Microsoft Game Studios corporate vice president Shane Kim clearly is a big believer in Natal, recently calling it a "great innovation." Speaking to Kotaku, he went a step further and compared it to the launch of a new console.
"Conceptually, the launch of Natal will be like the launch of Xbox 360," Microsoft's head of long-term Xbox 360 strategy, Shane Kim, told Kotaku during an interview at E3. "It's going to be that big. We're not just going to ship it when the hardware and software are ready. We have to make sure that there are enough content experiences that are really good. That's similar to how you would think of the launch of a new console. It's got to have a great launch line-up. That's the same thing here."
The motion sensing camera is designed to lower the bar of accessibility for consumers intimidated by controllers, and Microsoft will thusly market it to a very wide audience. "We're not focused on this generation's casual gamers or even PS2 people who haven't upgraded," detailed Kim. "This is about the 60 percent of households were a video game console doesn't exist… the problem is that the controller is a barrier for some people and now with Project Natal we completely eliminate that."
While some might consider this blustering hype and posturing, we honestly think that Natal has very broad market potential. We're not sure it's going to replace controllers anytime soon, but it could change how we interact with electronic devices on a fundamental level.
2 Comments
June 13, 2009
Well, If Project Natal is finally finished, I believe that Microsoft will surpass all of the other competitors since there are no additional controllers needed and that many of the US households are willing to get up and play!
June 17, 2009
hmmm...only problem is that the damn machine makes so much noise! I have both PS3 and Xbox, and to be honest I never start the 360 up unless I have to, since the noise level just is too high!
Pity, nice machine otherwise.