MS: Natal isn't for casual gamers

Microsoft's Shane Kim has declared that it isn't attempting to go after the casual gamer market with the new Project Natal controller and is instead targeting an entirely new area of the market - the 60 percent of homes that have no games console at all.

Project Natal was recently unveiled at E3 and is an ambitious new controller system that uses face-tracking technology and other such fancy tech to follow player actions with a special camera add-on that negates the need for a conventional controller. Natal is still in prototype phase and hasn't got a price tag or release date just yet, but it's been gaining a lot of positive press for the Xbox 360 lately - read more about Project Natal here..

Speaking to Kotaku, Kim said that the Natal wasn't like the Wii and that Microsoft wasn't focused on current casual gamers, or "even the PS2 people who haven't upgraded."

Instead, Kim said that Microsoft wanted to target those 60 percent of households who have no videogame console whatsoever, promising that the launch of Project Natal will be comparable to the original Xbox 360 launch in size and games line-up.

"That's similar to how you would think of the launch of a new console. It's got to have a great launch line-up," he said. "That's the same thing here."

Are you interested by the idea of totally hands-free gaming, or do you think that Project Natal is looking too good to be true? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.