Project Natal
Viewed by Microsoft as "the birth of the next-generation of home entertainment", Microsoft's fully immersive gaming system is expected to land in the second half of 2010, and after playing it in LA earlier this year, T3 predicts it will not be a disappointment. Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft Game Studios, told us: "You are the controller. It has facial and voice recognition, so you have an infinite menu, you can just talk... or touch things. Everything has been mapped so creativity will just open up." Cutesy, family Wii-type games have been on show thus far, but creative director Kudo Tsunoda gave us a private play of Burnout Paradise using the technology, and it was mind-bogglingly playable. Your own foot as the pedal, your hands as the steering wheel. If GTA or Call of Duty receives the Natal treatment, we're in for a treat.
PS3 Motion Controller
Expectation surrounding the PS3's retort to Microsoft's Project Natal - the Motion Controller for the PS3 - has been hotting up since it was demoed in June 2009. Due for release this Spring, it works in a similar fashion to the Wii controller, with a sensor on top of your television detecting the position, distance and movement of two hand-held controllers. Heading up the development is Dr Richard Marks, stated "We expect this to be a great casual gamers' experience". At September's Tokyo Game Show, Sony revealed 13 games for 2010 which support motion control, which include Biohazard 5: Alternative Edition, Pain, EyePet and Flower. They also demoed LittleBigPlanet with the technology.
Microsoft Second Light Technology
It was announced in 2009 that a new generation of Microsft's interactive Surface (on sale to the public in 2011) was in development, code-named Second Light. The device is billed to overlay secondary images above those on the screen, an example being satellite imagery over a street map. It was also said to have sensors to interpret gestures without actually touching the screen, much like Natal. However, Microsoft were quick to kill rumours with developer Joe Olsen stating "Second Light is not the next version of Microsoft Surface", but in fact just a research project for Surface. Whoever you believe, it's still worth checking out the technology on YouTube and looking out for the Surface ain businesses throughout 2010.
Web TV takes over
Causing a splash in 2009, it's 2010 that will really see the explosion of web TV, with web apps coming straight to your plasma. The first of its kind was the Samsung Widget TV which teamed with Yahoo! Connected TV to provide live news and weather feeds. Now Yahoo! has launched a developers kit help to achieve its aim of having 1000 widgets available by the end of 2010. "We're combining the best of TV with the best of the internet." says Yahoo big wig Russ Shafer. Users will be able to tweet about the football game, follow live stats and even go shopping for your team's shirt as it happens. Sony, LG and Philips widget TVs are scheduled for 2010.
3D TV for the masses
We haven't been given an exact release date yet, but we know that 2010 will see the release of the long-awaited 3D Sky channel, which, according to Sky, is expected to include 'movies, entertainment and sport'. To watch it you'll need a 3D Ready TV, which will go on sale in 2010 (more on this later). Sky has also confirmed the launch of a new 'pull' video-on-demand (VOD) service for 2010. This will complement Sky+ and current Sky Anytime service and use the broadband capability of existing Sky+HD boxes. Brian Sullivan, managing director of Sky's Customer Group, promises: "Well over a million homes have future-proofed themselves with Sky+HD. Next year we'll make our HD boxes work even harder".
Sony 360-degree Stereoscopic 3D Display
This amazing prototype was shown off in October 2009 at the Digital Content EXPO in Tokyo by Sony President Ryoji Chubachi. It's a 3D display withing a cylinder which is viewable from 360-degrees without the need for glasses. Standing at 27cm tall with a resolution of 96 x 128 with 24-bit colour, Sony has hinted at applying the tech towards 3D advertisements, exhibition events, web shopping, art appreciation, virtual pets and 3D photo frames. It's hard to do it justice here, so we urge you to see it in action on YouTube.
Playstation 3 goes 3D in 2010
Sony have officially stated that 3D tech will be heading to the PS3 in 2010 and will be placed in one of the next firmware updates for the system. Users will not require anything more than stereoscopic glasses and a high-def telly. Speaking at the IFA Consumer Electronics Show in 2009, T3 heard Sony chief exec Sir Howard Stringer proclaimed "the 3D train is on the track and we at Sony are ready to drive it home."
3D Ready TVs
Sony and Panasonic have promised to release the first consumer 3D capable displays in 2010, which when not utilising 3D will work just like any HDTV television. With this backwards compatibility on offer, it's predicted the new sets will not cost much more than a standard HDTV. We predict we're not far from the majority of all HDTVs being 3D ready, with market analyst Futuresource Consulting estimating that one in 10 US and Japanese households will be 3D ready by 2012.
3D Blu-Ray
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), which is made up of major movie studios, consumer electronics companies and IT firms, is currently working on standardizing the storage of 3D movies, which take up 50% more space than a standard film, on a Blu-ray disc. One of the key specifications they are working on is that films must be backwards compatible, so punters can have a 3D and 2D version of a film on one disc. They also stipulate that 1080p resolution must be delivered to each eye. There's no ETA on when we'll see 3d Blu-ray, but we expect them by mid-2010.
Apple Tablet
Such is the secrecy of Apple, we can only apologise if the much hyped Apple Tablet has been released as you read this - stranger things have happened. But we'll stake a claim that we'll see it in February 2010. According to the Taiwan Economic News, which reports 'industry sources', the new device will pack a 9.6-inch mutlitouch screen, built-in HSDPA connectivity, a long-lasting battery pack and a P.A. Semi processor - a company Apple bought into back in 2008. Price? Well, that's said to be between $799 and $999 (£481 and £601). If it releases an app store for global newspapers, print could finally be kicking the bucket.
Flexible paper
We've seen demos of bendable electronic paper from the like of LG and E-Ink, but AUO is the first company to promise mass production of the product for 2010, with Dr. C.T. Liu, Senior VP & GM of Consumer Product Display Business Group of AUO stating: "The mass production of the flexible e-paper will drive the next wave of the reading revolution". AUO has demoed a 6-inch flexible display offering 16 shades of gray and contrast ratio of 9:1 (beating the Kindle's 7:1).
Comments
Post a Comment