T3h 'Kipz Flam0r Syndicate

Lately Microsoft release press info about “Project Natal”, for the Xbox 360 gaming console. Albeit being an very interesting concept of the gaming industry, by removing the controllers and using the entire body as an controller seems like a good idea.

However, how far will it go ? Let’s take some simple games like Gears of War 2, which is the grand game for Xbox 360, almost on par with Halo 3/Halo 3 ODST.
Well the concept was probably not evolved or developed to be used with theese games, as they require 8-way movement on the map, and how would you aim your weaponry ?

But, I’ll try to be open-minded here and view at it from the interactive point-of-view. Microsoft states they’ll develope interactive games specificly to be used with the Natal sensor, basicly it’s a 3D Wii Motion Detector, it detects any movement of your body, face recognition, voice recognition are the high features.
However who would buy this device ? I think it’s primarily geared towards the families and people with more interest in interactive gaming over, controller-required gaming.
As far as I’ve been able to see from the press info and material release by Microsoft, the Natals job is to attempt at removing the controller from the consumer, it seems to be working. However there’s gonna be some limit to how much controller-requirement it’ll be able to remove, I would probably never be able to play Halo 3 ODST or Gears of War 2 with this, besides being able to try and move my character by ‘running-on-spot’ I would still have to deal with dodging, crouching, proning and more stances.

So how do we deal with that ? We take back the controller in hand and plays the game, which renders the Natal useless on point.
Nonetheless, I do believe most Xbox 360 consumers will take the Natal in with open arms and at least try it, it may not be a Wii, and it may not be able to play Gears of War 2, but it may add some excitement or changes to your everyday by adding some interactive motion into your life, the Natal is actually a camera, which makes it possible to keep video calls over Xbox Live, this seems like a great idea, and voice recognition is on par with 400$ microphones for your computer or sound-station.
But why add the addition to an 4-5 year old console that’s already having trouble keeping up with Blu-Ray against the PS3 ? After 4-5 years Microsoft has got to have another Xbox console in design-phase.

If was was in the Microsoft financial department, I would’ve strongly adviced to get a new Xbox on the market, and release the Natal with it, why ? It’ll give more publicity, and the developement team more time to get the Natal features done and maybe completely remove the controller from before controller-required games. But alas, I’m not that high on the food chain, nor do I have the education for it, apparently I would guess it’s a rather rash attempt for Microsoft to get some fame back into the Xbox 360 as the sales have dropped serverely over the last couple of years, with the recently released ‘Elite’ edition, it didn’t get much better either.
Microsoft is not the only company suffering from this, Sony Entertainment is having problems getting their PS3 Slims off the shelves as well.

Does Microsoft have potential lying here, or will it be another flop ? Time will show, I personally believe mostly in the last point, a flop as usual. Not that I would rather bet on Sony Entertainments ‘Wand Controller’ project for the PS3, but I just prefer controller gaming, since it gives me enough control, and if a simple controller with more than enough buttons to map in your head, doesn’t cut it. Add driver-software to insert simple USB mouse and keyboards, PS3 already has mouse/keyboard support in Unreal Tournament 3, and is the only console on the market that has this opportunity, why not use it more. Lately I’ve actually been thinking that I’d rather play games on a steady console over a computer, that I would have to buy new hardware for every 2-6 months hence games developement in requirements and so on. Press releases states that Final Fantasy XIII is to-date, the most requiring game for the Playstation 3, but it only managed to use 40%…. FORTY-FUCKING-PERCERNT! of the PS3 processor! Xbox 360 gets clocked out by that since even the almost launch released Gears of War pulled nearly 95% of the processor power from it.
I’m sorry here, there’s alot of favors in the PS3 for this one, I really gotta say that I’m one of them that had owned an Xbox 360 for a year and a half, but even at the day I bought it and after I’ve had it for like an month. I didn’t really feel any thrill about it, I could play Gears of War constantly, I bought alot of other pretty good games. But now with this Natal, despite adding a certain level of interactiveness, and social interactiveness, I just don’t get the ‘Wow factor‘.
Why is the wow factor important, with no wow factor there’s no impressions over a new item/project, which means it’ll just go by unnoticed, and I’m not stating it will go unnoticed, just that PS3 owners and Wii owners, will say ‘ZzzzzzzZzzzz‘, rather than be ubër excited.

Wonder why ? Nintendo just did a press release stating they’re working on new sensors with cameras, HD cameras even, motion detection, face recognition and voice recognition, exactly the same that Sony Entertainment have been working on. Sony had the EyeToy out for years, and the PS3 version got even better, remember The Eye of Judgement ? The PS3 EyeToy could recognize patterns on a card to ‘summon’ monsters on the game field, just like when you’re watching Yu-Gi-Oh! On the TV. That game was revolutionary for its being, if you’ve tried it, you’ll love it!

All in all, Project Natal seems like a rash move from Microsoft to boast their Xbox 360, and also to try and follow on the interactive scale that the Wii is and have always been reigning since it’s release. The Playstation 3 just wins at its sheer power that’s still not being used, and all the extra equipment you can add, and that it’s a Blu-Ray console. Sorry Microsoft, I love your Operating Systems *cough*FuckVista*cough*, but, going all out on the Xbox 360 like this and not trying to develop your equipment for a new console is just not financially consistent, releasing a new Xbox 360 right now may be a bad idea in terms of game programming, but there’s the chance to shine since the game developement for Xbox 360 and programming is by far easier for Xbox 360 than PS3, no wonder there’s not a single company, by the excepton of Final Fantasy XIII which was originally intended as a PS3 exclusive, gets ported to a multiple disc version, and when I say multiple. I mean fucking multiple due to your stupid drive bays.
(Please try to fix the ‘DISC KILLER MECHANISM OF DOOM’! It really is the cause of alot of games death, it’s a minor fix for 5 bucks!) Ahem! Anyhow, Natal is promising, but nothing I would think as groundbreaking. The Xbox 360 sure can stand up to having a greater social interactive meaning, I don’t want to wish the Natal Project luck, since I hate any Xbox 360 project coming ever since I sold my Xbox 360 in rage over it’s suckiness. Besides, the best games for me personally, is released on the PS3, I don’t care about Gears of War or any other exclusive you may get, PS3 is proven to get way more exclusives, and they already have a perfect grasp on serveral companies like Namco, Square, Tecmo and more.

Sorry Natal, fuck you.