"The richness of the technology is going to really enable experiences that never had existed before," said Microsoft's Aaron Greengerg to CVG at X10 last week. "And we're not just speaking about what we're doing this year, but I think two, three, four, five years from now as this evolves."
That sounds promising. I like that Microsoft is not afraid to talk big about Natal. They're not afraid to give it a 5 year lifespan already. We know next to nothing about it, but we will very soon, starting out at this year's E3 and leading all the way up to the holiday 2010 release.
"Millions of consumers this Holiday will be able to experience Project Natal and this is just the beginning of something that will change the way consumers interact with entertainment and change way our publishing partners think about game development."
Coming from Greenberg, it sounds less like a tease and more like a promise. Again, that's something we can appreciate.
Aaron Greenberg on Project Natal's five-year lifespan [CVG]
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
3:40 PM on 02.15.2010
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Still, I'm interested in Natal. If the price is right I'll pick it up.
I really have to stop making pictures today.
Too many people have already decided that Natal will be junk; I'm taking a wait and see approach, but I can definitely see some potential.
That's the thing that's so scary/exciting for me. I don't see how games as we know them today will work when you take buttons out of the equation, there is the potential for completely new ideas as to how a game works. The games might be great, but we also could wind up with nothing but glorified tech demos and games like we have now, only with controls that just don't work with them.
Motion controls are just not as feasible and useful as the console makers think they are. For certain games, sure they can work. But MS is going completely motion with NATAL and that right there just screams failure.
SONY's has the best shot because it uses something that can render a z axis and utilizes something that people can hold and use as an anchoring point to what the heck they're trying to manipulate. MS's, while cool in concept, will sadly just make gaming a real twitch fest or something.
Lag is one issue they'll have to overcome. The other is having games utilize enough gestures to make them playable while also making them not so specific and rigid that if you don't do them utterly perfect that you don't end up doing nothing at all.
I completely agree, games are meant to be an extension of relaxation, not an ordeal of body thrashing.
Natal can suck my fat tits.
Thanks but no thanks.
Please please please.
Thank you.
ps: I loved when they promoed it with the racing sim game, wich was based on "air wheels" ffs... who the hell thought that it'd be more fun to drive a car without a real wheel in your hands and only imitate the moves? Or is it for the sake of "green" philosophy? Spare the iron and plastic -> save the world?
Indeed, how useful would motion controls really be...
One of the reasons why we keep adding more buttons to our controllers is because with more buttons we can accomplish more actions. The human body is only capable of so many actions... what motion would i have to do to fire off shoulder cannons; how would i tell the game i want to throw a grenade instead of punch; how would i tell the game that i want; how would i tell the game i want to perform a different spell... hell i'm wondering how exactly they want to handle walking if we don't have a controller (i guess this is why Fable II might involve you holding the 360 controller in one hand)... Yes there are probably ways this stuff might be feasible along with other stuff i could name, but there are also many ways they could screw things up... kinda like how people did not quite get how to play tony hawk's last game... And in the end we will have to ask the question, will whatever method they come up with really be simpler and quicker than just pushing down buttons?
And that's not to mention the fact that a lot of gamers like to be able to sit back and relax, and don't want to turn every game into a work out... i can get a proper work out at the gym thanks
I can't tell you how awesome I expect Tai Chi training software to be on a Natal enabled Xbox. Games? Not not so much.
Natal enhanced gaming as far as the internet is concerned.
That's how I'm feeling at this point, but part of me wants to think that maybe they're right and it can do great things. I just can't even begin to fathom HOW this can work for either traditional games or what new experiences it can provide. I'm mostly doubting it will do anything well other than cheerleading sims with it's complete lack of physical feedback, but it would be a great thing if it can. I don't get the hate that a lot of people have for motion control and their desire to see both Natal and Sony's thing-not-named-Arc fail. It's just strange to me that people would think that more ways to play more games is bad somehow. They're not replacing traditional controllers and traditional games and it isn't the intention of either Microsoft or Sony to do so, they're just ways to do new things with the consoles you already have. The Wii's motion control didn't necessarily work the way we all hoped it would, but the other consoles are taking a stab at motion controls, which isn't a bad idea in and of itself, and it's possible that either or maybe even both of them have cracked it. It's equally possible that they haven't and neither of them will work at all, but if one of them does, all of gaming will benefit.
Well you do have to take into account that people do like to voice their opinions... When they see something they think is stupid, they point it out. That's a whole thing about the internet
Though more seriously...
I think part of the problem can come when games don't offer duel support. Games that can only be played with natal, and don't offer options for the controller. Looking at the wii, there are some games there that can only be played while using the Wii-mote and by that i mean mainly the games that COULD be implemented without the controller. I mean, even though it's not the case, imagine if Halo: Reach was a Natal exclusive? What if the new franchises that MS comes up with seem like really great games but we come to the point that we can't stand using natal and would rather just play with controllers; these are games we miss out on... sure they may not be replacing controllers but we may see some potentially good games that might play better with a controller being forced onto natal just so MS can justify their investment and push people to buy natal... hell the way they talk about natal and based on the wii's success, i would not be surprised if MS made natal tech the center piece of their NEXT console, leaning more towards motion control and away from controllers
I hope it can be...
http://tinyurl.com/yzycrhp