Microsoft's Spencer: Natal Is "Fraught With Risk"

[Yog Sothoth]

Good notice though, people tend to forget about games like GT 5 in the current shooter-dominated environment.

Edit: Wait a sec GT 5 prologue sold 4 mil? Woah, maybe 10 mil for the 5th iteration isn't so far off afterall .

*Cough-cough* Forza Motorsport 3 *cough*

...sorry about that... had something in my throat I guess...

Ok, I'm done here for now... been nice chatting with you all!

We're talking about serious franchises, not flash in the pan ones. Forza's got nothing on any of the games we're talking about. Case in point, Forza 3 hasn't even outsold Forza 2, let alone Prologue.

If I didn't know any better, I'd call that some serious flame-bait...

Forza is anything but a "flash in the pan"... It is one of 2009's highest rated 360 exclusives, has a robust and thriving fan base, offers many features that Gran Turismo up to this point lacks such as damage modeling & a livery editor AND has put out three titles in the interim between GT4 and the oft-delayed GT5.

Forza 3 has barely been out three months, so comparing it's sales numbers to any other game is rather pointless...

 

[Something Amyss]

So...How many people doubting Natal doubted the Wii and considered it a failure before it dropped?

Just seems like there's little reason to assume failure here.

 

[vorlors]

ah does poor old microsoft feel left out now :'P jk I proable won't buy it right away but i'm looking foword to when they have all the kinks worked out

 

[Yog Sothoth]

Good notice though, people tend to forget about games like GT 5 in the current shooter-dominated environment.

Edit: Wait a sec GT 5 prologue sold 4 mil? Woah, maybe 10 mil for the 5th iteration isn't so far off afterall .

*Cough-cough* Forza Motorsport 3 *cough*

...sorry about that... had something in my throat I guess...

Ok, I'm done here for now... been nice chatting with you all!

We're talking about serious franchises, not flash in the pan ones. Forza's got nothing on any of the games we're talking about. Case in point, Forza 3 hasn't even outsold Forza 2, let alone Prologue.

If I didn't know any better, I'd call that some serious flame-bait...

Forza is anything but a "flash in the pan"... It is one of 2009's highest rated 360 exclusives, has a robust and thriving fan base, offers many features that Gran Turismo up to this point lacks such as damage modeling & a livery editor AND has put out three titles in the interim between GT4 and the oft-delayed GT5.

Forza 3 has barely been out three months, so comparing it's sales numbers to any other game is rather pointless...

No, it's not flamebait, it's facts. Forza 3 hasn't sold enough to warrant any entrance to this conversation. The fact that Prologue's nearly outsold Forza 3, on a lesser install base. Is only testament to this fact. There's no denying the drawing power of Halo or Gears, but Forza? Sorry, it's not come close to the following that Gran Turismo, or the aforementioned IP's have.

And yes, 3 ip's have come out, and combined, they've not even come CLOSE to what Gran Turismo 4 sold. To say nothing of A-Spec. And considering GT5 hasn't been released yet, unless you're a PD employee working on the project, your assessment of what will and won't be in GT, is about as relevant as your perspective on Forza's amazing sales figures.

PS. Oft-delayed you say? I suggest you take a look back at your facts, and find me where you think GT5 got an NA/Euro release date, more than once. You won't find it because it never happened. The 'delay' only affects Japan. Not the launch window for the rest of the world.

Ok, I'm not sure how this became an argument about which of those two franchises have sold better, but I'll play along for now...

Here are some sales comparisons provided by www.vgchartz.com. The first one compares Forza 2 to Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. The numbers on the left describe the total number of units sold, and the numbers at the bottom indicate how many weeks the game has been on sale. I chose to compare these two games since they've both been available for roughly the same amount of time...

As you can see in the first chart, Forza 2 outsold GT Prologue by about 500,000 over the lifespan of the two games.

Spoiler: chart 1

[http://Yog-Sothoth.gamerdna.com/images/9NInINB/sales1-jpg]

Now, here is a chart that compares Forza 3 to GT Prologue over a period of 100 weeks. While Forza 3 has only been out for a fraction of the time that GT has, you can clearly see that it appears to be on track to at least be competitive. It's also worth noting that in the first 15 weeks of each of these games release, Forza topped sales of 2 million while GT hadn't even broke 400,000 over the same amount of time.

Spoiler: chart 2

[http://Yog-Sothoth.gamerdna.com/images/MIcnIOj/sales2-jpg]

Obviously there are many mitigating factors here such as install base and which markets the games were originally released in, but I think that at the least I've demonstrated that you've dismissed the Forza franchise out of hand, and that it's a successful franchise by any measure.

And last, GT 5 has been delayed. Again. Recently. Of course it has to come out in Japan before it does anywhere else, ergo a delay there probably equals a delay for the rest of the world as well. Gran Turismo 5 Forced to Pit Again [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97527-Gran-Turismo-5-Forced-to-Pit-Again]

Not trying to start a flame war, noting personal, etc, etc... I simply disagree with your assertions...

EDIT: Chart one is a period of 300 weeks, chart 2 is 100. Hope that's not too confusing.

 

[swytchblayd]

Molyneux certainly knows how to dream big, even if he doesn't always hit his mark

Or know when to shut his mouth, a la the Fable 2 fiasco? XP

Seriously, someone stick an apple in Peter's mouth and shove him in a closet, then lock and bar the doorway. The man seems to outright lie about half of everything, and what he doesn't lie about is only half-true. He's worse than some politicians... Why does anyone even listen to him anymore?

give us your own equivalent of The Last Guardian and God of War III and we'll call it even, okay?

Mass Effect? I heard that it was a Xbox 360 exclusive that was fairly well received and that there is even a sequel coming out for it soon...

its also on PC.

Most Xbox exclusives are ported to PC... I don't know, I think Microsoft makes computers. It is still a Microsoft exclusive if it is on PC.

Microsoft doesn't make computers... it makes a little thing called Windows, which is the operating system that most any game requiring a PC (in the USA at least) runs on.


Anyways, Natal really doesn't interest me. I mean, no interface? What the hell? I really don't see this becoming anything more than a glorified Wii Remote, and I remember there being quite a few major issues concerning the straps [http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com/show_cat.php?cat=1] that came with them. Will people now be "accidentally" punching and/or kicking their TVs while playing with the Natal? Will be interesting to see what kind of idiocracy comes out of people fooling around with this.

And yes, there is a sequel of Mass Effect coming (VERY) soon. [http://masseffect.bioware.com/agegate/?url=%2F]
Kinda hard to miss ^^^

 

[theultimateend]

I wonder if you can get pregnant slapping your wangs against each other that much? Seriously do people really NEED to defend their console? Was the purchase that major?

I've got all three systems and they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

I'm not sure if Natal is going to work, Frankly even the Wii Remote was almost too far along. If you are going to do motion controls you need for feedback. Without that it just doesn't work.

At any rate, I doubt they'll lose too much money from this. If anything they could release a new Viva Pinata and I can dust off my 360 .

 

[Abedeus]

Looks like I'm the only one who saw the title and read "Fraud with Risk".

Shame on me?

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

From what ive heard NATAL is a very advanced piece of technology, its certainly not an eye toy, otherwise they wouldnt be risking millions of dollars on it. I dont think Natal will pull through though simply because people will feel stupid. I feel stupid playing a wii. That being said, the newer generation of gamers (which i thankfully escaped from) may grow up with things like natal and they may view controllers as obsolete. Natal also a a bad idea for people people with a small gaming space (theres less than a meter between my bed and my tv).
Anyways I always imagined virtual gaming being something like the matrix, god that would be awesome, if not a little painful.