This is what I asked myself this morning, when I woke up and found the leaked news/rumor of the new gaming hands-free kit. Project Natal is supposedly gonna hit shelves November 2010, for the impressively low price of £50. On launch it is also rumored that the device will have a bundle of 14 games. Well if this is true then I will be looking forward to November/Christmas next year.
But as I sat back and thought about it, will this be another gaming fad that won’t last the honeymoon period? Or will it actually take off, and bring a new element to gaming as we know it?
Now I am one of these picky gamers who feels right at home with a controller in my hands, the traditional but effective way of gaming has always appealed to me and if any of you out there know me, you will know I have this ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it attitude’ to life. The Wii for me is kind of on the border line with it, true it still has the controller but instead of traditionally pressing buttons, you are waving it around like some sort of crazy base-ball player, oh the stories I have heard about Wii remotes going through TV screens still make me chuckle.
For those of you out there who aren’t familiar with Project Natal, let me give you a brief explanation. Project Natal is a device that will plug into your Xbox 360, comprising of a black box with a camera, and a special motion sensor which in turn scans your body, letting you play games totally hands free, just by moving your body. Not only that, but the device also promises a new level of customisation to your gaming, say you have a really cool skateboard deck at home and you want touse it in Tony Hawk, apparently you can scan in your deck and hey presto, it is there on the game for you to use. Also, it will make clothes shopping easier as well, where you can, in some way, virtually try on the clothes that have caught your eye.
To me this sounds too huge for a November 2010 release date, I mean has our technology advanced that much? If so, then why aren’t PC’s and Mac’s doing it now with their webcams? I mean c’mon, Apple would have jumped on that shiny technology band wagon ages ago. Do Microsoft have exclusive rights to this technology? Or are they just going to bring out a half-arsed thing which is just akin to a glorified PlayStation EyeToy?
Take Milo as a shining example. Lion Head have come up with a game for Natal which centers around a boy called Milo and basically he talks to you, and you can fully interact with him. He is pretty much a friend you can buy from a store. Peter Molyneux and the Lion Head team have promised that you can pretty much interact with this character in almost anyway possible, you can give him objects which Natal will scan in, and he can read your emotions and basically get to know you inside out.I don’t know about you, but I think this type of technology would take years to make, maybe ten at least, you have to programme every single outcome, emotion and interaction and to be honest I’m dreading that most of the time Milo is not going to understand you and get bored. It was confirmed at this years E3 extravaganza in LA, and true, it won’t be coming out with Natal at its supposed launch, but if it was announced at E3 then it has to come out in a year or two…right?
The only thing that gives Natal a glint of hope is Playstation 3’s EyePet. This relatively new game that has hit the market uses the PS3 eye camera to film the gamer while the EyePet is on the screen, meaning that what you see in the screen is your living room with the monkey/dog thing inside it. Pretty cool in my opinion. After looking at the potential of this game and doing a little bit of reasearch, I can say I have a little bit more hope about Natal. Even though EyePet is basically a glorified EyeToy like I said earlier, it does mean Natal can up its game.
So for me I am very much sitting on the fence for this project. A part of me is hoping that Natal has the capability of blowing its competition out of the water, but then again I like my games with controllers, being physically able to push buttons is a thing that I enjoy because, without a doubt a button command 99.999999 times out of a hundred will do what you want, whereas hands-free gaming can be less reliable in my opinion.
Garv
I’m in two minds about this one really. On one hand, I hate the thought of playing Fallout Vegas by walking or running on the spot and having to hold a 15″ dildo up and pretend it’s my Lincoln Repeater gun while some Super Mutant (no doubt wearing a medallion or an Italian suit if we’re in Vegas) pummels me as the Natal scanner shrugs as if to say “What… you want me to make you shoot him? Can’t you just use your controller?”
On the other hand… it’s black and shiny
Bring it awwwwwn!!!!
Couldn’t agree more, although the Wii has its fun parts its just not got that real solid feel to it. Natal looks interesting but I hope they don’t incorporate it into too much right away as I think I’m going to dislike it very quickly…
Could be cool, but I don’t see proper controllers dying out any time soon.
Couldn’t agree more, great piece. I personally shudder at the thought of having to deal with controlling a game with anything other than a damn good controller. For me, the Wii is where you go if you want a lot of messing around and nonsense and if I want a good game, then that is what the Xbox is for.
I seriously hope that this will be nothing more than the usual smoke and mirrors rather than rupture the classic gaming experience …and with Molyneux involved, I would say that that is very likely!