SlashGear

According to the latest rumors coming out of Taiwan, Aptina have won the contract to supply the CMOS image sensors for Microsoft’s upcoming Project Natal motion-control gaming system.  The company will exclusively provide 1.3-megapixel CIS for Project Natal, which DigiTimes claims will begin shipping in the second half of 2010.

That would certainly fit in with Microsoft’s public timescale, which said that the commercial system based on the Project Natal technology wouldn’t arrive until next year at the earliest.  DigiTimes lump the motion-tracking system in with a new Xbox 360, though Microsoft have repeatedly claimed that it would be a companion device compatible with all Xbox 360 consoles.

Project Natal uses an array of sensors and cameras to track user motion in 3D, controlling gameplay without requiring a physical controller to be held.  More recently, Bill Gates has suggested that the same technology will have applications for HTPC and office environments.