TIME Magazine has chosen the 50 best inventions of 2009, and Microsoft's Project Natal -- along side "teleportation" (wait, what the hell?!) -- has made the list.
While the thing isn't even officially available, it's totally functional, and you can't argue that what it promises to do is damned impressive. Well, at least TIME thinks so. Its readers, on the other hand, have rated it a 54 out of 100, with "100" being the most important.
Having used the thing a few times, I must say I'm impressed -- it matched my movements pretty damned well, even when I thrust my crotch so I could hit a ball with it. But am wary as to how it'll translate to unique gameplay situations. If rumors are to be believe, we should know by this time next year.
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Contest:
9:00 PM on 11.12.2009
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Anyhow I'm really cautiously optimistic about Natal given the good word the scrupulous DToid team has given it.
I'm living in the twenty-first century.
God, I hope Microsoft never finds out about this.
There's not much there that's "innovative" or deserving of acclaim in my mind.
Actually, I have been wondering just how accurate the device is compared to an eye toy. Sure I've been told, many times, by microsoft, that Natal uses some really advanced technology to accurately position the player within a few centimeters, but technically an eye toy can do that too provided line of sight (because the eye toy is a camera, it can tell if you make a slight movement with as much accuracy as a camera. If a person moves on camera even a couple centimeters, a normal person at the other end will most likely see it. Thus, with that level of accuracy already implemented on the eye toy, I am curious just how much different Natal is from eye toy in terms of accuracy).
Come to think of it, did the eye toy ever make the list?
How is it not teleportation?
I get what both of you are saying but I gotta ask: Have either of you played the Natal?
I mean no shit it's the evolution of the EyeToy but is that a bad thing?
I had an EyeToy and let me tell you it was bullocks. However Natal definitely looks different. And I couldn't give a shit what MSoft says but the praise isn't just coming from MS as evidenced twice in this very post.
I'm not a Natal supporter but I'd never knock it before I try it.
I'm not against games being physically more interactive than just pushing a button. In fact, so long as this is applied correctly, it should be a blase. Now, that said, I still hate MS... So I'll not be getting a 360 any time soon. Guess I'll just have to see what SONY cooks up...
And really I think a little doubt to all the hype is more than healthy considering how much this industry relies on it.
Of course I haven't played Natal. Microsoft, in apite of it's massive publicizing of the device, hasn't let a typical gamer touch it. Only game journalists and celebrities were allowed to touch it; and I've never heard a bad preview from a gaming journalist. (By the way, I WOULD in fact like to hear a bad preview from a game journalist if a game will be bad. What kind of journalist spins every single preview into a positive light?)
I have, however, seen a popularized video that's been making me nervous.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/77038/late-night-with-jimmy-fallon-project-natal-demo
If you look closely at the end, Natal just plain ignores some of the drive commannds.
Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the EyeToy do the same things as Natal? They may not use the same technology, but they are the same, non?
+50 for judas priest reference
now they just need to invent the Hellion
I don't think teleportation has been released to the public, either. Something doesn't have to be available at your local store to be considered an invention.
I've said from the beginning that natal could have some impressive and inventive applications, just not in gaming. I love controllers, I don't see how they're an impediment for the video game industry at all.
Microsoft, please don't ruin Fable 3 and Halo: Reach with any gimmiky nonsense. Focus all that money on developing good games that use the tools you already have.
http://video-game-consoles-review.toptenreviews.com/natal-xbox-may-support-stereoscopic-3d.html
thats IMMEDIATELY what i thought of
Kotaku negatively previews games. They always have that nice little "This is a work in progress but," leadin into it.
In fact I've heard the phrase "...but they still have a few months to polish it," in previews all the time.
I have a PS3Eye and it's pretty much worthless outside of using it as a webcam (it's a GREAT webcam, by the way) and a speaker for chat (but it seems to be really quiet on the other end).
The problem is, pretty much EVERY tech demo or game we've seen for Natal are just tweaked versions of mini-games that have already been on the EyeToy and PS3Eye and they've all SUCKED at being more than a 5 minute amusement to bust out with relatives.
I don't see how you can say the Natal "looks different" at all when Sony could very realistically make versions of all those Natal "games" as a free download for the PS3Eye.
It may be more exact, but that doesn't mean there's any legitimate FUN application for it on the gaming side.
I've never touched a PS3Eye so you may be right and I may be plugged into the hype machine.
However I still think it's very negative to just immediately write it off without even giving it a chance.
I mean it wouldn't be the first somebody came out with a piece of hardware copying an earlier piece of hardware and succeeded in software.
@D Sane
Yeah that's Time. It's either really good or a whole lotta bullshit.
IT'S A BRA THAT CAN BE CONVERTED INTO A PAIR OF GAS MASKS, IT'S LIKE HAVING OPTIMUS PRIME ON YOUR FUCKING TITS.
What they're referring to has been worked on with limited success for a good deal of time and is called quantum entanglement.
Teleportation is by definition the dematerialization of matter and rematerialization in another location. While in these experiment you simply have two points where their states match exactly at any given point despite the distance between the two.
In other news, wtf is a natal?
Not true, it was playable to anyone who wanted to wait in a massive line at COMICON this year. Lots of average joe's (dressed in wacky costumes) got to play it.
News sites just didn't cover it so no one knew.
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/obama-address/1163263/
LAUGHABLE!!!
Better than being duped by a bad public speaker with a low IQ to boot.