I don't know why anyone would need more convincing that Project Natal was for the sexy in crowd after seeing Nick "Sexy In Crowd" Chester rock it at the Tokyo Game Show, but I suppose that aside from a few awkwardly twisted Avatars and a game where people hit balls at blocks we haven't really seen that much of Microsoft's "future of gaming and everything ever." Not to fear, more shall come -- just not directly for the public.
Microsoft has confirmed that it will reveal more information on Natal to developers (and thus through leaks and "accidental" quotes to the general public) come February of 2010 at their Gamefest conferences that are held in the US, UK and Japan. The American conference will feature two separate tracks on the machine. One will focus on designing games for the peripheral while the other will focus on the technical aspects of it. Microsoft is promising developers that they will be shown "never-before seen details of game development using Project Natal."
If most devs are just getting this information in February of next year, then it's going to be a good long time before we see Natal in the hands of the public as was probably obvious from the quick rebuffing of last weeks rumored November release date. We're guessing that they've already got some third party devs in the loop unless Microsoft is planning to launch without any quality third party support at all.
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.
Likes
Games! Movies! Hats!
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
27 comments | showing # 1 to 27
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
8:00 AM on 11.21.2009
| 
But there is the problem of lack of control. Waving your arms around = analogue sticks. Where's the buttons? It's like gaming on an iPod Touch, control mechanisms are going backwards in favour of user friendliness over function.
However. Natal + Eroge = WiiFuck. Except without the Wii bit, but you know what I mean.
I second that.
-A real gamer
There is no grand conspiracy to kill your controller. It's just an experiment in improving an imperfect technology.
They should have saved the money from this experiment, and used it to buy Bioware last year. It would have been a much better investment.
Epic Mickey couldn't use Natal or the PSwand because they were both unveiled to late, and it's coming out Fall 2010. There's no way that rumored Fall 2010 date and those rumored 14 games can be true, and if they are, there's no way that those 14 games can be a good demonstration of Natal's abilities. With the full developement kit not being released until February, there's simply not enough time.
That's why I distrust Natal.
@ Xyliac - the video game community has not ever been able to try Natal. The video game industry, video game journalists (who deliberately keep quite about software and hardware details until a time appointed by industry contacts, as evidenced by mandatory delays on reviews), and some celebrities Microsoft used to advertise Natal have all praised it. But no member of the video game community (people who play avidly and are not paid for playing) has ever touched the device. So there is nothing that the community can praise Natal does right, because there is no way for them to know how well Natal does what it is supposed to do, except through gaming journalists, the same journalists who took all expenses paid vacations from Activision to review Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on large definition televisions with full surround sound supplied directly by Activision. The same journalists who will continue to take all expenses paid vacations by Activision for the benefit of their readers, because Activision plans on continuing to bribe gaming journalists by using that system instead of sending out advanced copies.
Show me some Natal praise from members of the video game community who website didn't take Activision's bribe. (Hint: every site that had a review score up before CoD: MW2's release took the bribe, because Activision didn't distribute the review copies any other way.)
Microsoft, give us a reason to start caring.
I meant that Microsoft would have been wise to buy Bioware instead of EA.
So journalist don't count as the community? Okay. That's your cynical "everybody above us is against us" view and to some degree it's warranted. But I disagree. I'm not pessimistic to believe everything positive being said about Natal is paid with Microbucks. There's no proof either way. It's a matter of mindset. So you may be right however there's no proof you or I are right so I'll take the plunge and listen to them. I'm not losing sleep over it or anything and if it's a faulty product it's a faulty product. I have reason to disagree right now however. I judge based on source like always (never listen to GameSpot...ever) but even source I trust like here have had positive things to say. I just pray the software is decent. I'm more worried about that than the hardware.
@HEL105
Because Microsoft is SOO short on funds. I'd rather EA have them anyway. More love for other consoles.
Let me initiate you into the ways of gaming journalism. In every buisness there is a customer that purchases a service. In journalism, there are two customers; the readers who purchase the news, and the advertiser that pay for their add to be in the news. The advertisers are necesary to off-set the costs, as many publications are sold at a lost.
In gaming journalism, the primary advertisers are gaming companies that pay to have their advertisements posted. They are also the supplier of just about all information concerning the games they advertise. So the source of all information is the supplier of advertising revenue. On the internet, the source of information is for the most part the only revenue. And the job of gaming journalists is to fulfill a service for their customer who is also their source; that is, to supply customers to their advertisers, and naturally, they rarely if ever write articles that are not in the best interest of their revenue source even if their readers would be interested in hearing it. The general sense of optimism these journalists have about all the games they preview is intended to satisfy their customers, gaming companies, wishes, and keep their revenue sources from pulling funding over bad publicity.
I distrust Natal because the gaming community's source of information is paid by Microsoft to advertise their products. And all my dislike of Natal is because I am pressing for proof that Natal is a good product and not a marketting stunt, as Microsoft has a history of hyping products years before release and then coming out with an inferior product, and uses this buisness strategy to hurt any company that could disrupt their buisness model. Right now Natal has all the tell-tale signs of Microsoft vaporware, and I would be much more trusting if Microsoft committed to a few things that would prove Natal is not vaporware:
1. Microsoft commits to a release date and/or gives a release window to their investors (then Microsoft would be pressed by investors to release a product)
2. Microsoft confirms a pricepoint (no rumors and no changing it later)
3. Microsoft gives access to demo Natal to ordinary people who do not have to deal with non-disclosure agreements, revenue from advertising, publicity, etc.
4. High quality titles at the above mentioned demo that will fulfill Natal's promise.
Until some of those three conditions are met (preferably 1 and 4), Natal retains the appearance of a traditional Microsoft advertising technique that pressures consumers to wait just a little longer for a non-product rather than buy products that are already out. And thus, I dislike and distrust Natal not because I dislike what the product should do, but because the product follows a traditional Microsoft strategy of an endless hype cycle for a product that won't be nearly as impressive as it looks now when it comes out years later.
I'm not angry at Natal per se, I'm angry at the companies (especially Microsoft) that keep putting Natal in the news without telling us when we can buy Natal, how much Natal will cost, or what software is on Natal, in addition to not letting any of us un-paid gamers try out Natal so that we can decide if we want to buy it when it will come out.
Natal is, what, six months old officially? A six month old piece of hardware demands a price point, release date, and software lineup?
I think the simple answer is you're skeptical, I'm not. It's as simple as that. And if you're right I'm wrong and the whole world goes 'round. I know how the industry, especially journalism, works. I'm just not as skeptical as you is all. And clearly, like I said before, your skeptism is justified but no set in stone. There's still an air of positivity to be found and that's just where I stand.
No reason to get your panties in a bunch.
It's not that I think that Microsoft couldn't have afforded to be Bioware, I just think that such a purchase would have been a much better use of the cash that's been used developing Natal. Mark my words, an otherwise awesome game will be ruined because Natal functionality will be shoe-horned into it, needlessly. The same thing's going to happen with Sony.
And It's not that I'm against motion controls, I'll be happily picking up a Wii in a month or so.
The Wii came out with the first motion gaming system....and it works great (they use a simple controller) PS3 is going a similar root...(with a controller/wand) While Microsoft is saying no need for a controller and going off of pure body motion? This is going to work great once they get all the bugs sorted out...and I'm sure they will sells millions of these new units...however the only problem that remains is the fact that most of the people who own 360's play games that need a controller...I just don't think that the precision is going to be there, to play games like Star Wars....Mass Effect..Halo...Gears of War...besides...what's wrong with sitting on a coach...without having to wave your arms in the air like a crazy person..."I like sitting on a coach!
I'm just asking the question! What's wrong with the controller? Why not build this as a separate console...go after the Wii market...ie: the family fun, rated PG crowd.....and work on the Xbox 720...agree? disagree?
virtual assistant
http://www.personalassistants.us/