XBOX gets all 3008; Controllers are so 2000 & late

E3 is in full swing* doesn’t even start until tomorrow, but the boys & girls at Microsoft are wasting no time in getting geeky gamers all worked up for the distant immediate future.

The game updates this year are promising; Guitar Hero: Beatles will be coming to the 360, along with all its groovy specialty instrument wonder and an Xbox LIVE exclusive downloadable track in the form of “All You Need Is Love.” If you’re thinking you’re not really in the mood to spend another few XBOX points on yet another classic rock track, remind yourself that all proceeds from the sale of said track will go to Doctors Without Borders. So nyeah.

XBOX also announced a slew of 360-exclusive titles, evoking a mix of feelings from “are they still making those” (Splinter Cell: Conviction) to “Meh, it’s still no Gran Turismo” (Forza 3) to “About damn time” (Crackdown 2) to “Wait, I’m still not done the first one” (Left 4 Dead 2). The latter drops an incredibly early November 17th 2009, and has chainsaws. I’m dreaming of a bloody red Christmas already.

You mean you have to use your HANDS?!? That’s like a BABY’S TOY!!

But while the gaming news is more than mildly exciting, it’s the peripheral info that’s got me all a-twitter. As you can see in the video above, Microsoft is preparing to release its next generation control interface which consists of a small set-top camera and…nothing else. Dubbed “Project Natal”, the new device replaces the typical thumb-operated keypad by scanning your actions and translating them into digital commands. It boasts facial recognition technology, will obey your voice commands (and will in fact recognize specific voices), and is sensitive enough to recognize both full body movements and small flicks of the hand. The fact that it can do so without any additional hardware (remote, nunchuck, etc) is not only a quantum leap forward in the idea of “getting gamers off the couch” that threatens to make the Wii’s once-revered technology obsolete, but also sports a cool factor the likes of which Elroy Jetson could never have dreamed.

There’s lots more coming to the 360 in the near future, like Twitter, Facebook, and direct Netflix queuing. The latter is likely just for our ‘Merikin cuzins to the South, but the potential addition of SKY in the UK means the service is expanding (nudge, nudge, Zip.ca).

Sony’s up next, taking the stage on June 2nd at 2:PM (Eastern) . I can only speculate as to what they’ve got up their sleeves.

I can haz surrogate?

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(*oops, misread the start date. My fault.)