April 06 1:40 P.M.

Body movements match what's on screen.

With compelling devices on the way from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, gamers will soon be bombarded with all kinds of crazy new tech. Hands-free gaming, improved motion-sensing, 3D on a handheld -- it's enough to make even the most casual player nervously excited.

But which future tech has them most excited?

We approached 430 men, women and wookies attending the recent Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Boston and asked them point blank: "Which interests you most: the Nintendo 3DS, Project Natal, or the Playstation Move?"

The winner? Give a hand to Project Natal, which scooped up a hearty 200 votes (47%). The Nintendo 3DS netted 94 (22%), while 72 (17%) chose the Playstation Move. The remaining 63 (15%) said they weren't interested in any of the three, while one brave soul (.2%) said he was equally interested in all of them.

We should point out that our sample was not random, but convenient. We spoke to people as they stood in line, lounged on beanbag chairs, waited for food, and mingled in hallways. No labs were harmed (or used) in the making of this survey.

So why is Natal out front? Jason Della Rocca, formerly the head of the International Game Developers Association and currently an industry consultant for Perimeter Partners, pointed out that PAX attendees "are probably not representative of the population at large," a fact we agree with, especially when it comes to wookies. Still, he speculated that the numbers gap likely boiled down to marketing.

"Microsoft seems to be doing a really good job of pimping Natal," he said, while the 3DS "has simply had less time to build up interest."

Perhaps the most compelling argument in favor of Microsoft's controller-less controller came from showgoer Nick Bristow, who wanted to see the tech in the hands of the impressive Johnny Lee. Lee became a Youtube sensation when he reverse-engineered the Nintendo Wii to create a form of virtual 3D known as "head tracking." Lee has since been hired by Microsoft to work on Project Natal.

Project Natal is good for more than just action.

"If the Natal can track where your head is looking at the screen, then it can create simulated 3D without buying a $3000 TV," Bristow said.

That would be cool, to be sure, but not everyone agrees that Natal is the one to beat. Chris Remo, editor at large for Gamasutra, was surprised by the gap between Natal and Sony's Move.

"The Move seems like a more useful and fruitful…peripheral," he said, noting that one that could easily be adapted to "new expanded audience stuff as well as existing hardcore games." He speculated that Project Natal, on the other hand, may have "more limited applications," although it benefits from being "the one that immediately conjures to mind what you'll be doing and what this thing looks like and how you'll use it."

To Russ Frushtick, senior writer for MTV Multiplayer, it's more a matter of new versus old.

"The positive response towards Natal has a lot to do with the promise that it's going to offer something no one has experienced yet," Frushtick said. "No matter how good the graphics are with Move, it's always going to be reminiscent of the Wii."

The crowd at PAX East was convinced that Project Natal has the most to offer, but all three companies still have plenty of time to gain -- or lose -- support. Sony needs to find an identity between now and the holidays, Microsoft needs to make sure they don't lose theirs, and no matter what we say, Nintendo is going to sell millions of 3DS's.

All that's left is for us to cast our vote, and we're most interested in all three. Guess that makes two of us.