Nintendo Turned Down Project Natal

[JWW]

They allowed Microsoft to get their hands on it and totally ruin it for themselves...maybe it was a smarter move than we thought?

 

[Mr. Gency]

one company's trash is another company's treasure I suppose

 

[NeutralDrow]

Okay, then. Doesn't really seem all that surprising, if true. Or significant, depending on how Natal does.

"Iwata-san only ever invests in something he can guarantee will work for a Nintendo audience."

He should totally invest in a rattle that sits on the end of the Wiimote. They would make billions.

Quoth the fanboy.

You obviously have no idea what the word fanboy means.

Actually, "fanboy" was a much nicer word than what came to my mind.

 

[Killerbunny001]

I'm still a little hazy on the thing, is it like a better eyetoy? Cause they actually were quite fun, but I could win just about every game with a broom... Anyway, whether it's a massive success or not, I think Nintendo have made enough to skip making the next console, and still have more money than competitors. Interesting though, maybe it will lead to another story saying that Nintendo were idiots. Or they dodged a bullet, and Iwata is a genius.

Yes it is the old Eyetoy. Just that they added processing power and feed it new data on how to interpret 3D movement. I say it`s going to fail worse than the Wii failed with hardcore gamers.

 

[Vigilantis]

Uhh oh, the Wii just slapped Project Natal, I wonder if Natal will return to crush the Wii or become a failure that many like to hope/think will happen.

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

Didn't Miyamoto or someone say they'd saw it being used an he thought it was pretty rubbish, obviously a paraphrase

If that's true, then this could also be true and that makes me think it's gonna completely fail.

 

[Killerbunny001]

I'm still a little hazy on the thing, is it like a better eyetoy? Cause they actually were quite fun, but I could win just about every game with a broom... Anyway, whether it's a massive success or not, I think Nintendo have made enough to skip making the next console, and still have more money than competitors. Interesting though, maybe it will lead to another story saying that Nintendo were idiots. Or they dodged a bullet, and Iwata is a genius.

Yes it is the old Eyetoy. Just that they added processing power and feed it new data on how to interpret 3D movement. I say it`s going to fail worse than the Wii failed with hardcore gamers.

Not quite. They added another camera, giving the thing true 3D vision, then made one of them infrared so that they can not only distinguish between people and objects but keep excellent track of multiple people at the same time. Combine that with proper voice recognition and really all you need is a projection TV to get the wall out of Total Recall.

While the technological part is true (I didn`t mean to misinform but to shed light on the fact that Natal is the grandson of the Eyetoy and not Optimus Prime ) the rest is just "selling it to the masses". Flailing my arms around like an idiot is not my ideea of gaming, that is IF the flailing will be properly recognized and I doubt it will.

 

[tkioz]

According to the insider: "Iwata-san only ever invests in something he can guarantee will work for a Nintendo audience."

I call bullshit. The Power Glove, the virtual-boy, etc are just a few examples of Nintendo royally screwing the hell up. They are just trying to spread some FUD about Natal, I expected better from Nintendo.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

The kiss of death for Natal. If Nintendo actively makes a decision not to do something, then there are some pretty damn good reasons they don't do it.

Snes-CD.
Hello there.

 

[Callate]

If some reports are correct, Natal uses around 20% of the processing power of the XBox 360 in order to perform its functions. With all due respect to the Wii, I rather feel that a loss of 20% of processing power would be a much bigger hit for it than for the XBox 360.

I know it's inapt- they're very different platforms, a certain amount of the XBox's power goes into making its HD visuals versus the SD ones of the Wii, and so on, and so on. Still, the most sophisticated perephrial addition the Wii has gotten to date is the Wiimotion Plus. I'm genuinely not certain the Wii would have enough cycles left to process an enjoyable game if it was trying to track four peoples' full-body movements.

 

[Jared]

If this does come back and bite them in thebackside I bet wont be happt

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

They made the freakin' Wii, and yet turned THIS down.

This is for the Nintendo audience. They wouldn't even need a controller, what can get more casual than that?

 

[maddog015]

Meh. Natal seems more gimmicky than anything. I know Nintendo is all about gimmicky, but maybe this was a bit too much for them.

 

[veloper]

It makes sense Nintendo turned Natal down: they always go maximum bang per buck.
The wii remote is cheap and does stupid gimicks too. Most Nintendo customers aren't discerning enough to see a difference while, the discerning gamer prefers a game controller or a mouse.

 

[Syntax Error]

Hmmm, maybe in ten years or so we will have another "Activision didn't buy Blizzard when it was still just worth $7 million".

 

[Mozza444]

"Iwata-san only ever invests in something he can guarantee will work for a Nintendo audience."

He should totally invest in a rattle that sits on the end of the Wiimote. They would make billions.

As stupid as it sounds, knowing nintendo.. they propbobaly would.

 

[SextusMaximus]

I'm still a little hazy on the thing, is it like a better eyetoy? Cause they actually were quite fun, but I could win just about every game with a broom... Anyway, whether it's a massive success or not, I think Nintendo have made enough to skip making the next console, and still have more money than competitors. Interesting though, maybe it will lead to another story saying that Nintendo were idiots. Or they dodged a bullet, and Iwata is a genius.

Yes it is the old Eyetoy. Just that they added processing power and feed it new data on how to interpret 3D movement. I say it`s going to fail worse than the Wii failed with hardcore gamers.

I don't believe Natal will work at all, but I wouldn't go that far!

 

[Tom Goldman]

Nintendo might be back on top today, but for a while the PlayStation put quite a dent in Nintendo's

Are you daft or just plain stupid?

Nintendo Console is the top console STILL.

You might want to work on your reading comprehension. That sentence says Nintendo is on top today (in sales, anyway). The PlayStation and PlayStation 2 beat Nintendo up.