Hyper Japanese Reporter Takes on Project Natal

[Cardo 8 ATL]

Um... I don't think Natal had anything to do with her oversteering the imaginary wheel. It handles just like real life for her! =O

 

[wolfy098]

Microsoft the japs arn't casual gamers stay with the USA

What the hell? The Japanese aren't casual gamers?

Do you know how many copy's if the Nintendo Wii and the DS have been sold in Japan?

There are 2 forms

Nintendo casual: Cooking Mama, People often pictured as under 12

X box casual: Halo, People often pictured as punks on street corners throwing bottles

Sorry for not being more clear my bad

 

[Susan Arendt]

Once again people, no, this is not the EyeToy revisited any more than an automobile is a skateboard revisited.

The Eyetoy was a webcam. That's it.

Natal is two cameras, one IR, with built in facial and voice recognition software. This allows it depth perception, the ability to tell people apart from tools or controllers they may have, and to be able to keep track of distinct people, even though they may all be moving around in the field of view.

Whether they'll be able to put out any good games for it? I dunno.
Whether they'll be able to make it the next thing in advanced UI for your media centre? Undoubtedly.

Thank you for saving me a whole bunch of typing.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

I love how, except for one word (or was it two?), the guy from Microsoft didn't even try to speak Japanese. I would think Microsoft would be able to afford some better PR...

 

[Eric the Orange]

Maybe there should be a Natal app that appeals to the JRPG crowd - stand around, do a dramatic pose, summon a giant elemental monster, that sort of thing.

I'd think poses would be good for "power ranger" type sentai series games.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Ha ha! She reminds me of Chun Li when she wins. She just needed to do the V for victory sign.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I had pointedly avoided looking up Project Natal until now.

Gotta say;

Nintendo has this beat hands down, if for nothing else for maintaining a modicum of respect in the players, and for keeping the possibility of real games. Natal, however...I can see no practical application for looking that ridiculous.

Not impressed. Stick to what you know, Microsoft--keep your dual analog FPS' coming. That's about all you seem up to, anymore, apart from copying Sony and Nintendo.

Racial Envy much?

 

[hypothetical fact]

I had pointedly avoided looking up Project Natal until now.

Gotta say;

Nintendo has this beat hands down, if for nothing else for maintaining a modicum of respect in the players, and for keeping the possibility of real games. Natal, however...I can see no practical application for looking that ridiculous.

Not impressed. Stick to what you know, Microsoft--keep your dual analog FPS' coming. That's about all you seem up to, anymore, apart from copying Sony and Nintendo.

Racial Envy much?

What makes you say that Nintendo maintains respect for the players and doesn't just see them as customers like everyone else? I'm guessing fanboyism but your second paragraph also suggests xenophobia.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I had pointedly avoided looking up Project Natal until now.

Gotta say;

Nintendo has this beat hands down, if for nothing else for maintaining a modicum of respect in the players, and for keeping the possibility of real games. Natal, however...I can see no practical application for looking that ridiculous.

Not impressed. Stick to what you know, Microsoft--keep your dual analog FPS' coming. That's about all you seem up to, anymore, apart from copying Sony and Nintendo.

Racial Envy much?

What makes you say that Nintendo maintains respect for the players and doesn't just see them as customers like everyone else? I'm guessing fanboyism but your second paragraph also suggests xenophobia.

Swing and a miss. Wasn't talking about the company's respect for the player, I was talking about the player's respect for themselves. The Wii is at least controlled spazzing, where it's just your wrists waggling about for a bit, in something vaguely suggestive of the motion you happen to be looking for. Natal, however...seems to require your entire body flailing about as if you were a marionette being piloted by someone having a particularly violent seizure. As a player, flailing your wrists about for a game at least affords you your own dignity, while what I'm seeing from Natal seems more inclined to stripping you completely of what little dignity you had when you first started playing. And as to whether or not I'm a fanboy? Not really, no, I don't care one way or the other which company is doing it--but anything that ridiculous immediately makes me think that it's competition is miles ahead of it, and it's futilely trying to keep up in a race it lost a long time ago.

 

[Voltano]

I can see this potentially wrangling in casual gamers (whatever the hell they are, I've yet figured out how a "game" is labeled "casual", but that is just me). Though I'm concerned on how the player reacts fast enough with games like this.

Though I don't understand why games want to get into a lot of reflex-based challenges like this lately. *shrugs.*

 

[hypothetical fact]

I had pointedly avoided looking up Project Natal until now.

Gotta say;

Nintendo has this beat hands down, if for nothing else for maintaining a modicum of respect in the players, and for keeping the possibility of real games. Natal, however...I can see no practical application for looking that ridiculous.

Not impressed. Stick to what you know, Microsoft--keep your dual analog FPS' coming. That's about all you seem up to, anymore, apart from copying Sony and Nintendo.

Racial Envy much?

What makes you say that Nintendo maintains respect for the players and doesn't just see them as customers like everyone else? I'm guessing fanboyism but your second paragraph also suggests xenophobia.

Swing and a miss. Wasn't talking about the company's respect for the player, I was talking about the player's respect for themselves. The Wii is at least controlled spazzing, where it's just your wrists waggling about for a bit, in something vaguely suggestive of the motion you happen to be looking for. Natal, however...seems to require your entire body flailing about as if you were a marionette being piloted by someone having a particularly violent seizure. As a player, flailing your wrists about for a game at least affords you your own dignity, while what I'm seeing from Natal seems more inclined to stripping you completely of what little dignity you had when you first started playing. And as to whether or not I'm a fanboy? Not really, no, I don't care one way or the other which company is doing it--but anything that ridiculous immediately makes me think that it's competition is miles ahead of it, and it's futilely trying to keep up in a race it lost a long time ago.

The dignity of a player is completely subjective, I would imagine children would enjoy jumping around the room. The second paragraph suggested xenophobia because it fails to take on board that all companies copy eachother. Trophies and achivements, miis and avatars etc.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I had pointedly avoided looking up Project Natal until now.

Gotta say;

Nintendo has this beat hands down, if for nothing else for maintaining a modicum of respect in the players, and for keeping the possibility of real games. Natal, however...I can see no practical application for looking that ridiculous.

Not impressed. Stick to what you know, Microsoft--keep your dual analog FPS' coming. That's about all you seem up to, anymore, apart from copying Sony and Nintendo.

Racial Envy much?

What makes you say that Nintendo maintains respect for the players and doesn't just see them as customers like everyone else? I'm guessing fanboyism but your second paragraph also suggests xenophobia.

Swing and a miss. Wasn't talking about the company's respect for the player, I was talking about the player's respect for themselves. The Wii is at least controlled spazzing, where it's just your wrists waggling about for a bit, in something vaguely suggestive of the motion you happen to be looking for. Natal, however...seems to require your entire body flailing about as if you were a marionette being piloted by someone having a particularly violent seizure. As a player, flailing your wrists about for a game at least affords you your own dignity, while what I'm seeing from Natal seems more inclined to stripping you completely of what little dignity you had when you first started playing. And as to whether or not I'm a fanboy? Not really, no, I don't care one way or the other which company is doing it--but anything that ridiculous immediately makes me think that it's competition is miles ahead of it, and it's futilely trying to keep up in a race it lost a long time ago.

The dignity of a player is completely subjective, I would imagine children would enjoy jumping around the room. The second paragraph suggested xenophobia because it fails to take on board that all companies copy eachother. Trophies and achivements, miis and avatars etc.

Subjective upon age, sure. But for those of us who have grown up with gaming and like our gaming to be focused, it's much less subjective. For those of us who still like a bit of complexity involving complicated puzzles, specific skills, and complex situations, Natal has no representation. Now, if you're one of those excitable children who will like jumping around the room, well, by all means, please have fun. But for gamers who like intricate scenarios in their gaming--I see no practical application of Natal in this respect. Nintendo at least offers a grandiose amount of variation with their waggles, ranging from simple to complex to mindblowing, a times.

And I'm sorry sarcasm doesn't translate well to text. The xenophobia/racial envy comment was pure sarcasm, I promise.

 

[hypothetical fact]

I had pointedly avoided looking up Project Natal until now.

Gotta say;

Nintendo has this beat hands down, if for nothing else for maintaining a modicum of respect in the players, and for keeping the possibility of real games. Natal, however...I can see no practical application for looking that ridiculous.

Not impressed. Stick to what you know, Microsoft--keep your dual analog FPS' coming. That's about all you seem up to, anymore, apart from copying Sony and Nintendo.

Racial Envy much?

What makes you say that Nintendo maintains respect for the players and doesn't just see them as customers like everyone else? I'm guessing fanboyism but your second paragraph also suggests xenophobia.

Swing and a miss. Wasn't talking about the company's respect for the player, I was talking about the player's respect for themselves. The Wii is at least controlled spazzing, where it's just your wrists waggling about for a bit, in something vaguely suggestive of the motion you happen to be looking for. Natal, however...seems to require your entire body flailing about as if you were a marionette being piloted by someone having a particularly violent seizure. As a player, flailing your wrists about for a game at least affords you your own dignity, while what I'm seeing from Natal seems more inclined to stripping you completely of what little dignity you had when you first started playing. And as to whether or not I'm a fanboy? Not really, no, I don't care one way or the other which company is doing it--but anything that ridiculous immediately makes me think that it's competition is miles ahead of it, and it's futilely trying to keep up in a race it lost a long time ago.

The dignity of a player is completely subjective, I would imagine children would enjoy jumping around the room. The second paragraph suggested xenophobia because it fails to take on board that all companies copy eachother. Trophies and achivements, miis and avatars etc.

Subjective upon age, sure. But for those of us who have grown up with gaming and like our gaming to be focused, it's much less subjective. For those of us who still like a bit of complexity involving complicated puzzles, specific skills, and complex situations, Natal has no representation. Now, if you're one of those excitable children who will like jumping around the room, well, by all means, please have fun. But for gamers who like intricate scenarios in their gaming--I see no practical application of Natal in this respect. Nintendo at least offers a grandiose amount of variation with their waggles, ranging from simple to complex to mindblowing, a times.

And I'm sorry sarcasm doesn't translate well to text. The xenophobia/racial envy comment was pure sarcasm, I promise.

How many games are you using to justify the validity of this tech which hasn't come out yet? At least wait for metacritic reviews or milol to be released before calling it casual compared to a system which sells itself on wii fit.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I had pointedly avoided looking up Project Natal until now.

Gotta say;

Nintendo has this beat hands down, if for nothing else for maintaining a modicum of respect in the players, and for keeping the possibility of real games. Natal, however...I can see no practical application for looking that ridiculous.

Not impressed. Stick to what you know, Microsoft--keep your dual analog FPS' coming. That's about all you seem up to, anymore, apart from copying Sony and Nintendo.

Racial Envy much?

What makes you say that Nintendo maintains respect for the players and doesn't just see them as customers like everyone else? I'm guessing fanboyism but your second paragraph also suggests xenophobia.

Swing and a miss. Wasn't talking about the company's respect for the player, I was talking about the player's respect for themselves. The Wii is at least controlled spazzing, where it's just your wrists waggling about for a bit, in something vaguely suggestive of the motion you happen to be looking for. Natal, however...seems to require your entire body flailing about as if you were a marionette being piloted by someone having a particularly violent seizure. As a player, flailing your wrists about for a game at least affords you your own dignity, while what I'm seeing from Natal seems more inclined to stripping you completely of what little dignity you had when you first started playing. And as to whether or not I'm a fanboy? Not really, no, I don't care one way or the other which company is doing it--but anything that ridiculous immediately makes me think that it's competition is miles ahead of it, and it's futilely trying to keep up in a race it lost a long time ago.

The dignity of a player is completely subjective, I would imagine children would enjoy jumping around the room. The second paragraph suggested xenophobia because it fails to take on board that all companies copy eachother. Trophies and achivements, miis and avatars etc.

Subjective upon age, sure. But for those of us who have grown up with gaming and like our gaming to be focused, it's much less subjective. For those of us who still like a bit of complexity involving complicated puzzles, specific skills, and complex situations, Natal has no representation. Now, if you're one of those excitable children who will like jumping around the room, well, by all means, please have fun. But for gamers who like intricate scenarios in their gaming--I see no practical application of Natal in this respect. Nintendo at least offers a grandiose amount of variation with their waggles, ranging from simple to complex to mindblowing, a times.

And I'm sorry sarcasm doesn't translate well to text. The xenophobia/racial envy comment was pure sarcasm, I promise.

How many games are you using to justify the validity of this tech which hasn't come out yet? At least wait for metacritic reviews or milol to be released before calling it casual compared to a system which sells itself on wii fit.

I'm using a view to the three demo videos I have seen since seeing this video this afternoon. And while I read reviews to judge somewhat, I withhold full judgement for empirical evaluation. I know friends who will get it, and I'll at least try it, but first impressions: not good. And I don't know anyone who has bought the wii on the wii fit--bit of an absurd statement, there. How many buyers are you basing that on, I'm curious?

 

[FROGGEman2]

That whole thing was made of win... or something.

Just... really, really, really cool.

 

[Hitman 43]

I don't think Natal is a good idea.

 

[Erana]

Why can't American news casters be that adorable?

 

[Simalacrum]

and yet again, I can understand Japanese when nobody else can.

I win! XD

OT, I have a feeling that Microsoft won't break into the Japanese market... an article on The Escapist recently said that Apple's iPhone was able to tap into the Japanese market (thus proving that American products can access Japan), but its not seen as revolutionary as in the Western nations, and isn't actually that popular...

Still, they might make it into the Japanese market, who knows