I hate "Natal" and everything it stands for...

[G1eet]

Don't worry. Natal will not work, and Microsoft wil realise that. But if it does work, I wouldn't mind seeing Microsoft screw up.

Who's to argue with them? It's a prototype product, and it may not even be a peripheral or key selling point that the OP thinks it will be.

Maybe it will help when you can't find a controller or one of those massive Logitech remotes nearby, and just want to check something on Xbox Live quickly. There are numerous niches that the technology of Natal could fill.

Unlike many people, I will patiently kick back and see where they're going with it, and stop bitching about it.

 

[Taerdin]

If MS gives devs an option to not support it, they probably won't, so they'll need to force devs to incorporate Natal features and screw over the majority of the hardcore fanbase who enjoy games with depth.

Gamers who enjoy games with depth play xboxes?!

Maybe I should look into them fandangled units then, instead of spending all those countless hours on expansive pc games and user created mods... which amounts to effectively infinite content for those who which to seize it...

Oh wait...

No

 

[tehroc]

Didn't anybody find the computers in the obscure Tekwar TV series (their version of the virtual computer was more badass looking then..) or more well known movie Minority Report to be totally awesome? NATAL is leading towards that, an evolution in how we interact with our media.

 

[gremily]

What is Natal?

 

[jonny bhoy]

Natal sounds alright - it's Nintendo that are going to become the others but worse.

Anyway, as I have nothing better to do -

Xbox720

I know they're probably going to call it that, but stop and think. Does 720 make any sense at all? There are only 360 degrees!

but what if there is 2 circles........?

 

[Tharwen]

Natal sounds alright - it's Nintendo that are going to become the others but worse.

Anyway, as I have nothing better to do -

Xbox720

I know they're probably going to call it that, but stop and think. Does 720 make any sense at all? There are only 360 degrees!

I think 720 is just being used as a placeholder name by people like us until Microsoft announces the official name. It's a lot easier to say than "the next Microsoft console".

 

[A Pious Cultist]

Remove the controller and EVERY command must be a gesture. Is Natal going to sense when I slightly move my index finger to pull a trigger in a FPS? Doubtful. For that matter, how am I going to aim at an enemy while strafing to the left, switching weapons and jumping, all at the same time? That's something that most FPSes require a player to be able to do in order to play effectively.

Am I going to lean my whole body to the left while pointing my left index finger at the screen like a gun, pumping my right arm to change weapons and jumping up and down to make my character jump? Answer to a rhetorical question: I sure as hell won't, and neither will any other FPS player.

Since I've been reading tons of posts on www.fmylife.com I'll reply in kind:
"YDI for playing FPSes on a console."

 

[Ironic]

but MS is (was) the last bastion of hardcore console gaming.

no offense but what about the ps3? i have a ps3 and it kicks ass just as well as the xbox. i have put hundreds of hours into it and plan to continue to do so. i don't know if you are a fanboy or if you just haven't played it but calling the xbox the "the last bastion of hardcore console gaming" is nothing sort of absolutely retarded. i have all consoles and in my opinion the ps3 and xbox are both good. and sony is coming out with a product that is almost the same as a wiimote and natal.

I own a PS3 and I've loved Uncharted, LBP and InFamous, but...

http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/06/02/sony.ps3.motion.wand/

Don't worry about this. Natal and the Wand thing are just thinly veiled attempts to jump on the back of the success of the Wii. Imagine the levels of success that they are going to bask in when 12 year olds mither their parents for an xbox 720 (JUST a name guys, it hasn't got one yet, chill) to shoot the shit out of another hapless pygmy sized alien, and use their excuse for it, "its like the Wii", triggering the parents to embrace the image of happiness and light nintendo have created for motion based gaming.

Also, on the flipside, its going to have the functionality of a motion sensor, but the capabilities of a fully fledged power-dedicated console. The natal will simply appeal to the market of Older generations wanting to play more motion based games in an effort to lose weight in a way where they're tricked into having fun instead of mid-life crisising out everywhere. The Wii will not really bounce back, it has the motion, the audience, but not the power. That audience is FICKLE. If a machine comes along, that can do the exact same thing as the Wii, but with prettier graphics and faster load times, then the people will go for it.

Each separate console has had a unique market advantage contributing to sales.

The 360 came first as the "hardcore gamer console".
The PS3 was cheaper than a Blue-Ray player, yet was an internet ready console.
The Wii sucked in all that untouched market, who have now been introduced to "gaming", and will continue to explore the market in different ways, probably branching out into *sigh* "hardcore" gaming, or just learning more about the culture of it in general.

Why?

Because people get bored easily.


EDIT: Yahtzee DID make a very good point about the motion controls though. Without some sort of feedback, motion sensing is actually quite dull after the initial "LOL YOU LOOK STUPID" factor wears off and you start running out of drunken party games. As a point, i don't really care about "hardcore" and "casual", but they ARE different audiences.

 

[Grand_Poohbah]

Here we go again with HARDCORE and CASUAL.

 

[esperandote]

yeah i agree that ms will basically shoot itself on the foot with natal.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

This thread reminds me why I hate game shops and normally buy online.

 

[Sparrow]

Yay, wow. You complained, the world is behind you... sorry, too tired to give my usual well thought out sarcasm.

Point being, what are the chances one person (being yourself) will be right, up against lets say, a good million workers (that would be, Microsoft). You really don't think MS has thought this through? You think they're just going to fling this at the market and hope for the best?

In answer to my own rhetorical questions: Microsoft have obviously got some big minds behind it, they obviously did the planning and it's obviously going to go well.

 

[zahr]

If MS gives devs an option to not support it, they probably won't, so they'll need to force devs to incorporate Natal features and screw over the majority of the hardcore fanbase who enjoy games with depth.

But those players are already using the PC. We play 360 when we want shallow casual games.

 

[HentMas]

I WILL BUY IT!

it has serious potential, one of the main reasons i dont really play Wii is that i play with friends, and to do that i would need more controlls wich cost A LOT, (i had to save for a year to get all controlls for 360)

but natal gets it done with no controlls, and who says you will not use anyother controll??? the potentiall is amazing because if there are HCG out there they will implement BOTH interfacess, why does people keep thinking they are going to trow away their 360 controll?? who says you cant play with both???

just stop getting boxed and think if they made "RUN ´N GUNNING 24" do you really think you would be RUNNING AND GUNNING on the spot!?!? jesus people, THINK! you see some games that are for people that don´t play games and think they are all going to suck!?, if i had shown you the first TV in black and white and there was just a tree standing there, what would you think?? "why would anyone want to see a tree all day!?"

how can people be so thick?

 

[CrafterMan]

Gah again I just don't see the point in motion control, I don't hate Natal, I hate motion control in general. Sorry but it's just an excuse not to get some real exercise. It's not "casual".

-Joe

 

[Triforceformer]

What is Natal?

If you were serious: A new Xbox 360 Motion control Add-On that is currently code named after some city in Brazil.

If you weren't: Use Google, smart one.

Edit: Also, If it works out, yay, if not, we can still use it as a hyper advanced webcam.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

-snip-

So what you're saying is, gaming shouldn't go forward in anything but graphics?

Honestly, stop making this look like this is going to kill off all the games you like. This peripheral will appeal to a subset of gamers, and bring some interesting concepts with it. You won't wake up one day and find that every game is motion controlled, but instead that a select amount of games are attempting to use the technology that is available. It's not going to be the standard, and if you honestly don't want to use it, don't, because it's obviously not aimed at you.

And the 360, the "last bastion of hardcore gaming"? Come now, hardcore consoles do not exist. Just because a console is dominated by FPS games, it doesn't make them hardcore. Hardcore games never existed, and hardcore gamers are either dead or comatose. That console is one that is dominated with games of a competitive nature, not hardcore.

The industry needs to move forward, and it can't do that by making every next generation of games prettier, otherwise it will self destruct.