Xbox Addict

Project Natal Does Late Night

During the latest episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Microsoft’s Kudo Tsunoda dropped by to show off Project Natal. The five minute demo included Ricochet and a controller-free version of Burnout Paradise.

Though this stuff may be old hat to gamers who paid attention to Natal’s unveiling at E3 2009 last week, this marks a significant step forward for Microsoft. Nintendo has been the darling of mainstream media because it’s interesting to watch someone play the Wii. You don’t even have to see a game on screen to make the Wii entertaining television. With this appearance, and one previously on Good Morning America, Project Natal has earned Xbox 360 the attention of the casual and non-gamer audience.

Very little new information came out of Natal’s appearance on Late Night, but we did learn two things: Even in its unfinished state, Natal can quickly recognize a new gamer and Jimmy Fallon is a massive gaming geek. The first was proven by the constant rotation of guests in both Ricochet and Burnout Paradise. It took almost no time at all for Natal to follow the movements of the new person (AKA controller). As for the latter, Fallon looked as though he were about to blast off into space and asked if he could keep a copy and later pleaded for Microsoft to hurry up and release Natal to the public.