Microsoft drops “Project Natal” Motion Control for Xbox 360
Ok, first the name. Project Natal? That sounds super creepy in a wireless Matrix-y sort of way, doesn’t it? I’m sure the team that came up with the working name were trying to allude to a new birth in gaming, but I just cannot help but think of actual human childbirth. Ew. Or maybe the name is referring to the Brazilian city.
Either way, Microsoft shill Steven Spielberg came out to show off the Project Natal prototype at this year’s E3. Don Mattrick, the SR VP in charge of this kind of thing at Microsoft, introduced Natal (which is only a code name, whew!) as not a motion-control controller but a “breakthrough sensor that tracks 3D movements, and recognizes voices, this is controller-free games and entertainment”. No controller needed at all. Take that, Wii!
The Natal is instead a camera that tracks your movements in 3 dimensions and uses your motions to control the game. The sensor also takes cues from voice commands, both for games and for the Xbox itself. At the press conference, Spielberg and Mattrick claimed that the reason that Natal was needed was to get more people into games, because thumb-based controllers are intimidating to people.
And jumping around a room isn’t intimidating?
As a lazy gamer with a low BMI, I tend to see video games as a way of relaxing on the sofa after playing real golf or hiking. So the Wii has little to no long-term interest for someone like me. But the Natal on the other hand is something that I like, so far. Project Natal’s camera is a peripheral, and therefore not required for many games (I’m sure that there will be plenty of games that will utilize the Natal’s capabilities, but there will still be regular games, too). I like the fact that I am not forced to play with a little wand, when all I want to do is use my thumbs.
By the way, at the E3 press conference, Spielberg described compared the birth of Natal as “a moment as significant as the transformation from the square shaped movie screen to Cinemascope…” Dork.
Microsoft, Project Natal, motion control, controller, gaming console, Xbox 360, Steven Spielberg, Wii, controller-free, peripheral, E3
June 9th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
[...] Xbox Live. I try Microsoft’s press archive and nada. I guess the announcement came after the E3 all-press conference at a lunch for VIPs and the elite press corps. But I ran across an interview on Eurogamer with John [...]
June 29th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Eww, Its just a gimmick. But you know all the developers are going to take it seriously and the marketplace will be full of games for it, and then they’ll start releasing mainstream games for it, and all the real games will drop into the background whilst microsoft advertises it as a fitness tool.
Man, I hate the wii.
July 14th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
no offense but 2 things: 1.that looks just like the eye-toy guys,remember from the ps2 and it also looks like the dsi bcause of the warioware snap game but im not saying its not going to be cool it looks awesome and 2.shouldnt they be more focuse of the major problem they have with rrod bcause how r we going to play the natal if we get rrod but still it looks cool the project.
ps.wii,u r going to get owned BIG TIME