Hmmm, is it just me or is all this hype about project natal a load of rubbish? I’m trying not to bash here but I’m a firm believer that M$ are more likely to dream that they’re gonna do something like this than actually do something like this. If you don’t already know, Microsoft claim that they’re bringing out a camera system that catches your movements and facial expressions and transfers them onto your in-game character. While that all sounds very neat (much like the over-hyped idea of using putting your own face on your character) but I see too many basic problems:
1) What will M$ do to replace all that lost revenue from controller sales?
2) How will the camera see the FIFA-loving childs feet who has a tiny bedroom and can’t back his camera up far enough to get any more than the top half of his body in frame?
3) If this works then it would put M$ in the category of innovator??? M$ is intrinsically an exploiter and always will be and a leopard never changes its spots.
There’s also the more specific issue of how you’ll play things like:
1) tennis, snooker and croquet – will you just swing your arms round like an idiot or will you use a bat, cue or a [insert whatever the hell you use to play croquet in here please someone] – if it’s the latter then you’re going to have to go out and buy a whole load of sports equipment – or MORE LIKELY you’ll need to purchase the recommended peripheral supplied with each game – NO MORE CONTROLLERS MY ARSE!
2) shooters – are you just gonna go round shouting ‘pew! pew! i shot you‘ to fire or ‘bang‘ to launch a grenade which you’ll likely bounce off the wall and kill yourself – how the hell would you even aim a grenade?
3) horse racing and show jumping – obviously not the most lucrative part of the games market but what happens when Barbie’s Horse Adventures makes a huge comeback – do I have to go get a smelly horse so the camera can recognise it or do I do the whole pretendy gallop thing we did as kids (gee I hope other people did that and not just me).
Look M$ I know you’re just about crying at this little roasting I’ve given you so I’m gonna stop there. Be warned tho – don’t go making stupid *&^@£$% statements like you’re going to get rid of controllers!!! Try a different approach like saying you’re gonna add a little motion recognition into games and then you can exceed your promises and don’t look like total tools when you fail to deliver yet again.
I don’t think they are going to use this for every game. Not all games would work with it, like you said fifa wouldn’t work. If they used it for every game, then there would be no point in games. For example people play fifa because they are not world class footballers, but in the virtual world of Fifa they can be. If project natal is used for Fifa, you would have to be as good as a world class footballer. On the other hand i am looking forward to Natal, because i watched E3 and was amazed at it, especially the “Milo and Kate” game, which had great AI, however that game wasn’t shown live, which makes me a bit suspicious, as Peter Molyneux has a reputation for not really living up to expectations (Fable not really being all that in-depth for example)
Comment by Carrnage93 — 17 January 2010 @ 9:28 am