Ed Fries, the Seattle video game pioneer who previously served as vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, has joined the board of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Canesta. The 45-year-old executive -- who currently leads "World of Warcraft" figurine startup FigurePrints -- said in a release that Canesta represents a "very unique opportunity" in 3-D sensing technologies.

"It will fundamentally change the relationship between computers and other consumer devices and the world around them," said Fries, who spent 18 years at Microsoft before leaving in 2004. That sounds an awful lot like Microsoft's highly-touted Project Natal, and based on the Canesta's product description there does appear to be some crossover.

Canesta is coming off a successful venture capital fundraising effort in which it raised $16 million from investors such as Carlyle Growth Partners, Hotung Venture Group, Venrock and Quanta Computer Inc.

The company -- which has been granted 40 patents -- describes the technology as tiny 3-D "camera" chips that can provide real-time "depth maps" of the surrounding area to PCs and consumer electronics devices.

The company notes on its Web site that the technology could be utilized in game controls, which reminds us of Project Natal. It writes:

A camera in the console interprets user commands to control the game. In these implementations, there is typically no live video of the user on the screen. The user actions simply control the game with very low latency and no concerns about lighting or background motion. Typical motions might include turning the user's head left or right to pan the game display to that direction.

And it also notes that the technology can be used to insert the game player directly into the experience:

Canesta can capture the user's video image and motion and insert it into the game. The player can use in-game video overlays, and create avatars that match his silhouette or facial features. Scene or Topography Insertion - The Canesta-enabled camera captures objects in the real environment to be inserted and used as 3D objects in the game. For instance, add obstacles for a driving game or insert objects into games that on-screen characters can interact with.