Project Natal was announced at this years Microsoft E3 press conference and has seemed to have gathered a large amount of main stream media attention. Now rumor has it that Natal will be the basis for a new Xbox console release. This has me very worried about gaming’s future.
This always has been Microsofts reaction to the Wii’s ridiculous success, which is fine as the Wii is making a lot of money right now. The problem I have is that it is a very different type of gaming that is fun in short burst’s or at a party but I do not enjoy playing the Wii for long periods of time. I don’t like the Idea of sitting down for a few hours to play a shooter or a JRPG and having to keep waggling my hands all over the place. Natal aims to remove even the waggle interaction with the wiimote and just map body movements. I don’t want to pretend to be driving just holding my hands in front of the TV (yes I know there’ll be $10 plastic accessories to help with that), but that all feels so gimmicky yo me that my interest is at zero. Honestly I was more impressed by Sonys "Magic Wand" because I could see the game potential of that (I do hate game that shoehorn sixaxis controls into PS3 games tho).
Then the thought hit me. Am I the one thats out of touch. Has gaming moved past the limitations of the controller but I’m clinging on to the old ways with dear life. Is this the Rock and Roll that I’m giving out that it just sounds like noise.
One of my arguments is that the Wii console has sold a units but its 3rd party software sales isnt great. Wii fit and games like Mario Kart, Wii Play and select 3rd party like Carnival games sell lots but not many other titles do that well, whereas the Xbox and PS3 have a must have game every month.
I hope I’m wrong, I home that there is a killer motion control game out there that will turn me around on his but right now Natal has not impressed me.
#1 by nesf on June 14, 2009 - 12:43 pm
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The Wii and the Xbox 360 are aimed at very different consumer groups. Beyond being consoles there really isn’t that much similarity between them.
#2 by thanatos_elnyx on June 14, 2009 - 2:24 pm
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Would not many new games have the option of playing with Controller OR Natal?
I agree that for longer games the contorller would definately be the way to go, I can’t imagine having a 6 hour long session of Fable if I have to stand and wave my arms about. But if they could incorporate a vdu headset I think we would be pretty damn close to the holodeck (though you’d probably have to build a fence in your gaming room so you don’t hit a wall.)
#3 by dundragon on June 15, 2009 - 8:20 am
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I wouldn’t mind if it were a mix of the 2, to offer the gamer a choice. If X-box are going to go down the Wii route full time then I can actually see them loosing it.
#4 by zarkia on June 16, 2009 - 9:19 am
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i think they will have to develop certain games that are for use with natal only… like the one that peter molenaux(sp?) demoed at e3. and that painting thing that microsoft showed off, but i definetly wouldn’t feel comfortable dancing around to get a game to work… even if i was totally alone in the room, i’d still feel self-conscious and like an idiot.