At a recent New York City Project Natal demo event, MTV Multiplayer busted out the stopwatch. The delay, or lag if you will, between what was happening on the screen compared to the player's movements was about a tenth of a second.
Microsoft quickly responded, saying the demo was a "proof of concept," and that the "development team had been hard at work perfecting the technology over the past eight months and will continue to do so." When Natal launches this holiday, "the experiences will be keeping with Xbox 360 standards and performance and will transform living room entertainment."
Read into that what you will, but if this video (from this same NYC event) proves anything, it's that a breakdancer is no match for Project Natal. The on-screen avatar seems to match the dancer's movements with some remarkable accuracy, from head to toe. Is there a noticeable lag? For sure, if you're looking for it, but that doesn't make the technology any less impressive.
That would be too amazing. It could recognize my facial expressions and York could react dynamically. And when he talks to me, I could talk back. And I could finally flip off the Raincoat Killer as I run away from him.
Agreed, the technology is impressive obviously and I really want to see some good stuff done with it. I really don't need an invisible wheel for driving games.
I think only casual arcade games can be build with Natal as a primary controller. But it would be cool to see what creative guys like Kojima can pull off with it. I mean remember what Kojima did with a dualshock in 98?
Well he can turn Natal into weapon of mass destruction, I'm sure.
You don't have to be looking for it to see that lag. When he does the spin, it's obvious.
But still, like I said before, as long as developers take the hardware limitations into account when designing their games, things should still work out.
As impressed as I am with this technology, I can't see this working for hardcore games; a tenth of a second seems really small when just messing around or something like that, but in an action-heavy game a tenth of a second can be deadly.
Impressive, but there still will be random idiots having bad things to say for no reason.
I mean, think about it. 1/10th of a second delay, with a STOPWATCH. Either the guy has reflexes of steel or it's less than 1/10th and more like 1/30th or 1/50th.
The tracking is extremely impressive! It's hard to tell how quick the response is from the video... and even though 1/10th of a second SOUNDS good, actually playing a game might feel completely unrealistic. If they can fix up the frame rate that looks like a lot of fun.
Killzone 2 (patched) has over 150 ms of lag so 100 ms should be no problem. Halo 3 is 100 ms. (source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-vs-console-lag-round-two-article)
The range of motion represented is definitely noteworthy but you don't have to look too hard to see the lag (and it does make the technology a little bit less impressive). Curious to see how this will be implemented beyond mini-games and conversations with a little boy.
I'm not really excited for natal, but as laggy as it seems it really is incredibly good at tracking with just a camera. I would love to see the technology put into something a bit more useful than minigames or being shoe horned into every xbox title.
As far as the lag goes, I'm sure it's something they'll iron out over time. As each developer gets to work with it more and more they'll find shortcuts to speed it up like they always do.
Not bad. Not bad at all. In fact it's really impressive.
Okay sure, it's not exact. And I can't imagine actually playing a shooter using such a device. But it's a very interesting possibility - it's a tool. Not EVERY game will be good with Natal. But some NEW games would be.
So although you would still want to keep your regular controller, this might be useful, and fun, in certain situations.
I'm not really bothered either way. Both Natal and the Arc would really have to offer some interesting gameplay to be worth it. I can see it working with games like Little Big Planet, but since those games aren't my deal I'll probably skip this motion stuff.
"the experiences will be keeping with Xbox 360 standards" . Is it just me, or is that kind of like saying "the pie will be keeping with McDonald's food standards"?
As always, Microsoft stick to corporate policy which affects Natal, Xbox, Windows, IE EVERYTHING they touch...
1) Half finish it.
2) Dress it up to "look" cool
3) HYPE HYPE HYPE
4) Profit
5) Fix problems when enough people complain about it, or don't, it's up to you.
Surely this far along you should have finished "perfecting the technology," and 8 months is not that long to work on something like this.
Hell, they should say it loud and proud. That Wavebird controller for the Gamecube back in the day had a downright embarrassing lag, and that didn't have the excuse of being for its own set of games.
Huh. Before people write this off though, there is at least another 10 months before retail release - It would be safe to assume that microsoft are still working on this.
Can't wait to be jumping up from my couch to change tires while my friend drives with an invisible wheel. i just hope my dog doesn't walk in from of the tv and screw everything up!
I will relate this somehow to the RROD in attempts to prove the PS3's superiority.
Let's keep this free from anymore bias, retards, this is destructoid. We're cultured and shit. Oh I'm looking at you, Patriot Snake.
As for this, I'm sort of impressed. I really want to see this used for different games, but that's pretty remarkable for a camera to do. Still has a ways to go.
it's neat that it was able to track all that movement but the lag was quite apparent in the vid which makes me doubt it's usefulness. that type of lag certainly wouldnt be acceptable for the type of games i want to play but I guess it could still work for slower paced single player games and party games.
I really still don't know about this one. I have to try Natal myself. I know they are ironing out all the bugs and glitches but I really don't know about Natal.
Yeah, the motion capturing is impressive and the movements pretty smooth but you do not have go out of your way to see noticeable lag there... it's perfectly clear.
Take a look at the 360 gaming stations next time you are at your retailer. The cameras have been taken off, or will be soon, and from what I have heard, in store demos will be in around September. Now if MS decides on a camera or a sensor bar to pick up your movements is still up in the air according to a MS employee.
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Contest:
10:30 PM on 03.01.2010
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That would be too amazing. It could recognize my facial expressions and York could react dynamically. And when he talks to me, I could talk back. And I could finally flip off the Raincoat Killer as I run away from him.
I think only casual arcade games can be build with Natal as a primary controller. But it would be cool to see what creative guys like Kojima can pull off with it. I mean remember what Kojima did with a dualshock in 98?
Well he can turn Natal into weapon of mass destruction, I'm sure.
But still, like I said before, as long as developers take the hardware limitations into account when designing their games, things should still work out.
I mean, think about it. 1/10th of a second delay, with a STOPWATCH. Either the guy has reflexes of steel or it's less than 1/10th and more like 1/30th or 1/50th.
Metal Gear Natal confirmed.
Patriot isn't impressed.
As far as the lag goes, I'm sure it's something they'll iron out over time. As each developer gets to work with it more and more they'll find shortcuts to speed it up like they always do.
Okay sure, it's not exact. And I can't imagine actually playing a shooter using such a device. But it's a very interesting possibility - it's a tool. Not EVERY game will be good with Natal. But some NEW games would be.
So although you would still want to keep your regular controller, this might be useful, and fun, in certain situations.
As for the video, it's cool, but I want to see how the tech is applied to games before I judge it.
1) Half finish it.
2) Dress it up to "look" cool
3) HYPE HYPE HYPE
4) Profit
5) Fix problems when enough people complain about it, or don't, it's up to you.
Surely this far along you should have finished "perfecting the technology," and 8 months is not that long to work on something like this.
MS = RUSH = BORKED = FAIL
Let's keep this free from anymore bias, retards, this is destructoid. We're cultured and shit. Oh I'm looking at you, Patriot Snake.
As for this, I'm sort of impressed. I really want to see this used for different games, but that's pretty remarkable for a camera to do. Still has a ways to go.
Project Shitbox made me lol irl!