Xbox 360's Project Natal isn't even out yet, and it's already huge.

During E3 2009, journalists, developers, and even Hollywood celebrities got wind of the secret demonstrations Microsoft was giving to select individuals and were pulling every string they could find to get in. Even Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto went to the secret area of Microsoft's booth and got a private VIP demo.

Demian and I got to give Natal a go, and we came away extremely impressed...and neither of us are of the easily impressed variety....

"No matter how many buttons you put in a controller, you can't get this kind of fidelity," says Natal Creative Director Kudo Tsunoda. We'll see later if gamers (especially the hardcore) even want that sort of fidelity, but what we've seen so far supports Tsunoda's statement.

The device measures 48 different joints on your body, so it's able to distinguish your hands from your forearm, your forearm from your upper arm, your upper arm from your torso, and so on. It can detect forward and backward 3D positioning as well, unlike old Vision Cam games that see your silhouette as a 2D physical object.  It even knows how fast you're moving your body parts toward or away from the television (keep the snickers down to a minimum, please).

Slap happy

We played the "Human Breakout" (as I like to call it) game that Microsoft showed during their E3 press conference. Very simply, my on-screen body did exactly what I wanted it to do, very responsively.

My only problem was having to reprogram my brain to understand that I don't need to reach down with my hands to swat at low-flying balls -- I could use my feet to kick them, something that my gaming instincts weren't used to yet because I never played a console game that knew where my feet were in that context.

Pretend driving

Next, Tsunoda showed us an unofficially hacked Natal-controlled Burnout Paradise. This doesn't mean there will be a Burnout Paradise for Natal, mind you. This was designed just to show people how sensitive Natal can be.

Tsunoda held his hands out like he was holding onto an invisible steering wheel, stepped forward on his right foot, and his car took off, going where he wanted it to go. When he'd pull his right foot back and put his left foot just slightly forward, the game knew to brake. It was such a small movement to detect, yet Natal did it.

When game consultant and former Newsweek writer N'Gai Croal gave Paradise a test drive, however, the game had trouble reading his steering actions. The footwork (gas and brakes) worked fine, but Croal couldn't steer his car at all. It wasn't clear whether this was a problem of calibration differences between Tsunoda and Croal's very different body types, or if Croal's crazy dreadlocks threw Natal off. But it was working just fine when Tsunoda was at the "wheel."

It's not the same

As impressive as Project Natal was, it's extremely important to note that these were only tech demos in very controlled environments. We were probably a good 10 feet back away from the device, in an open, sterile, white-walled room, and we don't know anyone who has a gaming setup like that in real life.

No contrasting furniture or decorations in the room, no oscillating fans, no fireplace, no dogs or kids running around...but Tsunoda did walk behind us while we were playing to show that his tall-man presence wouldn't affect the camera's detection powers.

Next year

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter states in an upcoming episode of GameTrailers.com's Bonus Round that he felt Project Natal was "a game changer" and that it should be out by late 2010 if it finds enough software support.

And how about Sony's double-wand motion controllers that they showed off at their press conference? Pachter says that's a result of Sony's "Wii-nis envy."

OK, now you can snicker.