Since Natal's announcement the interwebs have been a roller coaster ride of judgement for the motion/camera tech. It seems everyone has weighed in from Nick Chester's singing vagina to Jim Sterling's long lost fourth cousing, twice removed (it's a long story). But what about the people who actually matter? You know, the guys designing the games, the developers themselves. It seems they're as skeptical about the tech as a platform as the rest of us.
Develop put together a recent article on the subject, and while excitement was in the air it was hardly the strongest feeling. Most developers are sitting in the middle of the road, excited for the new tech, but unsure if it will really do anything that new. Andrew Smith of Proper Games sums it up pretty well when he says, "We'll see some cool stuff, no doubt about it - but I remain thoroughly skeptical as to whether it'll do much business, and as such I'm personally quite reluctant to dive into it yet."
One of the key points many of the developers make is that it will need to have a killer game like Wii Sports to get people interested in it. Nintendo was genius in bundling what was basically a superbly made tech demo in with their system, and if Natal doesn't have that it's going to be hard to move.
Develop Jury: Natal's promise [Develop, via Joystiq]
Matthew Razak is Destructoid's Associate editor and co-founder of film site
Flixist. He began as community member "cowzilla" and was since sequestered to write brainy features material. He lives in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife.
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Contest:
5:00 PM on 01.17.2010 | 
What we saw of Natal at E3 was nowhere near as impressive as Wii Sports - it just doesn't have staying value. MS probably knows this too, considering how quiet they've been with the tech.
If I held my Zune HD up to the Natal cam while playing some Basement Jaxx, and then the Xbox 360 would log onto the Zune Marketplace and whip me up a Smart DJ playlist on the spot.
That would be baller...what the fuck did I just say?
You know, stuff in the line of Wii Sports.
But all of this technology aside, I doubt I'll get very involved with it. I'll pick up Natal if the price is right, and I'll most likely ignore Sony's bit unless something amazing comes out for it.
this type of reasoning is similar to what followed the Wiis controller reveal. Devs were interested to make cool stuff but didn't know what they were doing (in some cases). NATAL is new tech so it will most likely see a similar life like the Wii's. Without a controller tho....it's going to be hard to think of this as a success
I could see Natal having been a fun little novelty the way an avatar is if it was simply some upgrade to the console...but a purchase of that much? I can't imagine what game they could create that would make me buy Natal. I'm broke enough finding the time and money to play all the games I want to play as it is.
And being able to shift through menus with a wave of my hand sure wouldn't get me to pay a 150 bucks, either.
Any developer with half a brain would be skeptical, this smells like a new version of Virtual Boy, by way of being a gimmicky flop. But I do hope they prove me wrong.
Of course if you look to the ground for inspiration you'll mostly find dirt. The technology is sound, and will hit the streets this year at ~USD$60 so as a game designer am really excited about what it may afford for indie developers and anyone interested on an alternate take on 'gaming'.
You'll probably find among industry that people are split because [1] they're already commited to the next 12-18 months working on projects that didn't have this stuff in their view, [2] and the sad fact that there's alot of very derivative game designers out there who just don't know how [ or make the effort ] to design from first principles. Miyamoto says "jump", they "jump", we all "jump".!
Game design has not made much progress in the last 20 years and finally Nintendo + MS + Sony are making an effort to address the bottleneck in player interaction and being able to have more nuanced input. The best thing about Natal is not to do with an amplification of movement, but rather the ability to recognize and respond to really subtle gestures and sounds and hopefully this will engender access to a more interesting emotional range.
-- Chuan
Regards the Wiimote: it was the lack of the gyroscope from the outset, and being able to detect angle of orientation which killed it for developers. Although people were intially super excited and on board with Nintendo, it quickly became evident even with middleware like AiLive that you were limited to designing primarily for three basic types of gestures: pointing at the screen, rotation, and janky spasms.
In the end it was a bit destructive for game design as there was a perceived need to 'support' Wii motion control features yet there wasn't much that would integrate well with alot of the games that were being made apart from the now infamous 'waggle' to represent a physical way of pushing a button. And we all know how old that got, and how quick ..
-- Chuan
While the technology behind it is innovative and a push in the right direction, the presentation behind it (as well as with avatars) just seems like Microsoft's "Mii too!" bandwagoning. I'm worried that Natal's launch software is going to be too much like Nintendo's offering.
NEVAR FORGET
And what happened to Milo?
If these developers think that about the game, then NATAL will not take off. Wii Sports was not a tech demo. It's a full game. The second you get that, the second you will start to understand the expanded audience better.
I heard good things about Eye of Judgement and there was a game that didn't involve motion control and still utilized the eye. Was I hearing wrong?
Anyways I'm still hopeful. Even if one good game comes out for it I'd consider it a victory.
Eye of Judgement was good for a month or two, when they pretty much dropped support for it. At least from what I heard, finding more cards was impossible because they stopped making them.
thinking of it in a game like MAG
(or any other online game) where you play the game with controller(moving, firing)
but using your hands(natal recognises several body parts) to point 1:1 ingame with the caracters hand on objects/foes. Would be much precise and faster during firefights than describing via headset, all the more if your team isnt from one country.
Also it could be used to pick things up, open/smash doors or block melee atacks.
If natal and the established controller get in a good symbiosis i have no doubt this is going to be amazing!
Devs are cautious, for now. Unless Microsoft have a serious hand on what can be developed and published for NATAL we could see a tidal wave of shovel and utter bollocks.
But hey it may be ok, ;)
I do have higher hopes for Sony's wand, not because i'm a rampant fanboy, simply because of the opportunity to expand the current gaming experience rather than Natal's complete overhaul attempt.
I mean, have you seen the video of people pretending to hold a steering wheel? And have you seen the video of the tester using the wand as a bow and arrow?
MS will need some serious controller + Natal coherance as Natal on it's own is going to be shovelware tastic and will alienate the actual gamers in an attempt to secure the elusive Wii-fluked Casual audience that to be honest, IMHO does not exist.
It's not a market. It was an impulse buy for many many people. Now they've bought it they're not going to upgrade to Natal or the Wand, however current gamer gamers, like real gamers, who think MoCo is a nifty idea might, and that's where you want to concentrate.
Microsoft is the bad guy we all get it! Sony is the inventor of gaming itself and luckily they dont charge anyone for any of their anyhow superior stuff.
I somehow get the feeling its impossible to make a normal conversation with someone whos owning a ps3 (i own the 1 and 2) without hearing words 'like superior in every way' or 'ms steals everything'.
When did you lost your motivation for gaming and instead care more about a piece of plastic?
I get the feeling Ps3 owners must be very spoiled persons. Instead of saying whats wrong with natal they bshing it only because its ms.
Natal will succed or fail in any case you still have the option of not buying it.
It has a slim chance of succeeding to begin with, but now with devs voicing their skepticism it's all but doomed to fail, along with Sphere.
[i]Microsoft is the bad guy we all get it! Sony is the inventor of gaming itself and luckily they dont charge anyone for any of their anyhow superior stuff.
I somehow get the feeling its impossible to make a normal conversation with someone whos owning a ps3 (i own the 1 and 2) without hearing words 'like superior in every way' or 'ms steals everything'.[/i]
You had to type that down where I could see it, didn't you?
First off, I bought two Xbox 360 systems (one classic, one Elite) and they both failed. I bought a PS3 a couple month after my first X360 and it's still around.
I'll be damned if I trusted Microsoft enough to buy a new console. No, I'm all for Sony, and I have every right to bash Microsoft to a pulp in my writings, and then some.
My experience is proof enough that Sony is superior in every way that matters (except, perhaps, if you're thinking of superiority in keeping your wallet light through continuous repairs and replacements.)
When did you lost your motivation for gaming and instead care more about a piece of plastic?
I lost motivation (and hope) in Microsoft continuing to be of relevance in the gaming scene. I just hope Apple hurries up and enters the market to hopefully send Microsoft the way of Sega. I assure you, I'm all for a good game and I still have my Xbox360 games in my library, as a testament to how much I've wasted for a dead-end console. I can post pictures, if that helps, but I don't think Microsoft fanboys will even acknowledge it.
I get the feeling Ps3 owners must be very spoiled persons. Instead of saying whats wrong with natal they bshing it only because its ms.
The thing that's wrong with Natal is that it's created by Microsoft, which enjoys the highest hardware failure rate of any console in the history of gaming.
I'm spoiled? I dedicated a lot of time and money trying to keep my X360 running before I reached the "F*ck it" point and gave up. Lucky I've gotten a refund (in store credits) from my local gaming store when they failed to fix it.
A refund I used to get more PS3 games. Hey, I never said a broken Xbox360 isn't worth something.
I lost motivation (and hope) in Microsoft continuing to be of relevance in the gaming scene. I just hope Apple hurries up and enters the market to hopefully send Microsoft the way of Sega. I assure you, I'm all for a good game and I still have my Xbox360 games in my library, as a testament to how much I've wasted for a dead-end console. I can post pictures, if that helps, but I don't think Microsoft fanboys will even acknowledge it.
"
LMAO keep dreaming.
"A refund I used to get more PS3 games. Hey, I never said a broken Xbox360 isn't worth something." doing that makes you worse than MS.
funny thing is i bought 2 playstations because of the disc reading laser was gone to hell and i got no refund for this from sony^^ . But i never came to a point where i would have said fuck you sony. I still liked the games they made. And thats the difference between me and you.
Your such a lamo yelling everything is bader, graphics and online services are suddenly much worser because your xbox broke. Whats next if your ps3 breaks? Move on to nintendo?
All of my gaming-reallife-friends own a xbox360 (about 15) and there isnt one fucking console giving up so far.
Hint:Playing 24/24h 7/7d a week is bad for every hardware
I will address some points mentioned in response to my previous comment:
"A refund I used to get more PS3 games. Hey, I never said a broken Xbox360 isn't worth something." doing that makes you worse than MS.
My hardware never failed me, and why shouldn't I divert my financial resources from one "investment" when I find it could be a dead end? In what universe is it logical to stick to a product line that has failed on me, twice?
Your such a lamo yelling everything is bader, graphics and online services are suddenly much worser because your xbox broke. Whats next if your ps3 breaks? Move on to nintendo?
*sigh* You, sir, need to work on punctuation and spelling. A couple of facts should be pointed out here, for future reference:
1-The PS3 is known to be able to display better graphics, and more complex game mechanics, than X360.
2-The PS3 has free online services, as far as playing online is concerned, while X360 requires a monthly subscription just to access their services.
3-If my PS3 breaks, I'll get it fixed. Failing that, I'll get a new one. I'm always known to give one extra chance. If it failed again, then I may simply call it a day and quit gaming, until the next hardware generation arrives.