Poll: Project Natal... Mehh?

[ElephantGuts]

Microsoft is catering to casual gamers to edge in on the Wii's success in a desperate and shameless attempt to get more money, and they are selling their soul and the loyalty of their hardcore gamers in the process.

And yes, I am speaking for all hardcore gamers when I say that.

Well, you obviously aren't. I myself am a hardcore gamer and have been since about 6 years old (I'm 18 now). This could be the best thing to come from the gaming industry since motion capture was first thought of, and I don't say that lightly. Any true hardcore gamer would be over the moon to hear this news, myself included. Have you seen the trailer? Just think how that would totally revolutionise gameplay for any of your favourite games. Pick any game not targeted towards the casual market, my choice will be Gears of War. Imagine, having to actually crouch down into cover, holding the gun and firing at enemies yourself? Get rid of the targeting system, it's all down to your own ability. That would be the most immersive thing to ever come from any gaming company to date. The Wii and the PS2's Eyetoy have nothing on this. Just because most Wii games cater to the casul demographic, it doesn't mean all motion sensor and motion capture technology within gaming falls in the same circle.

*Sigh* I always make sure to point out whenever I'm being sarcastic on the internet, so misunderstandings like this don't happen. The one time I don't...

But yes, I was being sarcastic. Obviously I can't speak for all hardcore gamers.

But it was a bit far to accuse me of not being a true hardcore gamer. Especially since you're wrong, I certainly am one. You saw the types of games they showed when showing off the system. They certainly were not hardcore games. These are the sorts of games we will be playing with this technology, not Gears of War or Call of Duty.

I did remark to my friend how amazing it would be if they made a shooter with this system, and if that did happen I would be in heaven. But chances are, that's not going to happen, not for a long while atleast. Call me a realist or a pessimist, but I think it's clear that this technology was made for casual gamers and casual games, and it will take a long time and possibly a miracle before it is used to make true hardcore games.

 

[DYin01]

I am sick of this! While it is a fun GIMMICK to use your body and actual voice to game, I would never do it full time. I (and many with me) do not want to move around and yell to game. I want to sit behind my computer or lie on a couch and use a controller of sorts (keyboard, mouse, actual controller) to play my games. Quit investing time in motion sensors and focus on actual games.

... On the other hand, if they keep developing 'real' experiences, there will be games that tickle your senses and there might be succesful 'porn' games. However, there will be debates about this concerning monogamy and whatnot so, you know what? Nevermind.

 

[Squarewave]

There are exceptions, but generally these types of add-ons don't do that well in the marketplace. Developers don't like making games around attachments few people have, heck many games don't even utilize the 360s hard drive well.

If it works good, and the games that support it are fun, it could be a worthwhile attachment to have for those games. However it wont change anything as far as how the majority of 360 games are played. It could however pave the way for the next xbox to have it as part of the system bundle changing the way the next gen is played

 

[internutt]

What I've said in a previous thread:

This is way more than an eyetoy. It has face recognition, voice recognition. It can understand various objects and place them in game as well, examples included paper and a skateboard which were shown at the press conference. Simply saying 'dark brown' changed the colour of paint. It even can detect 3D movement as well.

Stand in front of your 360 it will recognise your face and sign you in automatically, knowing which avatar belongs to you. Use your hands to navigate the menu system.

It blows the eyetoy and wiimote out of the water.

 

[Crunchy English]

As if anyone is surprised by this. Even if Microsoft's attempt at motion control is more polished and sophisticated that the god-awful brain abortion that was SIXAXIS, it STILL won't add anything the Wii doesn't already do. And you know what? The Wii doesn't do all that much.

Wii makes money, so copy the Wii. That is the entire idea behind this, and I'm sorry but that's not good enough.

 

[brodie21]

i think that we need to make attempts at things like these before we will see these things work. the wii was a good idea, but it had very limited uses. this is another step towards gamers controlling games with their actual movements.

mabye 30 years in the future we will be talking about the xbox holodeck

 

[mokes310]

No, why would you get rid of something that keeps making more money each year? This is an addition to, an idea for the future, something that will HELP bring us forward into bigger and better experiences.

 

[SteveDave]

How I look at it is when Henry Ford said that if he asked what they people wanted they would have said a faster horse. This is a step in the right direction in that it is pure innovation. Everyone would have bitched, including me, if they came out with a Wiiesc motion controller because basically it would be just a rip off. But this thing is something really new backed by the only business that could possibly make it work. I can't stop thinking about all the cool things one could use this for. Fight Night Round 5 on the Natal, or whatever the hell they decide to call it.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

I've been worried since the Wii really succeeded honestly. It was only a matter of time until all the companies decided to cash in on this new casual gaming craze. The only victims are us hardcore gamers, who really just want more great games like Bioshock or CoD4 to play until our fingers bleed.

I don't understand what all the commotion is with this motion control thing anyways, it's clunky, gimmicky, and not a suitable replacement for a real controller. There's a reason people use the Gamecube controller with the Wii: IT'S BETTER.

 

[Calobi]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSWERIJvve8

theres the youtube link ;D Enjoy

That was the most redonculose (I hate that word by the way. It's just the only thing that describes that video.) thing I have ever seen. There is no way it will work that well, but if it does I think it may change the way console games are played rather quickly.

 

[SteveDave]

As if anyone is surprised by this. Even if Microsoft's attempt at motion control is more polished and sophisticated that the god-awful brain abortion that was SIXAXIS, it STILL won't add anything the Wii doesn't already do. And you know what? The Wii doesn't do all that much.

Wii makes money, so copy the Wii. That is the entire idea behind this, and I'm sorry but that's not good enough.

So Microsoft shoul have never went into the console business because all they were doing is copying Sony's success? I don't understand what you are getting at.

 

[scotth266]

There have been 3 threads about the Natal Project already... and I even made a thread to discuss the press conferences in general! Yeesh.

 

[Gamer137]

I am sick of this! While it is a fun GIMMICK to use your body and actual voice to game, I would never do it full time. I (and many with me) do not want to move around and yell to game. I want to sit behind my computer or lie on a couch and use a controller of sorts (keyboard, mouse, actual controller) to play my games. Quit investing time in motion sensors and focus on actual games.

... On the other hand, if they keep developing 'real' experiences, there will be games that tickle your senses and there might be succesful 'porn' games. However, there will be debates about this concerning monogamy and whatnot so, you know what? Nevermind.

If it is successful, this is what will happen. However, it may not be successful. With the exception of the Wii-Mote(and that is still very skeptical with many gamers) and the music game controlers, every other "revolutionary" concept has not made any kind of real success. How come more games don't use microphones in a single-player sence? How come more games don't use some kind of EyeToy contraption? Why did the Power Glove and Virtual Boy fail?

 

[Jupsto]

I'm not really a fan MS going wii direction either BUT

looks like this is much more of an optional thing. but it looks miles ahead of the wii plus still has great xbox graphics and games instead of terrible last gen wii graphics and games for kids and grannies.

The only question is if its great I want one for ma PC plz M$

 

[Sindre1]

You still get to keep the old controlers so I don't see the problem.
I think its awesome! You can do much more with it than with the Wii.

 

[Nemo from Utopia]

i dont thik i will change things as they stand at the moment. serious gamers have shown that that kind of game play style is not to their taste by not buying the wii. however, i can see it as the first real break into VR, where AI characters will be able to recognise movements of the body and face so it is definitely a big deal if its as good as it seems. can you imagine how expensive its gonna be though?
although i might be a bit illinformed as i have heard the argument that this sort of softwear is already being used in various ways, so perhaps not such a big break through and just another example of microsoft stealing everyone elses ideas?

 

[Eagle Est1986]

I was reading all the press about it and was actually starting to think that this could be the next big thing. However, I then saw the video that Microsoft have put up on Xbox Live and then realised that Microsoft are talking out of their arse and half of that stuff will never happen. Basically it's a glorified eyetoy.

 

[Ben Legend]

Project Natal is not the Wii. It's a step beyond the Wii.

If it actually works consistently then it could be very good.

He's got it right, the techonology, if it works, will be a step beyond the wii.

I am kind of glad that after those microsoft (wii knockoff) remotes pictures were release that microsoft didn't go down that route.

 

[Kermi]

How does Natal make the 360 like the Wii? Honestly? It's a motion capture controller. It doesn't change the games - and while there probably will be some shovelware attached to the motion capture gimmick it's not going to make Microsoft stop releasing quality titles as well, and they can do far more with this than Nintendo has done with the Wiimote.

 

[Kermi]

Remember when they thought voice recognition technology would revolutionize... everything? And then as is they barely have it kinda working some of the time. This will be the same. In theory it looks great, and they definitely should put time and money into this to improve it, but it will be a long, long time before something like this is feasible on a grand scale.

Sometime after they fix the voice recognition's whole "delete that" sounding like "rape the innocent" problem.

The suspicion that the technology would fall short of expectations was my main fear as well, but the gaming media have had their hands on it... well actually they haven't, which is the point... but anyway, they report it actually works the way it was demonstrated. Voice recognition is a problem because of the huge range of voices and accents. However faces are largely all the same unless you've had some kind of horrible accident, facial expressions are universal, and there's really only a limited range of motion a game has to be aware of when you're playing. If you mime jumping out of the car during a race and running into the crowd, you're going to have problems representing that on screen.
But if you do that your race is over anyway.