Natal, Mediaroom Highlight CES

A motion-controlled interface for Xbox 360, code-named Project Natal, will be commercially available by the end of 2010, and Microsoft’s Mediaroom IPTV platform is getting a major update. CEO Steve Ballmer also demonstrated new touch-screen PCs running Windows 7. Microsoft made the announcements at the Jan. 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) but was silent on its Windows Mobile platform, which is expected to receive a major update by the end of 2010.

What Happened in Vegas

Microsoft’s announcements at CES fell into the following categories:

Xbox. Project Natal, first demonstrated at the May 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), will be available in 2010 and will work with all Xbox 360 consoles; the company did not announce pricing. In addition, Xbox Live will be updated with a Game Room feature that lets users play head-to-head versions of old arcade and console games, such as Centipede and Combat (for the Atari 2600). Microsoft also claimed that it sold 10 million Xbox 360s in 2009, bringing the total installed base to 39 million, and said that it has 20 million active users for Xbox Live. (About half of these users employ the free version of the service rather than Xbox Live Gold, which costs US$50 per year.)