Sony quietly took another step last week in the game of catch-up they and Microsoft are playing as they attempt to capture the wave of interactivity and interest following Nintendo’s success with the Wii. It began with Sony trotting out the Sixaxis and its tilt-functionality mere months after word of the Wii-mote’s motion-detection capabilities came to light and was seen largely as a hasty “me-too” by Sony that might have cost its agreement with Immersion for force-feedback in the controller.

Little over a year ago word of Microsoft’s Project Natal was leaked and a patent filing by Sony lawyers for a break-apart “hybrid video capture and ultrasonic tracking system” was discovered followed by applications for emotion sensing controllers and tech.

Sony’s latest filing with the US Patent and Trademark Office details controllers capable of accepting a variety of attachments including a biometric reader, maracas, flashlights, and microphones.

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Nintendo is apparently feeling the heat of both Sony and Microsoft preparing to release their own motion-controller technology, chipping away at the only feature that makes the Wii unique (that and a butt-load of crappy 3rd-party games).  Shigeru Miyamoto was asked if the Nintendo was on the brink of losing its uniqueness in the face of competition.

His response:

“Well, I should say that it could be taken as a compliment if others are following suit, by saying Nintendo was right in choosing a certain direction. But if you ask me if that is going to be good for the entire business, I really don’t know.”

“If everyone else is going to do exactly the same thing, unfortunately in this entertainment business that means less uniqueness, and uniqueness is what Nintendo has tried to realize.”

“We don’t look to the future in one direction only,” he said. “When you say that one element of our uniqueness might have been lost, you don’t really have to be concerned about that, because Nintendo always tries to find something new. I hope you are looking forward to our challenge to discover this new uniqueness!”

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What’s up with Microsoft’s motion-controller Project Natal? When will it be released? What kind of games can we expect? Will it suck the life out of video games forever? I don’t have all the answers for these questions, though I do have a few. According to MCV citing unnamed sources, Project Natal is slated to release in November of 2010.

From MCV:

Microsoft is planning to manufacture 5m units for day one release, with a mix of console and camera plus solus SKUs expected.

The device should cost under £50 when sold solo. One publishing source says Microsoft is “trying to get as close as possible to ‘impulse buy’”. Another even says the camera could even retail for just £30.

14 games are being readied for launch.

Activision, Bethesda, Capcom, Disney, EA, Konami, MTV, Namco Bandai, Sega, Square Enix, THQ and Ubisoft all committed to make games for the device in an announcement made at last month’s Tokyo Game Show.

It’s expected a large chunk of launch games will be first-party offerings from studios such as Rare with third-party games to follow. It is not known if Lionhead’s widely-discussed Milo, which uses advanced AI to create realistic characters, will be in the mix.

Natal will arrive almost five years to the day after the Xbox 360 and is perceived by many, Microsoft included, as a way to lengthen the lifespan of the hardware without resorting to a new console launch. The first Xbox was sold in the UK for only three years before 360 hit.

It looks like Project Natal, the nifty gesture-recognition system for Xbox 360, will be coming to Windows. According to who? None other than Bill Gates. In an interview with CNet, Mr. Gates said:

“I’d say a cool example of that, that you’ll see… in a little over a year, is this (depth) camera thing.” Gates said it was not just for games, “but for media consumption as a whole, and even if they connect it up to Windows PCs for interacting in terms of meetings, and collaboration, and communication. Both the Xbox guys and the Windows guys latched onto that and now even since they latched onto it the idea of how it can be used in the office is getting much more concrete, and is pretty exciting. I think the value is as great for if you’re in the home, as you want to manage your movies, music, home system type stuff, it’s very cool there. And I think there’s incredible value as we use that in the office connected to a Windows PC. So Microsoft research and the product groups have a lot going on there, because you can use the cost reduction that will take place over the years to say, why shouldn’t that be in most office environments.”