Kinect Discussion

[GamerMan316]

NEWS FLASH FROM FAILED NEWS

Modern Warfare 3 to use Natal in Multiplayer

Thats me not playing it then 

[GamerMan316]

Microsoft: Core games 'sell themselves,' Project Natal will broaden audience

Microsoft's taken steps to appeal to the casual crowd, sure. The first was NXE, which brought us all things like Avatars and Netflix, with subsequent updates adding Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm. These are experiences meant to broaden the appeal of the Xbox 360 to casual gamers, a group that Microsoft spokesperson David Dennis told GI.biz is pretty tricky to hook.

Project Natal will play a big part in Microsoft's continuing goal to interest more casual players, Dennis said. He compared the interactive, controller-less experience to having the broad appeal of a title like Wii Fit -- something Dennis calls "an experience done right" that goes beyond the core yet still manages to "capture the imagination of the core." It's this dual-catering that Dennis thinks Natal excel at, as he predicts the hardware will enable experiences that the core will look forward to, as well as "casual game experiences that are easy to jump in and play."

In the interim, we offer Microsoft this ProTip for appealing to more casual players: Make more games with "Party" in the title. Who doesn't like a party?

[GamerMan316]

i've changed the name of this thread to "Natal Discussion" so all Natal news can go in here  

like this for example

'Natal lag issues will hurt game development'

Traveller's Tales' director Jon Burton fears that a controllerless UI will limit its flexibility for different genres and games

Microsoft has invested significant money and time to ensure its upcoming motion controller Natal is as accomplished as its host console, yet suspected "lag issues" may curb the peripheral's chances of success.

That was the view offered by Traveller's Tales company director Jon Burton, who told Develop that his own experience with the hands-free controller raised doubts.

"I was actually more impressed with Sony's motion capture solution than Microsoft's Natal," he said as part of this week's Develop Jury Service.

"Natal is exceedingly clever, but the lag on the input and lack of physical buttons is really going to restrict the kind of games that can be done with it," he added, before going on to praise Sony's (currently nameless) alternative.

"Sony's solution will be cheap, accurate and will put buttons at your fingertips, meaning everything from action adventures to FPSes can be handled with the same input."

Burton's fear is that any controllerless device will struggle to achieve the level of immediacy and precision that's found analogue sticks, buttons and mice. And, as such accuracy and fluidity is demanded by a vast number of games and genres, questions have been raised on which kind of games Natal will fit best with.

It has been suggested previously that the flexibility of Natal's camera could allow for games where a controller and the Natal camera can be used together – a solution that could somewhat defeat the purpose of Natal itself.

However, Burton has not seen a final version of Natal, as Microsoft looks to tweak the device before its 'November' launch.

"The software behind Natal stunned me," added Burton. "To be able to take effectively a bump-map of a person and turn that into a fully articulated and rigged polygonal skeleton is an incredible feat. We run a mo-cap studio and to get anything resembling mo-cap, live in real-time, from effectively a single camera is nothing short of amazing."

Microsoft recently confirmed it will reveal more details about Natal to developers at its Gamefest conferences in February.

The revelation followed reports that the company is agressively ramping up recruitment for Natal-tied software, and is touring studios to encourage development deals.

[GamerMan316]

Leaked footage of Half Life 2 on Natal

[xnightcrawlerxx]

i want to be excited about natal, i just have a feeling that it'll be full of bugs

[GamerMan316]

i want to be excited about natal, i just have a feeling that it'll be full of bugs

I have a feeling that it will be a failure, depends on the price of course.

[nCogNeato]

Leaked footage of Half Life 2 on Natal

That looked frustrating and nausiating.

[sambo]

Leaked footage of Half Life 2 on Natal

Looked cool and sh*t at the same time!!!

[TaraJayne]

Leaked footage of Half Life 2 on Natal

Looked cool and sh*t at the same time!!!

Sambos right it did look cool and sh*t and so sh*t its cool. I want it!!!

[GamerMan316]

like life it'll fail miserably, just you watch

[TaraJayne]

Life doesnt fail unless you let it. But really I dont think it will. That video is leaked so its not quite the finished article

[GamerMan316]

this generations Eye Toy

[TaraJayne]

Thats fine with me I liked the eye toy

[GamerMan316]

Thats fine with me I liked the eye toy

fair enough but it was an awful addition to what in all fairness wasn't even a good console & it flopped worse than Dirk Diggler when he realised Ann Widdecombe would be his next on screen partner!

[TaraJayne]

Did you just basically say the PS2 wasnt a good console
The eye toy did flop I presume but I always used it for Buzz games and Singstar.