Project Natal = Fail
Project Natal theoretically seems like a nice and innovative way to play video games but in reality it's bound to completely fail.
Project Natal theoretically seems like a nice and innovative way to play video games but in reality it's bound to completely fail.Since the beginning of video gaming in the 70s & 80s, people had a common vision of the future of the industry. Everybody would be wearing a weird helmet and start playing in this sort of virtual reality where your movements would be recreated in real time in the virtual world you're in. Project Natal gets us one step closer to this reality and thank God no helmets are involved. But in reality is that the future we want as gamers?Here are a few reasons why I believe this new project is going to struggle getting the interest of anyone.- People never really liked addons. Obviously it's not going to be hooked directly on the 360 like the Sega CD or the 32X but you will still need to buy a clunky piece of hardware that will use up some extra space.- So far we have no idea how much this thing will cost but you can't really expect people who invest lots of money on their 360 for games and online service to be interested in a technology that to be quite honest does not recreate perfect 1 to 1 motion (that's unless the technology improves from what we've seen at E3 09).- Also please don't try and make me believe that playing a racing game is more fun when holding air vs holding a steering wheel peripheral. I have a feeling Natal will only be a bunch of collections of mini games that uses the technology. I don't see a Halo or Gears game using the Natal technology. Although it could be interesting, I think it would be very limited mainly because of the range of movement that really depends on the size of the living room and the lack of any buttons. We haven't seen much of the gameplay but from what I've seen, it seems very similar to what was done with the Eye Toy or the PS Eye so far. I can tell you right now, there are no games on either of those platforms that are worth going crazy about.- I want to finish with the Milo kid. This is probably the stupidest thing I've ever seen since Seaman on the Dreamcast. I have friends and family that I love to talk to and have interesting conversations with. Why the fuck would I want to start having this "relationship" with a virtual kid that will probably have extremely limited capabilities in terms of recreating human emotions. It's cool to have voice recognition but please keep it for simple commands and short phrases because otherwise it will become frustrating. The system won't get everything and you'll have to repeat or it will understand something else...I'm really not convinced about project Natal, holding air has never been fun for me and I don't think this will change that perception. I think what convinced people that Natal is going to be the future of gaming was by the way it was presented. I mean Steven Spielberg is endorsing the goddamn thing, it HAS to be good!!!! Peter Molenyeux looked like an infomercial guy trying to convince me that this thing really works as seen on TV! The trailers also looked pretty nice so when you compare that with how Sony presented their motion sensing technology, I mean Natal wins by a mile. In reality even though the two guys from Sony looked like elementary students at a show and tell, I was more convinced by what Sony showed in terms of what's the future of motion sensing technology. True 1 to 1 recreation of movements and more importantly the capability of playing hardcore games using the motion controls. So to me, Project Natal fails to proove that it's the future of gaming.
When we used to talk about the future of games in the early 90' we often said the words "virtual reality" but why? Because theoretically the machine will let us feel the game like it was real! But natal just let us use gestures and no other thing like a controller... The explanation is something like his example of the driving wheel on the blog. (trying to make long ass comment short, so think)
In fact I see more future in the Sony motion controller than in Natal because it is a proven technology. Proven by Nintendo.
I entirely agree with this blog. =)
Motion controllers suck, they are imprecise and annoying. Give me a well built game pad any day over this sudo-VR balderdash!
"One big thing that the Natal will never be able to do is pick up subtle hand movements, such as the twist of a wrist, like the PlayStation Motion Controller can (and Wii MotionPlus for that matter). For things like accurate use of swords or tennis rackets, this is a very necessary thing. "
....but it still upsets me to see someone judging Natal (or anything else for that matter) before they've experienced it. So we've seen a few videos of Natal in action. We've read plenty of inform regarding it as well, but considering the fact that its not even out yet, not to mention that you sir, nor I, have yet to experience it.
You made alot of good points though, I see where your coming from, just remember... until the day comes that we get to experience natal, possibly playing our own favorite game with it, we can do nothing but speculate. Even those who have tried it weren't using the finished product. The truth is, as far as I've "SEEN" at "THIS POINT" I won't even play with Natal. I can't say for sure though. I may like it.
Keep up the good blogs man.
Otherwise I like your blog.
MS obviously planned the current media blitz for the first reason you offer for Natal's possible failure, with Milo as the primary catalyst. Come the second, you can be sure they'll be ready to cover their tracks.
See what I did there?
Anyways, don't like it? Don't buy it. I'm holding my judgments until I get to see it in action myself.
In reality we may see that some games use a controller as normal and has natal as an option. bad example tbh but like with the socom games, you can command your squad using a mic but if you don't have a mic you can just select text commands from a menu.
But as well as obv not judging it so early, i'm amazed at the amount of people going on about how amazing it is. Again, how can you really judge it till you play it.
Personally for the majority of games, you need a controller. as 1 guy mentioned, racing where you hold thing air... i'd just find that weird and is subtracting from recreating a driving experience (that you can get by using a decent wheel, pedals etc
i think it will be a long time untill we see it used in a game i'd consider playing rather than a mini game
The eyetoy can sense depth but probably not all that well. I mean based on the stage tech demo it can easily sense depth direction and other things with a little halp. The pet game can as well a little. Even games that are out like Trials of Topoq can but not as well as you might hope... Still though in the end if PSeye is 30$ and natal turns out to be like 70 or more then it's kinda... Well you get the idea it's like compaing a porsche to a ford. The porsche may have more bells and whistles but they both can get you where your going...
EyeToy
-Senses movement by light
-Microphone
Natal
-Senses 3D Movement
-Senses color
-Voice Recognition
-Integration with system interface
Anyone who thinks EyeToy is even close to Natal in quality so far is bonkers. EyeToy has so far had 21 games released exclusively for it, with 15 of those being "EyeToy: (insert name here)" games that all sucked.
thats my concern tbh. It may be a big leap from the eyetoy, but it's essentially the same thing. My biggest problem is seeing this as being used in a way that isn't simply trying to take some of nintendo's pie which would mean 'casual' games. I think ms even said themselves that was the target market for natal.
Well BAM!
I agree 100%. Even though I too think it's too early to judge natal, especially when MS hasn't given gamers a solid specific date for its release (or a price).
How will we be able to even make our video game character walk? Or even run and pull off Crazy ninja combos???
Anyone care to answere?
so how could it fail, if it's not released?
hey, you know what, the more you guys talk about it and stir controversy. the more it will be in the limelight, thanks for the free advertisement.