The Project Natal. The Revolution has Come!

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If given the choice of becoming a (presumably) anthropomorphic vegetable, Phil Spencer would opt for an eggplant. Sure, we spoke to the confident head of Microsoft Game Studios about other things -- Halo, Project Natal, Fable, Crackdown, the Xbox 360's successor, blah blah blah -- but with that profound scoop out of the way, there's barely any reason to read this interview.

Mind you, the part where Spencer suggests that alternate forms of input (whether in addition to or in substitute of traditional controllers) might become a common expectation is pretty interesting. You should definitely read that.

Joystiq: We just came out of the Tokyo Game Show panel discussion for Project Natal ...

Phil Spencer: The creators panel.

Yes, the creators panel. Hideo Kojima was there; they brainstormed about all these games. How much focus is Microsoft Game Studios placing on Natal development internally in comparison to other projects?

It's a big focus for us in first party. As a first party, I think it's our duty, it's our responsibility to look at the new technologies that we bring to our platform. We did this with Live. We did at launch of 360. When we look at Project Natal as an opportunity for first party to truly innovate on our platform, creating new experiences, new intellectual property, we're very focused. A large percentage of the studio right now is thinking about Natal as part of what they're doing.

Continue reading Interview: Microsoft Game Studios' Phil Spencer

Interview: Microsoft Game Studios' Phil Spencer originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft claims that Project Natal will “revolutionize home entertainment”but according to one analyst Sony’s motion controller is “superior from a gaming perspective.”

Project Natal wowed many a gamer and journalist at E3 with its fluid body-based controls courtesy of a 3D motion sensing camera ti detect every shimmy and shake. However not everyone’s as impressed.

speaking to Gamasutra Industry analyst Doug Creutz believes Natal is a solution to a problem that wasn’t there and that Sony’s own motion controller is a better gaming proposition.

“The Project Natal demo from Microsoft got most of the ink, but I really thought Sony’s demo was superior from a gaming perspective,” said Creutz.

“Natal appeared to me to be a technological solution in search of a problem. “Do I really care if I can navigate my Netflix queue without using a controller?

Fair point with Netflix. But what about games?

“I had a very hard time envisioning playing Modern Warfare 3 using Natal. By contrast, I had a very easy time envisioning it (and enjoying it) using Sony’s control/motion capture scheme.

Creutz seemed to admit that while Natal could be a worthy addition to the casual games market existing fans of casual games, who are likely to have a Wii will be non too pleased at having upgrade twice (don’t forget MotionPlus).

“Microsoft appears to be trying to steal casual gamers away from Nintendo, which is a difficult proposition given that you’re essentially asking casual gamers to upgrade twice during the cycle (assuming they already own a Wii).

Creutz suggested that Sony has the better gaming strategy by concentrating on what the company knows rather than attempt to go all-out casual.

“In contrast, Sony is squarely targeting the core gamer market, which is what they need to be doing,”

Strong words. Is Microsoft simply copying the Wii or will it really “revolutionize home entertainment” as Microsoft says?