Natal report: "You'll want to clear" 4 metres of space from the screen

To quote that drunk man in Jaws, "We're going to need a bigger boat."

If this TechFlash article is to be believed, those of you living in small houses may find yourselves ostracised from using Natal properly.

Snip:

To be precise, you'll want to clear an area extending at least 4 meters (a little more than 13 feet) away from the television. That's the back edge of the space to be taken into account by the Natal sensors. In terms of width and height, the field of vision naturally expands as it moves from the Natal device to that back edge, ending up a little more than 4 meters wide and 2.7 meters high (about 8 feet, 10 inches).

The details come from Microsoft itself, apparently, which briefed journalists on Natal in Redmond yesterday. It's not clear whether or not you'll actually need to have that much space available for the motion sensor to operate as it should, or if this is just the recommended amount.

Games boss Don Mattrick was on hand, saying response from consumers in testing of Project Natal has been "off the charts."

Go get a tape measure and size up your living room; 4 metres is not the smallest distance in the world.

We've asked MS for clarification.