Comments on: You can believe in Microsoft's Project Natal

It may sound too good to be true, but Microsoft seems to have put together something that does exactly what it says it will. Now, can game developers find a way to incorporate the technology into their projects?

[mgheff]

These games are becoming so realistic you mine as well go outside and play for real :p But seriously, this does look cool. As long as you can still use the regular game controller.

[shycelticwitch]

::::yawn:::: great technology, now all we need is a stable OS to run it...Windows 21 perhaps?

[markoskar]

This is pretty exciting. I have a Wii and while it's a great little social console, it certainly has its short-comings (Shovelware...etc...). I still use my 360 at least 10x's more than the Wii, however if this lives up to the hype, you can bet I'll be throwing my Wii out for sale...Using the funds to buy the Xbox Camera. The potential applications for this are near infinate.

I would also suspect this will be the introduction of it, with the next gen console perfecting it (add significantly more hardware power again, and we have gaming nirvana).

[FIREitUP913]

Why isn't everyone looking at the big picture? This is going to limit gaming to the very casual market. There are so many things you can't do with project natal. Lets take a game like tomb raider or uncharted. How to you simulate making your character walk or run? What about making your character jump and leap to a building and then grab on? How about shooting while your character is running? Do people want to be running and jumping and ducking and covering and crawling around for 10-15 hrs to beat a game? ummmm NO. Yeah this works real good for simple games like a tennis game or a dance game. You will not be able to make complex games. Also, we all know MS is all about the dollar bill. So if this comes out and sells to the casual market like the wii then expect MS to stop appealing to the hardcore gamer. Take is from MS's point of view, should we spend 5-10 million developing a complex game that maybe a couple million people will buy, or should be spend 100K to million developing simple games that apeal to the causual market and can sell 10's of millions of copies for around the same price as the other games? This is the exact reason Nintendo isn't appealing to its hardcore fanbase anymore. Make games that cost 5-10 times less to make and then sell 5-10 more copies at around the same price (50-60$). Its amazing to me how ignorant everyone on this forum is.

[Hellcat]

You clearly don't have any imagination. Natal isn't going to work with ALL games, of course there are some games that you're going to have to use a controller, but many games can be used with Natal. Fighting games for instance would be perfect for it. Yes it would cause you to actually get off the couch and move around, but thats a good thing. If you want to sit and play a game with a bowl of chips and a soda on your lap then you can probably use the controller as well. There are probably many people would would enjoy getting off the couch and playing a game that makes you sweat a little. For shooters a gun can be made for it OR if Natal is good enough you can probably use your finger as a gun. Moving can be done by a one handed controller, but ducking and grabbing things would be much better by actually ducking and grabbing. You can grab a ledge by holding your hands up and jumping and making a movement like your moving across the ledge or even climbing a mountain. Gestures, pantomime of sorts can be uses. Who knows what MS will do with it, but its still a very ambitious thing their taking on and weather people like it or not if it works it will be a good evolution of the console and maybe even computers. Its ok if you believe that maybe it can't be done, that maybe MS is trying to do something that might take years to perfect, but don't say for sure it can't be done and that its not going to be useful. Even if it is something that is for causal games that would be good for MS because they would cut into Nintendo's market and still have the hardcore games that use the standard Xbox 360 controller. Its a win win for MS either way. Don't think so one dimensional.

[edwinkhoo]

Hmmmm I really think Project Natal will revolutionise the gaming industry, much like the wii has changed a lot of how the market is today, i put the rest of my opinions on my blog at http://www.theurbanshogun.com/2009/06/microsofts-project-natal-will-be-end-of.html if anyone wants to discuss ..

love the site =]

[juuken2]

I guess Operation "Kiss Microsoft's Ass" has begun. >.>

This piece of technology has potential but to believe in it? We don't even know if it'll be a success or a failure. And just to let you guys know, Sony had this piece of technology already within the Eye Toy.

[arkrf21]

i'm a hardcore gamer and i will always feel more confortable with a controller in my hand...

[Hellcat]

The thing is even if Natal fails at least they tried to develop something MAJORLY evolutionary for the console. When Nintendo made the Wiimote that was evolutionary, but the Sony wand really isn't, its just a tweak of the Wiimote with a little movie tracking magic with the ball on top. IF MS does make Natal for the masses it'll be awesome. Sure it may not work for all type of games. Maybe it'll only be good for mainstream games but would that be such a bad thing. If it is it'll take away from the Wii and more mainstream gamers will buy games for the 360. So I think weather its good for core and mainstream games or just mainstream games its a win-win for MS.

IF Natal doesn't come out before or soon after the Sony wand then MS may be in some trouble because (depending on if Sony brings the price down to the PS3 by $200-300 by that time). BUT a lot of people may agree with me, if Natal fails MS will come out with something great at some point. Look at Vista, it was a bomb but Windows 7 will be big. Windows Mobile 6 is kind of a bomb, but you better belive MS knows they have to bring it with WM7. Zune 1 was a bust, Zune 2 was totally under rated, but Zune HD may be the thing that brings MS into this market. People complain about IE7 and IE8, but MS has a browser codename Gazelle their working out which sounds pretty amazing. Don't count MS out, they learn from their mistakes and come back with a vengeance.

[JadedGamer]

"the Sony wand really isn't, its just a tweak of the Wiimote with a little movie tracking magic with the ball on top"

Well, they you failed to understand it. Wiimote detects movement, not position (except perhaps with the Motion Pløus dongle). The wand has depth, angle, position etc. read by the PS Eye camera. Which coincidentally also can pick up the user and show them on the screen, as demonstrated at E3.

"IF MS does make Natal for the masses it'll be awesome."

And so will world peace.

[LeeHounshell]

If the software can already determine arm position from someone standing in front, then I am imagining that the platform could eventually be used to create translation products for changing a 2D movie into a 3D movie. Microsoft would do well to reuse their platform for related innovative product lines.

[josethetiger]

@ rnaoncfix - Agreed
@Absolution2009 - Good point
@NervClaX - Exactly

Did anyone actually watch the tech demo? The accuracy of the Natal unit is laughable. Who the heck wants to paint by splashing paint onto a canvas? Lame. The actual immediate uses for Natal aren't that far off from whats available now in the Eye Toy. I think once Sony's motion technology is fleshed out, it will be the most accurate controller available. I'm still not happy with the Wii controls. Looking forward to seeing how/when Sony can get their new controllers on to the market.

[Hellcat]

What they showed with Natal was just a tech demo. It may not come out in 2010, maybe 2011. I did hear people were playing Burnout Paradise on it. Its an interesting concept but its much more than the EyeToy. The EyeToy was just a camera that picked up basic motion. Natal is not just a camera but also sensors that can see the movement of joints so its much more.

About the Sony motion controller...Sony ripped off Nintendo and Nintendo ripped off Sony. Heres how. The Wii uses a camera thats built into the controller and that camera picks up the led's that are by the TV set, which is why you could play the Wii with candles instead of the bar. Now the motion PLUS they added an accelerometer which speeds up the controls.

Now the Sony controller does just the opposite, instead of putting the camera on the controller when you buy it you put the camera on your TV. The camera then picks up the light ball on top of the controller and there are accelerometers which speed it up.

Both technologies are now 1 to 1 in speed and the Nintendo can do everything that the Sony wand can do. So Nintendo stole the six axis accelerometers and Sony stole the camera sensor and just did a reverse job. What Sony did wasn't evolutionary because Nintendo already did it half the work and they both now have 1 to 1 because of accelerometers.

Now Natal on the other hand which did steal the camera idea from the Sony EyeToy they did add more sensors to pick up more action to a persons body, plus it has voice recognition even though it seems some what simplistic. Even though Natal isn't revolutionary, it is an evolution of the EyeToy. Maybe it won't be able to play core games, but even if it can't it'll still hast he potential to take market share from Nintendo if its decent. I'm not saying it will be, it may not come out, it may come out and be a bomb, BUT Microsoft saw what happened with the EyeToy and they see that Nintendo and Sony have motion controllers out so they know they have to bring it or it could cost them market share. Microsoft is good under pressure as we see with Windows 7. We'll just have to see what happens.