Will Microsoft Out-Wii the Wii?

Tomorrow Nintendo will be making their Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) announcements, but today was Microsoft's turn, and it looks like they're going full bore after Wii owners with Project Natal, a device that uses a depth sensor, camera and mic array to track your position in space, meaning in theory that you can play a game just by standing in front of your Xbox 360 waving your arms and jumping up and down. And while my initial thought was that the camera would have lighting issues, as was the case with the PS2's EyeToy camera, Microsoft is claiming their device is not light dependent.

This has got to have Nintendo sweating a little; combine a control scheme more intuitive than the Wii with 360-quality graphics and you've got something pretty spectacular. On the other hand, this is Microsoft, the guys who still make Window's Vista sound awesome even though everyone knows it's a huge misfire, so I wouldn't sell my Nintendo stock quite yet.