Is this a Natal-powered game of Geometry Wars?

Destructoid writes:

"Reader Raffi sent us this video he shot from a holiday party where a developer for Natal was playing Geometry Wars with just hand gestures. We can't say for sure if this is really a Natal powered game of Geometry Wars until Microsoft says it is, but it's no secret that Natal developers are experimenting to incorporate Natal controls into a wide assortment of games."

[SlipperyMooseCakes]

It looks sweet and all, but I don't think I would want to be flailing my hands/arms around for that long. I hope we get to see Natal used in actual games soon and not just arcade and mini games that we have seen thus far. Great potential though.

[we won]

That's funny, I use to say the same thing about Wii and how funny it looked when people played it. I guess I can't make fun of people because it looks funny, because the casual trend suggest Motion is the hottest thing in gaming. Sure it looks funny but that doesn't stop, what? 60 million people(Wii owners) from using this tech in one form or the other.

Did you know millions of people think it looks stupid sitting in front of a TV mashing buttons? You know the same people that end up buying the Wii.

The tech is hot and it's nice to see this game using it in this tease. This will be far the biggest thing in gamer, EVER!

[kaveti6616]

Oh yeah. He seemed to be exerting a tremendous amount of energy, flailing about like that. / sarcasm. Guy was barely moving.

Not that I care. I just realized that the major arguments against Natal are

1) I don't want to look stupid playing video games.

2) I don't want to come home from a hard day's work (banging rocks against other rocks) to have to stand up. I just want to relax with a beer in my hand and play games with a controller.

Sorry, but if this is how people rationalize their negativity toward motion controls, then I don't want to know them. If you're too tired to stand up, then you're too old to be playing video games, unless you're in a wheelchair or have lost the function of your legs, in which case you are exempted from this argument.

[Rumor]

i REALLY dont see the mechanics behind this.(not natal, the gameplay) it doesnt look right to me :/

but again, thats just me. being a ps3 only owner, im pretty impressed with Natal :)

[Simon_Brezhnev]

kav u have anger issues lol

[JokesOnYou]

Looks cool, I imagine there are some even bigger things being done with Natal that micro isn't going to talk about until E3.

kaveti yeah the "flailing about" comments are waaay overdone, all I saw were rapid hand gestures, I imagine exercise games like Ricochett will be pretty tiresome but this looked pretty easy and could be easily played sitting on the couch, damm I just wish Natal would have been out earlier so we could see it implemented in a game like ME2 for menu screens and voice commands, thats the kind of stuff I think we'll see in early hardcore Natal games.

JOY

[SCThor]

Super Stardust HD is a game that looks like Geometry Wars, and it's hard as hell with a controller. Can't imaging it playing it with the Eye Toy, Wands, Natal o any device alike.

Back to the video, looks laggy as hell.

[Bigpappy]

Wow! Just put the pre-orders out now so I would know I can get 1 of these things asap. This is a very fast game, and that guy is in complete control of the ship. Lag on a game like this would be torture. Here is hoping this is real footage.

[PotNoodle]

I'd buy Natal just for that, Geometry wars is one of my favourite arcade games on the 360.

[Aleusia]

seriously...

[wwm0nkey]

Now more of a reason to buy Natal.

[farsided]

It's like an orgasm for the eyes!

[farsided]

surely has never experienced an orgasm.

[ThaOutKast]

They are blind.

[farsided]

how are they reading this???

[bequietjohnnie]

come on you guys...do you really think this is real? he did like 20 different hand gestures for a game with simple controls. i think natal will be cool but this is just a "fun" video.

[we won]

Have you played this game? One arm was driving the ship and the other aiming/shooting.

[bequietjohnnie]

yea, i've played it and thats my point. there are only two main controls, whats with the finger wiggling and stuff? again, i think natal will be great, but i think this vid is just promotion

[we won]

You can't have one arm always shooting while he moves it(his arm) to more immediate threats. There needs to be a rapid response to other targets just like the standard game, so there was obviously gestures using fingers to tell Natal and the 360 to stop firing so he can resume firing somewhere else, shooting at the greater threats immediately, you know the equivalent of pushing the right stick and releasing it, and then pushing it towards the greater threat in a different direction. I have high scores in both Geometry Wars titles. Not saying this is real although I have no reason to doubt this.

I hope you get what I'm saying. Maybe they *could have* programed the game and Natal where the aim/shoot arm had a stationary invisible circle/window you pass your arm through L, R, U, D and center of this invisible spot would be neutral(no right stick action) But that would be sloppy and a poor showing of the tech.

[Neo604]

look good though, pop E and play.

[El_Colombiano]

If they can get it to be so you are moving your hands like a maestro I would so digg this!

[Nihilism]

what happens when you need to scratch your ass for a second, how do you pause with no pause button, do you facepalm?

[Aleusia]

Something like that, I didn't read the article because It's a destructoid article.

I WILL NEVER GIVE THEM ANOTHER SINGLE HIT AGAIN after I saw them use the term weeaboo to describe jrpg fans in one of their Star Ocean 4 articles. You're supposed to be professional, not take digs at people who like certain genres except for Shooters, those guys deserve it, they give everybody else grief and instigate the most hate. (see: xbox fanboys)

[we won]

Natal uses voice recognition software with voice command with gesture tech. There could be 100 ways of pausing the games.

Examples:

-Stepping out of view
-Stepping a set distance aways from the unit
-Telling The 360 to pause with voice
LOL

MSFT programed Natal on the Jimmy Fallon Show to scan a invisible box letting people know where you had to be to play Burnout.

Merry Xmas to you too... Smart guy

[Aleusia]

....is nothing special, it's just a microsoft gimmick.

They will cut all support for the 360 once they complete their new failure of a console..it's only a matter of time and all the braindead fans will fall for it too.

[we won]

But the rest of us that have seen it disagree.

[Blow Out Your Brains]

LMAO at the people that think this is the future of gaming. SONY is going to bring some unbelievable sh*t with 3D gaming, which is where the true future of gaming lies.

[wwm0nkey]

You are aware Natal can support Head tracking which means more realistic 3D without glasses.

[Eiffel]

They already brought some "unbelievable sh*t" passing off a motion controller with a glowing tennis ball. Besides 3D is overrated anyway.

I don't really give two squirts a piss about motion control on either the 360 or PS3, as long as they don't do the same thing where Nintendo messed up. Shovelware.

[kneon]

GT 5 even uses it to let you look out the side windows.

And how do you get the 3D effect without glasses? head tracking isn't going to do it

[Cueil]

I think the head tracking you're talking about and the head tracking that he's talking about are two different things... EyeToy can track your head in two dimensions... you could look left right or up and down and such.. what he's talking about is that with the 3D depth sensor Natal can actually create the allusion that your game is sticking out of the TV. The man in the video that I attached is working for Microsoft now and this same thing can be used with Natal.

[MajestieBeast]

And people said eyetoy games looked lame...

[we won]

You don't like Geometry Wars? Who doesn't like Geometry Wars? Let me go dig up some Eye toy title reviews and sales stats and Geometry Wars reviews and sales stats. LOL I know that doesn't make sense because neither does your logic. This is a XBLA title. lol

[The Iron Sheik]

Or instead of doing that you could go play your 360 that you claim to love so much. This proves my theory that bots enjoy sales more than games.

And if you are excited for Natal or any other motion control you are a casual gamer.

[MajestieBeast]

No the way its controlled looks lame ass hell. Whats with you 360 fanboys and sales is that the only thing you have left sales and natal?

[Bigpappy]

You think Review and awards keep Developers and Publisher in business? You PS3 fanboys talk some crazy shyt sometimes. If product does not sell, it is not made anymore. Eyetop games did not sell, that is why is why it is now a piece of junk that just sits there live the vision cam. Do you think there are no more Eyetoy or PSeye game because they didn't receive a high enough review score? Kid are getting dumber, and dumber. I think the wold will end if some of you become leaders in the real world.

[wwm0nkey]

For those of you who have not seen or do not know what head tracking can do please watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Also the guy in the video was hired by Microsoft to work on Natal, so its almost guaranteed we will see this feature in future FPS games.

[strickers]

Anyone impressed by that is an idiot.How is that going to be a better way to play a fast paced,precision twin stick shooter?Just because you can,doesn't mean you should.I just can't understand why anyone is excited by Natal,it's another novelty toy.The fact that lots of people are buying the hype just shows how stupid they are.

[wwm0nkey]

I would personally LOVE to play a shooter with Head Tracking, it can give a much better sense of depth and would just be fun to stand up with my controller while using the same layout I have been but experiencing the game in a much much different way, If I move closer, I see more of whats going on, if I move right, I see more of whats to the left of me. really if used correctly this will be great!

[strickers]

Also to point out something that negates silly hand gestures.Natal recognises hands as one point of articulation and does not recognise fingers or finger gestures.

[whothedog]

haha I misread your comment at first, but he could be motion activating shooting or something, I don't know.

[tyrex]

my fatass is tired just from watching. good thing MS bought that company so they have the hardware and software to bring you this.

[tudors]

I know I could not get used to doing it like that, you need perfect eye to hand coordination, boxing would be fantastic with Natal, it would be nice if they could make a boxing game with sensors attached to your body that register the hits, infact with Natal I would imagine the sensors could be virtual, 3D with Natal would work great, I would not be surprised if Natal is 3D ready.

[Major Kanimo]

if they use this like six-axis n allow for all games to be played this way as motion buttons then il be really impressed either way to make a game with hand or arm movements like he was doing really blows my mind 2010 is going to be a great year for all!

[frankymv]

So this is Microsoft's big hope?

[divideby0]

I am interested in Natal, but not for games like this or shooters or sports or MOST DEF NOT for online gameplay..all will be major failures (as with other motion controls).
menu selection and RPGs would be the only interest.

just watch the vid and see what a fail it looks like

[yorkie]

Would anyone honestly enjoy playing games like that. I personally find motion controls lacking in the all important fun factor and I've yet to see anything that makes me believe motion controls are the future of gaming.

[shazui123]

hugely inaccurate and laggy. Im glad this is only being marketed towards casual gamers, because they can have it. I won't be jealous, at all.

[fr0sty]

looks unplayable. notice they never show the person playing for more than a couple seconds before cutting away, at 32 seconds natal just freezes up and leaves the player sitting there wondering what happened, finally at the end of the video the player dies again and just walks away. didn't look like they were having a good time trying to wave their way through a level. there is also some serious input lag going on in this video... another fatal flaw of natal.

[kneon]

That's likely one of the more easily solvable issues, it may just mean the price goes up as more horsepower is needed to keep lag at an acceptable level. If the estimated ship dates are anywhere near correct then there is still a lot of time to fix that problem.

Either the lag will get fixed or Natal will only be used for games that are not severely impacted by the lag.

[xcox]

lol

[Cajun Chicken]

Well, that's me sold on Natal if this is true. Loved GW on Wii.

[LOLatURDUMBAZZ]

I've yet to play that game! It will be a must have if this is true to natal. I don't even own a 360 right now, but when natal & 360 is bundled together I will buy 1. I liked the deal behind the eyetoy. But it was LACKING GAMES! Sony really pissed me off with that. I've bought all of them games they have for it. OPC is the only game I really like on it. I hope natal will bring what I wanted in the eyetoy. I'm not counting out the wands from sony either. I want those just as bad.

[Bigpappy]

Did anyone else notice that. They are testing the gameplay in low lit environments. This is a great idea. Most people game in low light.