Right up there with an AIDS vaccine and teleportation, Project Natal has made Time Magazine’s “50 Best Inventions of 2009” at number five. I’m still not sure whether it’s an ordered list (let’s hope it’s not) but the peripheral’s placement is yet another confirmation that people think this is a really big deal.

Here’s the text from Time’s list:

Since time immemorial — or at least since Pong — one barrier that has stood between gamers and total Tron-like immersion in their video games has been the controller: the joystick, trackball, mouse, light gun or whatever. This year Microsoft demonstrated a technology, code-named Project Natal, that enables players to control games using only body movements and voice commands, no controller required — the gamer’s body becomes the controller. Project Natal uses several cameras, plus a highly specialized microphone and a lot of fancy software, to track the gamer’s body and interpret his or her voice. You move your hand, and the Master Chief (or whoever) moves his hand. It’s that simple. And that cool.

Really, it’s not that simple. But it is cool, and nice accolade for the gaming industry.

Looks like Microsoft isn’t the only one thinking Natal is going to be a serious game changer. Take Two CEO Ben Feder had plenty to say about the Xbox 360 periph during today’s Q3 earnings call with investors.

“Natal motion-sensors – yes we have dev kits, yes we’re working on them,” he said. “Obviously, we can’t comment on games we haven’t announced. But those dev kits are embedded in all of our studios, or just about all of our studios, and everybody’s working with them to try to figure out new ways in which we can innovate and create the kind of content that this company is famous for. So yes, we’re working on it.”

That’s a pretty serious commitment as I see it. Take Two isn’t just big, they’re huge, and it sounds like they’re dedicating a lot of resources to what is basically a new platform. Of course that could all just be talk, but why say so much when it could have just been, “Yes, we’re working on it.”

Regardless, I’m excited to see what next year holds. As we get closer to hardware release you have to bet developers like Take Two will be showing off their stuff.