Rock Band 3 Could Use Project Natal Tech

With the release of The Beatles: Rock Band just a few weeks out--the music game hits worldwide September 9-- MTV Games manager Scott Guthrie has suggested that the next main Rock Band entry could utilize the Xbox 360's 2010-due Project Natal camera, which provides motion-sensing and voice recognition capabilities.

"The Harmonix development team are working on what is effectively the next game, or Rock Band 3," Guthrie told MCV. "We aren't standing still--we will keep moving into new areas and look at new technologies that our platform holder partners are also developing, such as Project Natal from Microsoft. We're working with them to pull some things together. So it's pretty exciting time for the future of our music game business."

Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopolous previously noted that the Rock Band team was "trying to take a long term view" towards future entries in the peripheral-based multi-instrument music game franchise, further explaining that the decision was made "partly because the annual cycle places limits on the choices you can make as a developer."

Following the debut of Project Natal, rival Sony unveiled a new motion controller for use with the PlayStation 3 console and its PlayStation Eye camera. Since then, major publishers like Electronic Arts have expressed a belief that "that motion-based gaming is something that is both going to drive install base, drive interest and drive growth."