Microsoft: Natal Is No Eye Toy

[Greg Tito]

Microsoft: Natal Is No Eye Toy

Microsoft executive, Aaron Greenberg, dismissed claims that Project Natal was like Sony's Eye Toy and stated that its development will continue five years after its release.

Aaron Greenberg is Microsoft's Director of Product Management for Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE. He responded to accusations from the press at Microsofts's X10 event in San Francisco last week that Project Natal was just a trumped up version of Sony's Eye Toy. Greenberg wants gamers to think of Natal as more than just a motion control system, pointing to the facial recognition and full-body tracking it offers. He also mentioned that he expects developers to continue working on Natal for years to come.

"We obviously could have done a motion controller if we'd have wanted to do that, but we felt that would be a much more interruptive experience," Greenberg said. He continued:

We had an opportunity here to really do something that's transformative and brings a whole new category of experiences to life.

We can see when you move your hand, when you move your feet, we can track your body. I can stand in front of this sensor and it can recognize my face and know if it's me, or my brother or my sister.

The richness of the technology is going to really enable experiences that never had existed before. And we're not just speaking about what we're doing this year, but I think two, three, four, five years from now as this evolves.

Millions of consumers this Holiday will be able to experience Project Natal and this is just the beginning of something that will change the way consumers interact with entertainment and change way our publishing partners think about game development.

It certainly appears that Microsoft is shooting the moon with Natal. Rather than chase Nintendo with a Wii knock off, they want to offer something that will be truly new and innovative.

Now we just have to see if it's worth the years of hype. Natal is due out this holiday season, but I predict there will be about 14 million more claims from Microsoft that it will be revolutionary.

Source: CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=234901]





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[Onyx Oblivion]

Revolutionary? No.

Better than the Eye Toy? Easily.

 

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

Well, eyetoy was great fun. logically if this is the same or better it should be the same, or better.

My logic is wrong most of the time anyway.

 

[The Rockerfly]

Of course Microsoft will it was a complete commercial failure and they want it to look as far away from that piece of shit as possible

 

[Cherry Cola]

OK, you responded to the guys claiming that it was another eye-toy. Now will you please give a good argument against Yahtzee's claims that it will fail because it doesn't have any physical feedback? Because if you can't then there is no chance in hell I will accept the Natal as something good. Go through Yahtzee and you might get my support.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

In spite of claims suggesting otherwise, I still don't see this as anything more than a beefed up Eye Toy.

I'd like Microsoft to prove me wrong on this one, most certainly. I find the idea of motion control in video games fascinating, if all too easily becoming a silly gimmick.

 

[Irridium]

Well, it looks interesting. But I'll most likely get it since Fable 3 requires it...

Now we just have to see if it's worth the years of hype. Natal is due out this holiday season, but I predict there will be about 14 million more claims from Microsoft that it will be revolutionary.

Don't forget the millions of claims from Sony and Nintendo who will call it "a waste of time and a gimmick."

 

[Brotherofwill]

"We obviously could have done a motion controller if we'd have wanted to do that, but we felt that would be a much more interruptive experience," Greenberg said. He continued:

I never understood this kind of reasoning. When I game with something in my hand, like a controller, and know the device well then it becomes like an extension of my body. I never think: Whoa, this thing I'm holding is really distracting. I don't notice it.

I only rented the Wii for a short spell and it was annoying that the control sheme was so difficult and hard to memorise, which made me feel like I was a kid again and had to look at the controller to press a button, but I'm sure with some practice it becomes easy too.

However using your own body and stamina for a game would be much more deal breaking because you notice that you are limited by your own physique and thus are taken out of the game (atleast mentally). I have a hard time imagining how full body gaming is seamless and not interruptive.

For god's sake MS: Stop gloating already. The way I see it it's always best to keep your goddamn mouth shut. When the Wii was released, the big N said they would revolutionize gaming and everyone thought they were crazy. They showed of the controller and people couldn't believe it. If they had annoyingly hyped the controller months and months prior, I doubt it would have had the shock effect and impact that it had. Sony isn't trying to make news about its motion-control, actually the speculation about names and such are bringing the news to Sony, so in that way I already prefer theirs (not that I will buy any of them though).

 

[TheDoctor455]

Umm... the Eyetoy DID do all of that... not very well mind you, but it tried to.
So what exactly, makes Natal any better?

 

[JaredXE]

Oh please, wasn't the Wii motion sensor supposed to be all that and have tons of developer support? And look what has happened, it's a joke and developers only throw in motion tracking to appease Nintendo. And it detracts from the game.

No Microsoft, your Natal is just going to be another gimmick, and Molyneux will eat his words. Again.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

OK, you responded to the guys claiming that it was another eye-toy. Now will you please give a good argument against Yahtzee's claims that it will fail because it doesn't have any physical feedback? Because if you can't then there is no chance in hell I will accept the Natal as something good. Go through Yahtzee and you might get my support.

Remember the whole "PS3 won't have vibration" thing and the opposite defense from waaaaaaaay back?

 

[Premonition]

So basically its a trumped up eye toy ...

 

[Cherry Cola]

OK, you responded to the guys claiming that it was another eye-toy. Now will you please give a good argument against Yahtzee's claims that it will fail because it doesn't have any physical feedback? Because if you can't then there is no chance in hell I will accept the Natal as something good. Go through Yahtzee and you might get my support.

Remember the whole "PS3 won't have vibration" thing and the opposite defense from waaaaaaaay back?

No, I don't, but I take it that it didn't work out very good?

*points at vibrating controller that shipped with my PS3*

 

[SinisterDeath]

You all know that the Eye toy, and the PS3 Eye are two different generations of the Eye Toy right?

The only reason the Ps3 hasn't gone anywhere, is there aren't any games that actually make use of it. Its the software thats failed, not the hardware.

Eye of Judgement isn't a bad game just impossible to find cards to do anything with it online.

And the downloadable games for it, are for 6 year olds.

With PS3's 'arc' or whatever they are going to call it, it'll be possible to actually integrate it into all the new games.

Really, all natal is, is an a spruced up eye toy. Sony knows why those fail, theres only so much you can do in a gameplay with that type of control scheme. Ultimately your going to need buttons that the Ps3's gives you, which again, could be integrated. Sony could just as easilly develop full body tracking, but I really do think they did the next best thing.

At least there guy had a better chance of hitting the 'baseballs' with a bat, then they did.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

OK, you responded to the guys claiming that it was another eye-toy. Now will you please give a good argument against Yahtzee's claims that it will fail because it doesn't have any physical feedback? Because if you can't then there is no chance in hell I will accept the Natal as something good. Go through Yahtzee and you might get my support.

Remember the whole "PS3 won't have vibration" thing and the opposite defense from waaaaaaaay back?

No, I don't, but I take it that it didn't work out very good?

*points at vibrating controller that shipped with my PS3*

Yeah. But remember when it WASN'T going to have it?

http://www.videogamer.com/news/playstation_3_controller_loses_vibration.html

 

[Cherry Cola]

Umm... the Eyetoy DID do all of that... not very well mind you, but it tried to.
So what exactly, makes Natal any better?

If you mean better as in just better than the eye toy, then it's probably just because it performs better than the eye toy (or so they claim)

If you're talking about what makes it different.... I have no bloody idea.

 

[Cherry Cola]

OK, you responded to the guys claiming that it was another eye-toy. Now will you please give a good argument against Yahtzee's claims that it will fail because it doesn't have any physical feedback? Because if you can't then there is no chance in hell I will accept the Natal as something good. Go through Yahtzee and you might get my support.

Remember the whole "PS3 won't have vibration" thing and the opposite defense from waaaaaaaay back?

No, I don't, but I take it that it didn't work out very good?

*points at vibrating controller that shipped with my PS3*

Yeah. But remember when it WASN'T going to have it?

*tries to remember*

I remember.. nothing. I think at that time period I shut myself out from the rest of the world and played on my PS2 all day.

Care to enlighten me?

EDIT: Hmmm, edited text ey?

*reads*

*goes into cardiac arrest over the shock of how close that stupid six-axis feature was to ruin the PS3 forever*

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

OK, you responded to the guys claiming that it was another eye-toy. Now will you please give a good argument against Yahtzee's claims that it will fail because it doesn't have any physical feedback? Because if you can't then there is no chance in hell I will accept the Natal as something good. Go through Yahtzee and you might get my support.

Remember the whole "PS3 won't have vibration" thing and the opposite defense from waaaaaaaay back?

No, I don't, but I take it that it didn't work out very good?

*points at vibrating controller that shipped with my PS3*

Yeah. But remember when it WASN'T going to have it?

*tries to remember*

I remember.. nothing. I think at that time period I shut myself out from the rest of the world and played on my PS2 all day.

Care to enlighten me?

*cough* I edited http://www.videogamer.com/news/playstation_3_controller_loses_vibration.html into my last post. *cough*

 

[Plurralbles]

"No Eye Toy"

"No Itoy"

"Itoy"

haha, it's a cleverly hidden shot at Apple's new Pad.

 

[Cherry Cola]

OK, you responded to the guys claiming that it was another eye-toy. Now will you please give a good argument against Yahtzee's claims that it will fail because it doesn't have any physical feedback? Because if you can't then there is no chance in hell I will accept the Natal as something good. Go through Yahtzee and you might get my support.

Remember the whole "PS3 won't have vibration" thing and the opposite defense from waaaaaaaay back?

No, I don't, but I take it that it didn't work out very good?

*points at vibrating controller that shipped with my PS3*

Yeah. But remember when it WASN'T going to have it?

*tries to remember*

I remember.. nothing. I think at that time period I shut myself out from the rest of the world and played on my PS2 all day.

Care to enlighten me?

*cough* I edited http://www.videogamer.com/news/playstation_3_controller_loses_vibration.html into my last post. *cough*

AND NOW I EDITED MY POST!

Because the edit-button is so pretty that I'd rather push it than write another comment.

Which means that this comment is rather worthless...

..

Six-axis sucks!