I don't, I just make a statement that one company is confident that their tech is the future while the other did not.  I have no clue if Natal will be the future.  I have no clue if Sony made the right choice to go the move route.  What I do know is that both companies have gone in totally different direction and one may be proven correct.

Sony played it safe and that might be the winning formula because there is already history.  MS can carve out their own territory like the Wii did if they can capture the buying public. 

I can tell you what MS probably did take away from Nintendo this generation is that you either go hard or go home.  Believe in what you are doing and work your but off to make it a success.  Either go all the way and live and die by your decision of play it safe and hope to bleed some of the success of your competitor. 

The single lens camera only senses outlines of moving objects. It's enough to allow for input on the X and Y axis, but limits player movement translation to a single plane. That being said, it's still enough to do something like Rebound or kayaking, or running in place, slapping hot spots on screen, etc. which is more or less what I expect to see with the first batch of Natal games.

Stereoscopic cameras should be able to provide depth perception input from player actions to be translated directly into the game playing space.

If a game doesn't make use of the Z axis, then it really is something that could be done with the EyeToy or PSEye, presumably with the ability to sense more and smaller moving objects (if it can actually sense individual independent finger motions as hyped).

We'll see what happens. I'll consider it worth my $50-60 if it actually works well with Windows 7 as a general user interface for navigation.

If someone makes a program using Natal that can actually read sign language or read lips accurately, I'll consider the PR over the technology totally justified.

They sure like to hype Natal, but no games, no money.

It's not out yet and games have been revealed.

Have to give it at least a year before something really compelling is released. Kits have only been in circulation for about a year as is; not enough time to release anything that isn't a quick tech demo, or a game that was retro-fitted to use Natal motion controls after development (and more importantly design) was already under way.

The questions will be whether the initial releases are acceptable enough to keep people interested in the potential over the year following release until dedicated Natal games can be released, and whether those dedicated Natal games actually measure up to the PR that's already convinced some people what the tech is capable of.

You mean PS2 couldn't do those things. With the right software and hardware (processing capacity) the image captured through an Eyetoy could do a reasonable approximation of image capture sufficient for many of the gaming applications Natal will be used for. But it would be limited and a lot less precise and so Natal can obviously do more. Hence "very very different to any other mechanism..." is hyperbole.

The last thing Natal needs is a "difficult to develop for" reputation. We've already seen that sort of reputation in a different context this generation and it was a contributing factor to the position that device finds itself in today. MS can head off that sort of rap at E3, and obviously they know this which is why they have a stand alone Natal event. It'll be interesting to see how it comes off. 

Richochet makes use of the z axis.  You can walk forwards and backwards.  You have to swing at a ball that is in front of you, in relative 3D space.  Hands on have described being able to put spin on the ball.  Holding your hand directly behind the ball(on the Z-axis) and only moving foward to hit it would be more difficult on an RGB only output.

However, as far as game design goes, it doesn't seem compelling to me. 

Yep. It's still pretty much kicking/swatting a virtual ball against a wall and will undoubtedly be a part of the pack-in Natal Sports tech demo bundle.

I like this quote:

“I wanted you to feel like Natal was integrated into the world, if you like. It enhances the world, if you like. It’s going to be integrated in so it has a purpose, and it gives you something, and there’s a reason to do it.”



Natal is the second-coming.
Finally, a reason to play a video game. *gasp*