Project Natal - XBOX 360 finds the Wii killer?

[Necroticart]

Hypernova I'm not even going to comment on your post but please add something constructive to the boards if your going to make a post.

As for Natal it would be beneficial for microsoft to add some kind of hand held device as I don't see how you can fire a gun or light up say a lightsaber without some kind of trigger or button. If they don't it makes me think they are going the route of casual play, as I don't see them making a halo game with this tech, As for Sony I think they have the right Idea by having found a middle ground between Nintendo and microsoft.  as I stated before I can see using the Sony tech to play a fps with pin point accuracy or say a lightsaber game given you have full motion control of the device. Either way I hope they all do well for competition purposes my hope is they concentrate on the Hardcore gamer and don't get left out like nintendo is doing.

[Dartful Dodger]

Tech just is not there yet (esp for consumer market) it will happen one day but its not going to be cheap, its not going to be run by a xbox 360 and its not going to be anytime soon I do no think.

I was at a multimedia conference this weekend.  OMG!

What the heck happened in the last few months?
I'm spending too much time here and not enough on the tech webpages.

Someone was using Flash and it's web cam feature to have Flash interact with the guy/movement in the video.

Ok, it was really basic compared to what Microsoft and Sony are alleging, but if some clown using Flash can do these basic tricks, iit's not as farfetched as I first believed that MS and Sony's  teams can develope this stuff.

...although I still don't trust the demo video or an article written by a guy whose company sells advertising space to MS and wants to be invited back next year.

[versapak]

...although I still don't trust the demo video or an article written by a guy whose company sells advertising space to MS and wants to be invited back next year.

Well you could always trust the other hundreds of positive impressions of the tech.


I wouldn't just trust one guys opinion either, but the mass response to it is overwhelmingly positive.

[versapak]

I dunno, man, I just can't shake that image of a crowd of us standing around this same kind of thing in 1990 at the Boston Computer Museum.

Or seeing it again ~1991 at Incredible Universe.

You'd think a grown man would have been disappointed enough by VR promises over the years not to get his hopes up, VERSAPAK.  (still waiting on my Genesis and Jaguar VR equipment here...)

heheh

What can I say...


'91 was almost 20 years ago now, and technology has come a long way.

The Wii isn't really my thing, but it has compelled people to think outside the box, and that could be a great thing go forward. I am really excited to see what the PS3 and 360 can do with the tech.

Maybe it will be a bunch of garbage, but hey... It is something to look forward to all the same. I still get to enjoy the present as well.

I am forever optimistic about technology like this.

[shmokes]

This is incredibly unlikely to take off.  Sure, the tech will be incorporated into the next iterations of the Playstation and Xbox, but you can't very easily release an expensive new peripheral like this in the middle of a console cycle.  Of course Rock Band and Wii Fit fly in the face of this truism, but both of those games use peripherals that are very specific to the task.  It's possible that one or both of them will be packed with some amazing game that will generate so much word of mouth and press that the device will take off, but it's pretty unlikely.  This will be just like the eye toy not because the tech is the same, but because the dynamics are the same.

edit: oh yeah, and maybe lots of people got to try Milo and had a good experience, but anyone who believes Molineux's ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- line about Claire's demo not being scripted has a severe case of gullibility.  Yeah, there just happened to be a blank sheet of paper and a marker sitting there in case their conversation happened to go in that direction.   

[versapak]

This is incredibly unlikely to take off.  Sure, the tech will be incorporated into the next iterations of the Playstation and Xbox, but you can't very easily release an expensive new peripheral like this in the middle of a console cycle.  Of course Rock Band and Wii Fit fly in the face of this truism, but both of those games use peripherals that are very specific to the task.  It's possible that one or both of them will be packed with some amazing game that will generate so much word of mouth and press that the device will take off, but it's pretty unlikely.  This will be just like the eye toy not because the tech is the same, but because the dynamics are the same.

edit: oh yeah, and maybe lots of people got to try Milo and had a good experience, but anyone who believes Molineux's ---smurf-poop--- line about Claire's demo not being scripted has a severe case of gullibility.  Yeah, there just happened to be a blank sheet of paper and a marker sitting there in case their conversation happened to go in that direction.  

Well, yeah, of course it was somewhat scripted. It was a tech demo, and glimpse of the kind of things that could potentially be done.

Milo isn't even at all what I'd be excited about seeing.


As for it taking off...

http://kotaku.com/5287069/natal-launch-will-be-as-big-as-360s


They are looking to launch this thing right, but who knows if it will succeed or not. There is plenty of history to say it won't, but then the gaming marketplace today is a totally different thing, and there are examples of how success with such things in the present.

If they can truly launch it with games and experiences that matter, then it can easily succeed. If it is a bunch of shovelware crap with no real appeal beyond the novelty, then it probably won't.

I already got rid of one Wii, and I am certainly not looking for another, so...

[massive88]

This was interesting news: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10254466-56.html?tag=rtcol;pop

[shmokes]

If they can truly launch it with games and experiences that matter, then it can easily succeed. If it is a bunch of shovelware crap with no real appeal beyond the novelty, then it probably won't.

Of course, the Wii directly contradicts this statement.   

[versapak]

If they can truly launch it with games and experiences that matter, then it can easily succeed. If it is a bunch of shovelware crap with no real appeal beyond the novelty, then it probably won't.

Of course, the Wii directly contradicts this statement.  

Well... Yeah.

[hypernova]

Hypernova I'm not even going to comment on your post but please add something constructive to the boards if your going to make a post.

By pointing it out, you are commenting on my post.

We're all basically speculating as to how a grand success or a grand failure these are going to be or "it would be neat/cool if" scenarios.  So no one's really adding anything to the conversation that isn't already common knowledge, or is just a plain opinion.  So....

Now.  Has anyone seen Necroticart's sense of humor?  He seems to have misplaced it since I poked fun at Sony's phallic controllers, which SOMEONE would have eventually done.

[shmokes]

All I know is that you type out generic quote tags when there is a convenient button right there that will fill in proper quote tags for you.   Therefore I have no idea whom you are quoting and thus cannot write intelligently about it.

[hypernova]

Because then it quotes the whole post.  And I don't want the whole post.  It wastes space.  Sure, I could remove all the parts that aren't needed, but that wastes my time.  I hate wasting time and space. 

The person it's meant for always knows what they wrote.  He just seems to be pulling some fanboy comments.  If I wanted those, I'd visit gamefaqs.com or view responses to a gamespot/ign article.

Now I would hope that Sony would consider changing their design, just a little.  I can see myself getting a PS3.  Originally I was thinking of a 360, but my mind keeps leaning towards PS3 lately.

as I stated before I can see using the Sony tech to play a fps with pin point accuracy

Even with a fake gun to hold, your arms are going to get tired.  Holding an imaginary gun...good luck on keeping your aim dead on.  Lots of us are getting on in our age, and maintaining a steady reticule will be next to impossible, and fatigue will only be compounded.

[shmokes]

The quote button is still faster.  You have to highlight the text you don't want and hit delete, but that's no slower than highlighting the text you want to copy/paste under the method you use.  And the end result is far superior.  Remember, this isn't personal messaging.  It's a public forum.  Your posts are read by more than the person it's meant for.   

[DJ_Izumi]

Even with a fake gun to hold, your arms are going to get tired.  Holding an imaginary gun...good luck on keeping your aim dead on.  Lots of us are getting on in our age, and maintaining a steady reticule will be next to impossible, and fatigue will only be compounded.

Not that hard to do partical quotes with full info.

Anyway I agree, with my light gun games I have to take a break after 15-20mins because my arms get tired of constantly holding the gun out in a shooting position.  I see similar issues with say, the steering wheel simulation they showed.  With a racing wheel you can use the wheel for support, but if you're grasping onto thin air, you're supporting your arms outward and pretending to steer, they'll get sore fairly quickly.

On the other hand, the block breaker type motions looked promising.

[hypernova]

Hell.  If either made a Wii Sports type knockoff, but better (more holes and courses for golf, same level of complexity, more types of swings in tennis...bowling can't really be improved upon,) it would be sweet.  I love the golf with friends.  Tiger Woods gets a little too complex.

[Aabra]

The biggest problem with all of these camera technologies is that they simply can't process fast movements.  Notice in the milo demo how slowly she is moving?  Nice, natural movements the entire time.  The moment your arm goes behind your back the camera can't see it and thus loses track of it.  Quick jabs in a fighting game never work very well because by the time it realizes that you did it (if it even does), you've already finished the movement creating all sorts of lag.

I'm glad that they're working on this technology and I really do hope that it works like advertised but I have serious doubts.  We'll have to wait and see.

[TPB]

Sony's phallic controllers

A bit of humour never goes astray.   


I reckon Sony's wand has more promise than project natal.

But the "here & now" is what matters most, and Nintendo seems to have scored another raging success with the Wii MotionPlus.  EA developers were reportedly taken aback at the accuracy of the MotionPlus adaptor.   

[hypernova]

I've since taken back my Tiger Woods comment.  That game is pretty sweet when using WM+.

[skim36]

Nintendo has stated they looked at motion capture technology when they were developing the wii and decided against it.

[versapak]

Nintendo has stated they looked at motion capture technology when they were developing the wii and decided against it.

Well, it was a few years ago now, and it would have cost more money, and given that the wii is little more than a gamecube with a new controller...

They were clearly looking to put as little $ into R&D as possible.


They found their thing, but I wouldn't necessarily look at anything that they decided not to do as something that is inferior.

[ahofle]

I would be shocked if Natal will ever be remotely useful for 'hardcore' gaming.  I can't imagine playing any 'hardcore' game where there is a 200-300 millisecond delay for the camera and CPU to try and guess what I'm doing.  And that's even assuming it will figure it all out perfectly, which I highly doubt after watching the demo (I found it funny when he tried to show the bottom of his shoe unsuccessfully).  I also find it amusing it's not considered gimmicky by the people who said the same about the Wii-mote control. 

[Dartful Dodger]

I want to play Police 911 type games in my living room.

Also the Wii-mote is gimmicky because it's a cool feature for a last generation system.