Lionhead showed an impressive demo using Natal with an AI boy named Milo.
Microsoft came to E3 and immediately kicked the show off with a bang. The company's Project Natal came as a surprise to no one, but it's undeniably cool nonetheless. Interacting with games in Minority Report style and utilizing facial recognition technology combined with full body tracking can lead to very unique gameplay possibilities. The problem is that Microsoft has chosen to introduce this camera now, already several years into the life-cycle of the Xbox 360 and after 30 million units of the hardware have been sold. How many of those 30 million Xbox 360 owners are actually going to spend the money to pick up this peripheral? What kind of installed base will developers be targeting?
The reason the Wii has been such a success (aside from the fact that it launched at a far cheaper price than the competition) is that the entire premise of the Wii hardware is its motion-sensing capabilities. The machine was built around that very idea so that all developers could start thinking of innovative uses for the system leading up to the launch -- and for some, it's still been too tricky to really master to this day. Peripherals historically do not sell gangbusters. One very great exception to this rule is the Wii Balance Board because it's tied to the phenomenon that is Wii Fit.
If Microsoft wants this camera system to succeed, they better come up with some extremely catchy software and fast. The demos that were shown today were certainly intriguing, but they just don't seem to have that "Nintendo magic." Anything Nintendo touches automatically seems to turn to gold. Microsoft, and to a lesser degree Sony, both seem to be trying to capture part of that mass market audience that Nintendo has so brilliantly engaged with the Wii and software like Wii Sports and Wii Fit. Microsoft is not Nintendo, nor does it have the ace up its sleeve called Shigeru Miyamoto. Microsoft really should not try to be Nintendo. It should do what it does best: amazing hardcore gaming experiences and exciting home entertainment possibilities. The company certainly showed their muscle in that arena today with exclusives like Crackdown 2, Forza Motorsport 3, and Alan Wake, in addition to instant-on HD video streaming with Zune Video and music with Last.fm.
In our opinion, Microsoft should have saved this Project Natal for their next console. If the Xbox 720 is built from the ground up with the camera system as its primary form of user input, and every piece of hardware came with it, the developer community would be truly focused on creating new types of gameplay. Launching the camera this way, however, merely makes it seem like an afterthought and another desperate attempt to take market share from Nintendo. Don't get us wrong -- we'd very much like to see this Project Natal take off, but we can't get past the sinking feeling that it may only sell slightly better than the Xbox Live Vision Camera.
3 Comments
June 2, 2009
Well it sure does look interesting. The Milo demo was AMAZING! The only issue is whether enough devs will support it. At least MS is packing Natals in with future Xboxs, so it should get into plenty of living rooms. (But I wonder if the price of the Xbox would go up? Or if they'll just make a new bundle?)
June 2, 2009
Project Natal looks very interesting, if a little bit limited in its applications. As a peripheral device for the 360 it is certain to sell, but the true matter of importance is the software that goes along with it. Milo is a great start and foreshadows the next step in interactive gaming, but larger scale games that are sandbox in design are going to be much more difficult to integrate Natal into.
Time will tell.
October 6, 2010
I read that given review of Natal xbox,its a really interesting.I like most the them of we can use that in our all parts of your body - head, hands, feet and torso. Its a really great device.
learn spanish free