Minority Report” style manner just using hand gestures to look up things from a library is really cool. It does help that the (visionary) director behind the same movie is also influencial in Project Natal.

I can see this developing a long way and enabling the (multiple) parties in the conversation the ability to access things from the web as well as possibly run applications. Given that more applications can be accessed as a service from the Web, it won’t be long before an Xbox360 could become a centrepiece in corporate life for video conferencing and collaboration, and not just a home media hub.

The PS3 that I own has allowed me to connect my media world and, coupled with TVersity on my PC, has allowed me to stream my movies and music from my own library via WiFi direct to my TV. This has reduced the amount of space I need to keep physical DVDs (they can now be consigned to a box in storage). It also lets me watch TV directly using the PlayTV add-on, as well as record, pause and rewind live TV, and also record programmes for later viewing. As a media hub, the PS3 is second-to-none in this regard, plus it has a blu-ray player built in with forward-compatibility. (I understand that the Xbox360 now allows me to stream DivX content from my PC, so it is catching up).

However, Project Natal makes the Xbox360 a life hub which takes things to a whole new level. And that’s cool. The trailer for it shows a couple watching movies from Zune, and since direct downloads are going to replace DVD rentals in the near future, this is a move inthe right direction.

If I do take the plunge, I think I am going to need a bigger TV! And I’ll finally be able to play Halo 3. Only a couple of years late … ! Of course, that depends on when the release date appears on the horizon – Microsoft do not plan to rush this one: CNBC Natal won’t be rushed.

My next wish list item would then be a way to connect to my life hub remotely so that I can send it commands when I am away from home. One thing I’d like to be able to do with my PlayTV is to set a recording when I am out – for example when a friend mentions a programme I didn’t know was going to be on later, and know I am not going to be in to watch. It beats having to watch it online through iPlayer or 4oD on the PC. Or even better would be a true TV/movies on demand service that allows me to catch up in SD or HD when I want to. It will come, it’s just frustrating having to wait

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