Today, Microsoft brought three of legendary Japanese videogame creators -- Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear), Keiji Inafune (Mega Man), and Toshihiro Naghoshi (Super Monkey Ball, Yazuka) -- into one room. The reason? To have an open discussion about Project Natal.
While the moderator, Xbox Japan's general manager Takashi Sensui, tried to steer the conversation towards gaming, Kojima was thinking outside the box. Solid Snake's daddy went out of his way more than once to say that he saw applications for the technology beyond gaming. While he said in broad terms he'd like to use it for games, he mentioned how it could change our "lifestyle dramatically."
"I think we have to go beyond entertainment," Kojima said through a translator.
One use he said could be security, like placing a camera in an elevator to watch for suspicious movements or activities. He also noted that he envisions medical applications for Natal, like a camera picking up when someone was suffering from an illness, or even for use in surgeries.
Surgery? Really? Anyone remember when Kudo Tsunoda tried to show us the bottom of his Avatars shoe at E3? I'm not so sure about putting my life in the hands of that technology. But Kojima does make a valid point -- if Microsoft's Natal technology can do half of what they say it does, perhaps simply thinking about games is a bit narrow-minded.
Contest:
9:10 AM on 09.24.2009
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But pretending like you're holding a steering wheel, sword, bow, anything. just seems to suck to me.
Like the whole "ball kicking" game - just looks shit.
It's going to be a good year for shovelware next year.
I like the idea of having a joy/analoge stick to use for movement more than having to run in place, or hold my arm at a wierd angle.
Of couse, this might just describe camera recognition tech in general though...
It has potential, but I don't think anyone is going to the push the idea of putting it elevators or using it to discover cancer in your sack.