Project Natal by Microsoft uses the entire body as the controller.

Expect a battle to emerge among the PS3, Xbox360 and Wii this Christmas -- this time centered around games supporting motion sensing systems.

T&A: Initially announced and slated for release by Sony by Spring of this year, the motion controller of which a prototype was shown at E3 last year, will now makes its debut in Autumn this year, based on news from Reuters and BBC.

This puts its right-smack up against the planned launch of Microsoft’s Project Natal for the Xbox360, which according to Robbie Bach, Microsoft’s President for Entertainment & Devices Division at CES 2010, will launch by end-2010.

Project Natal is a radical controller-less motion sensing system where users use their entire body to navigate their avatars in-game. We’ve covered this as a news post awhile back.

The Sony PS3 motion controller is somewhat similar to the Wii motion sensing controller, except that in the PS3’s case, the PlayStation Eye camera atop the HDTV will detect the movements of a special light-emitting sphere on the controller instead of using infra-red sensors like the Wii.

Expect the console gaming season in Christmas 2010 to be one of the hottest ever as different console manufacturers, and game publishers for the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3, release games that tap on these new motion sensing systems.

Meanwhile, here’s a video of Sony’s PS3 prototyped motion sensing controllers in action at last year’s E3 2009 event in Los Angeles, USA.

SHOWCASE: The Consumer Electronics Show, currently being held in Las Vegas, USA, from 7-10 January 2010, has been the focus of the tech community over the past several days, especially with hypes, pre-announcements and previews.

Here’s a collection of keynote and demo videos by the different tech companies like Microsoft, Sony and Intel which we think would make for a good start of what’s happening over there.

Microsoft’s CES 2010 keynote presented by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, including a segment by Microsoft’s President for Entertainment & Devices Division, Robbie Bach. The video is prefaced with an introduction by CEO and President of Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), Gary Shapiro:

Sony’s Bravia LX900 3D TV demonstration:

More videos after the jump:
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VIEWPOINT: With the release of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system yesterday, we thought it apt to unveil an interview and demo sessions we did with executives from both Microsoft and Apple (which released the Mac OS X Snow Leopard update in August).

Basically the objective of this interview is to understand what are the new directions and features each operating software has in the areas of security, functionality, aesthetics and user needs.

If you want a comprehensive breakdown of both operating systems, refer to the Windows 7 review and Mac OS X Snow Leopard summary by the HardwareZone Singapore team. Alternatively, you can refer to your past issues of HWM for our comprehensive coverage of both operating systems.

Here’s the ViewPoint video of the interview with both executives:

This video comes with English captions. To change caption language, click on Translate in the bottom corner option of the video.

Hit the jump to watch actual demo sessions on both Windows 7 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard. For the Windows 7 demos, we had the pleasure of having Mr. Matthew Hardman, Group Manager, Business & Marketing Organization, Microsoft show us its features.

Navin Danapal, Technical Editor, HWM Malaysia

Navin (HWM Malaysia): Apple lost a good chance to position their latest Mac OS 10.6, Snow Leopard, as an idol in the land of the Otaku (geeks) of Japan, when Microsoft Japan beat the Cupertino company in coolness by coming out with an official OS-Tan (OS personification), Nanami Madobe, voiced by Nana Mizuki, a Japanese anime voice actress, to represent Windows 7.

Limited to only the first 7777 copies of Windows 7 Ultimate in Japan, the unique Windows 7 theme was quickly leaked out and distributed to other Windows 7 users.

While OS-Tans have long been invented by devoted Japanese fans for previous versions of Windows, Microsoft coming out with an official character showed their commitment to making Windows 7 become really appealing to all levels of their target markets.

If this link is anything to go by, Apple should have done the same instead of resorting to tactics like hijacking Google search results for Windows 7 and directing people to consider a Mac instead.

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CORP TALK: The New York Times has released news that Microsoft and Nokia, long-time foes in the mobile phone field, have formed a partnership where Microsoft Office software will appear in Nokia cellphones soon.

According to the article, as Microsoft’s Office series toughens up against challenges from free Web-based tools from the likes of Google, putting the ubiquitous Office in the hands of the world’s largest mobile phone maker might seem a good way to slow that threat a tad. (more…)

VIEWPOINT: For our third HWM ViewPoint video program series, the HardwareMAG.com team met up with Mr. Chris Chin, Developer Marketing Director for the Asia Pacific and Greater China region for Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business division.

Here, Chris answers some questions related to the developer programs which have been put in place for communities interested in creating apps for the Windows Mobile Marketplace ecosystem. Marketplace, by the way, is Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s App Store, BlackBerry’s AppWorld or Nokia’s Ovi Store.

Here’s some additional info on what it would take for developers to create apps for Marketplace.

Here’s the exclusive ViewPoint video. Enjoy.

This video comes with English captions. To change caption language, click on Translate in the bottom corner option of the video.