For all the talk of next-gen this and now-gen that, gaming hadn't fundamentally changed from its original thumb-fueled arcade days until Nintendo's Wii added motion-sensitive controllers into the mix. (And no, I don't count Nintendo's Fred Savage-fueled Power Glove.)

Sony tried to follow suit with an accelerometer in their Sixaxis controller, but it's so far only really worked on Flower. But at last week's E3, Microsoft has entered the fray with the possibly game-changing device known as Project Natal.

At first glance it just seems like yet another console camera--and I own both the Xbox Live Vision and PS3 Eye cameras, neither of which seem to work very well. But Project Natal appears to follow through on the promise of a controller-free videogame. Sony, who admittedly started this whole business with their "Eye Toy" PS2 peripheral, trotted out their new camera-based 3D motion-sensing technology "PlayStation Motion Control" which uses a handheld stick and their camera to create a true 1-to-1 tracking, which will reportedly be even better than Nintendo's upcoming Wii MotionPlus add-on.

Natal is still E3's big buzz takeaway, though. Steven Spielberg even introduced the new technology: "This is going to give people who don't usually play video games access to a whole new world that we know is so compelling, but they haven't quite discovered yet." With its facial and voice recognition, it can even allegedly sense the emotion in your voice! Certainly, this demo video by Lionhead Studios' Peter Molyneux shows off an AI that is unmatched in it's awesome creepiness. 

Sure, there were other announcements at E3. Sony's PSP Go! shrinks their handheld into a slider shaped digital distro-only device and a bevy of cool new games were announced, from anticipated sequels (Mass Effect 2, Uncharted 2, God of War III, Bioshock 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2) to salivatory spin-offs (New Super Mario Wii, DJ Hero, The Beatles Rock Band, Star Wars: The Old Republic) to long-awaited originals (Alan Wake, Heavy Rain).

But when all is said and done, it's the evolution of gaming into a spatial full-body sport that will make E3 '09 be remembered as the expo that brought us another step closer to virtual reality. Next stop: hoverboards!