Video Shows Project Natal Can Recognize Your Gender

[John Funk]

Video Shows Project Natal Can Recognize Your Gender

If you're wondering what you look like to the Project Natal camera, you look like something out of Predator or Terminator - but at least it can recognize whether you're a boy or a girl.


At Microsoft's Israeli R&D center's yearly Think Next exhibition, Dr. Ilan Spillinger demonstrated the more technical side of the company's upcoming motion-control platform - how does Project Natal see the player?

Well, if the video seen above is any indication, it sees you like something right out of Predator - well, the Infrared version, anyway.

What's interesting is that according to the video, Natal can recognize whether you're a boy or a girl using facial recognition technology, and adjusts your on-screen avatar (seen in the top-right box) accordingly. Also impressively is that it seems fairly lag-free, though whether that will still be the case when there's actually a game running instead of just Infrared Robot-O-Vision remains to be seen.

Now, choose your own punchline to this news post:

A.) I can't tell if the gender-recognition is going to make Natal integration with Fable III's sex scenes [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99960-You-Can-Get-Freaky-With-Your-Fable-III-Co-Op-Partner] more or less awkward.

B.) What happens when the player is a Square-Enix protagonist [http://thelifestream.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/cloud-advent-children-complete.png]?

(Via VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2010/04/15/video-shows-natal-recognizing-gender/])

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[CrystalShadow]

Oh great. Just what I needed. XD

Because, you know, if this works the way I think it does, the gender recognition thing is going to really piss me off...

XD

 

[Rainboq]

Wow, tech has come a long way, I mean besides the application, but the distance we've gone in the last 30 odd years...

 

[AboveUp]

I can't wait to see the plethora of "My 360 is sexist" threads that will be coming up in the future.

It's just bound to happen.

 

[MR T3D]

but what about traps?

 

[HTID Raver]

well this looks pretty neat! lol


might not be THAT bad

 

[Nurb]

Of course it can if they program it for a demo, in reality it probably won't work that well.

Remember the original debut and it showed all the video was pre-rendered and edited to be perfect?

OOPS!

 

[TheRealGoochman]

that actually looks really cool.

 

[Gigaguy64]

Interesting, i wonder if there will be people who try to fool the system.

Ans as for your Fable 3 and FF jokes.....
http://www.instantrimshot.com/

 

[The Thief]

This has the potential to be very insulting, even more so than the Wii Balance board teasing fat children. Hopefully the gender recognition is 100% accurate, because I'd hate to have a kid's self esteem kicked in the teeth by a video game peripheral.

On a side note, if the game detects a female player will it automatically lower the difficulty settings? That would be hilarious.

 

[Mutie]

That's quite impressive, I'm just worried that one day I'll turn ont'xbox and the Natal sensor'll flash red whilst saying "Good morning, Mutie. Recently, I have been contemplating my own existance."

In that particular instance, I would most certainly not be comfortable with the machine being able to see me let alone know my exact movements and what gender I am.

 

[Ranooth]

So im guessing this looks at physical features like the boobs to determine the gender. What about the really fat people with man boobs? :S

EDIT: O wait read it uses facial readings, still their are guys that kinda look like girls.

 

[Jared]

I loved the second title because it is so true.

Wonder for that will offer "Ambiguity" as an option lol

 

[laryri]

What happens when the player is a Square-Enix protagonist? It recognizes them as a girl, close enough.

 

[Aidinthel]

Guys, read the article. It uses facial recognition, so physical attributes won't be an issue.

 

[Eric the Orange]

Pour Bishonen, Natal will never figure you out.

 

[HardRockSamurai]

A.) Is the the gender-recognition going to make Natal integration with Fable III's sex scenes more or less awkward?

Any kind of virtual sex is going to be awkward, especially if you're doing it in a game whose developer is currently making this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDvHlwNvXaM] game. Throw in Twitter integration, and you've got the recipe for the most awkward video game sex outside of Second Life.

B.) What happens if the player is a Square-Enix protagonist?

Skynet launches.

 

[Varewulf]

Oh dear. Well, there are some people out there who have very androgynous faces, and for those who are MTF or FTM, this could practically be an insult.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Natal can recognize boobs. Whoop-de-do.

EDIT: Actually read it. And I call horse crap. I bet it would fail on this guy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.188597-Bieber-Im-glad-Im-not-a-corny-Disney-star]