Microsoft have today announced Project Natal, which promises to change the way Xbox 360 users interact with their console, and each other.

Natal uses a digital video camera to capture a players movement, and translate this into on-screen motion. Coupled with voice recognition, Microsoft believe Natal will effectively turn the user into the controller.

As demonstrated this morning at the E3 conference in Los Angeles, the system is also able to scan users faces and sign them instantly, as well as react to vocal tone and pitch, and process this data in real-time. It will also work with existing Xbox 360 consoles as well as all future models.

Those on hand at the Microsoft press event to promote Natal included Steven Spielberg and Lionhead studio executive Peter Molyneux, who revealed that his development team has been using this motion capture for several months.

Microsoft have promised to allow E3 attendees access to use Natal during closed-door sessions later this week, so stay tuned for more information regarding this new announcement.