Posts Tagged ‘natal’
Speaking to a room full of executives focused on “the business of online video” at this year’s Streaming Media West trade show, it’s easy to understand how Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten could fall into hyperbole regarding the implications of Project Natal. “I believe that this will be the largest leap of TV experience since the remote control,” Whitten said on the subject, reports Yahoo Tech. “With the flick of my wrist I can change a channel … with the power of my voice I can start a movie.”
Aside from the more obvious implications to television using technology that can interpret voice and motion, he sees a future where Natal will recognize individual voices in a room and allow for a variety of human input – from “laughter” to “the number of people in a room” and everything in between. “Watching a movie is a passive input, but a TV should understand what you’re trying to do.” We don’t know about you, Marc, but we’re a bit worried about the implications of our television understanding what some of us are trying to do.
[Via Edge]
Microsoft’s Marc Whitten sees Natal replacing television remote controls originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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While reports circulated last week that Project Natal would launch sometime in November 2010, Xbox UK boss Neil Thompson says the details were only rumors. Speaking with Eurogamer at a launch event in London for the console’s new social media applications, Thompson said the rumors “weren’t accurate” and claimed Microsoft has yet to determine “a lot of things” related to the launch of its new motion-sensing technology.
According to the rumors, Microsoft was set to ship around five million Project Natal units next fall, alongside 14 supporting titles at a price point that could go as low as $50 (£30). When asked about the rumored details and price, Xbox’s head of Europe, Chris Lewis, jokingly added, “Now you know better than to listen to that stuff! We will announce in good time.”
However, Lewis did remind Eurogamer that Microsoft is striving for “unique” and “compelling” experiences with the technology. “That has to happen and will happen,” he said. As long as whatever “happens” doesn’t follow Microsoft’s traditional Xbox 360 peripheral pricing scheme, we’ll be happy.
Microsoft: Natal launch details ‘not accurate’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sitting on Time Magazine’s 50 Best Inventions of 2009 amongst notables like the world’s first AIDS vaccine (still in trials) and meat farms seems like an awkward place for Microsoft’s Project Natal. But that’s exactly where it resides, paired with glowing praise for its boundary-breaking implications.
“Since time immemorial … one barrier that has stood between gamers and total Tron-like immersion in their video games has been the controller,” the piece posits, going on to say that Natal will break that barrier by allowing the player one-to-one access between the game and the game’s controls. “You move your hand, and the Master Chief (or whoever) moves his hand. It’s that simple. And that cool.” Though we’re excited for the many prospects Project Natal seems to offer, we’re a bit more intrigued by teleportation.
And yes, that’s seriously on the list.
Time picks Natal as one of 2009’s best inventions originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Wait a minute. Now we’re confused. We thought one of the major development incentives for joining the motion revolution was to conserve resources in the production department. When your players are busy flailing and flapping — surging with euphoric endorphins — they don’t exactly notice that you’ve scaled back on the fancy schmancy rendering and physics; all that excessive cutting edge tech. Heck, they’d barely notice if you repurposed and resold them a game you’d made 5 years ago.
Motion control, man, it’s about getting back to our roots — a simpler time — when games were, like, about connecting with our bodies, you know? So when we caught wind of a job opportunity posted by Ghostbusters developer Terminal Reality and calling for experienced Xbox Live programmers to create “an exciting AAA Natal title,” we were sorta like, whoa, guys, you’re kinda missing the point.
Check this: “If you have a passion to create seriously high-quality action/adventure titles, we’re interested in hearing from you!” Really … passion? That makes it sound like there will be sweat involved — that’s the players’ job now. You guys gotta dial it down, maybe dig up some of that old BloodRayne code, put a little “kick-punch-slap” control in there … Save. Press. Box. Ship. Done.
[Via Shogun Gamer; thanks, Ian]
Terminal Reality seeking programmers for ’seriously high-quality’ Natal project originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything regarding Braid developer Jonathan Blow’s next project, The Witness — however, if a recent post on Blow’s blog is any indication, the “philosophical, and quiet” game might be moving in an unexpected direction. According to the post, Blow is “hiring another programmer into the new company, to do very interesting work with full-body motion tracking.”
We contacted Blow to see if this new hire would be working on The Witness, and whether the motion tracking technology mentioned is Project Natal. He responded by saying he “can’t talk about this right now,” and added, “it may not even actually happen (depending on whether I can find someone qualified to do it!).”
So, there you have it. If you’ve got experience with body movin’ (body, body movin’), it sounds like Blow could use a hand. And an arm! And a torso. And a … yeah, you got it.
Jonathan Blow hiring ‘full-body motion tracking’ programmer originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Shocking absolutely no one, Peter Molyneux has confirmed that Fable 3 will support Project Natal in some fashion. The confirmation came during a lecture at BAFTA in London. The news was confirmed by Eurogamer’s Johnny Minkley, who tweeted the info during the event itself. Molyneux also reportedly showed off Milo and proved that Natal is capable of scanning objects (people, presumably) in bad lighting.
Molyneux himself hinted at the possible inclusion of Natal in Fable 3 as recently as two weeks ago, though he neglected to confirm it for fear of a quick, sniper-borne death.
So that’s that then: Fable 3 will use Project Natal. Of course, we don’t speak for everyone, but we can’t wait to pretend to fart in front of a crowd of adoring, virtual townsfolk.
[Via VG247]
Molyneux confirms Natal support in Fable 3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Over at IndustryGamers, everyone’s favorite video game predicterer (we’re still working on that one) Michael Pachter has taken the reigns of the site and offers his own extensive diatribe on the future of Sony and Microsoft’s upcoming new tech: Project Natal and the PlayStation Motion Controller (rumored to be called Sphere). Pachter’s assertion is that price will be Natal’s biggest selling point and Microsoft will try to expand upon its market of established Xbox 360 owners by offering the device for $50. For Sony’s doodad, Pachter says the company is “trying to create an answer to the success of the Wii.”
Pachter even likens the future state of a Natal-enabled Xbox 360 to the current state of the iPhone — with features like Twitter, Netflix, Last.fm and Facebook inside Microsoft’s box and its intuitive inteface, he says casual or non-playing members of Xbox 360 households will become interested. And then when it’s bundled with all new Xbox 360s, he says that’ll expand Microsoft’s reach even more.
The PlayStation Motion Controller has a steeper hill to climb up to release, as Pachter notes that more hardware will cause Sony to demand more cash for the setup. He says he’d be surprise if the price was over $100, and stresses that both Microsoft and Sony need to keep “the consumer’s cost relatively low in order to achieve broad penetration.”
[Update: Corrected Pachter's belief that the motion controller would be no more than $100. We sincerely apologize for the misinterpretation and the consequent misinformation.]
Pachter: Project Natal will cost $50, ‘Sphere’ no more than $100 [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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While we may be nervous about Microsoft’s Project Natal branding strategy — remember, that’s just a codename — the suits in Redmond share no such concern. That’s because the Natal project is following Nintendo’s lead in more ways than just easy-to-play, motion-based technology. It’s also following Nintendo’s branding strategy.
On May 11, 2004 Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced the “Nintendo Revolution” to the E3 audience and, while he didn’t show off the motion-based controller (we wouldn’t see that for another sixteen months, at TGS 2005), he did promise “an unprecedented gameplay experience.” The Revolution would offer “something no other machine has delivered before.” The following May, over two years after first announcing the “Revolution,” Nintendo revealed the product’s final name just before E3: Wii.
When we asked Microsoft’s Robbie Bach, “When can we stop calling it Natal?” at a recent Open House event, the exec wasn’t shy about comparing the company’s strategy to Nintendo’s. “When Nintendo came out with the name ‘Wii,’ people sort of said ‘Oh gosh, that’s kind of a goofy, weird name.’ I haven’t heard a comment about it being a goofy name since the week after they announced the name,” Bach said. “And suddenly, people just called it the ‘Wii’ and moved on.” And, specifically, they’ve moved on to buying them en masse.
Continue reading Microsoft discusses Wii-esque Project Natal branding strategy
Microsoft discusses Wii-esque Project Natal branding strategy originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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.
Epic and Microsoft have long been cozy bedfellows, comfortably sharing the covers with each other for years. Now that partnership has extended to Microsoft’s proposed game changer, Project Natal. Speaking to Epic’s marketing maestro, Mark Rein, OXM asked what Natal’s use of the Unreal engine implied for the futures of both companies.
“I think any future Xbox games we make will have some Natal support,” Rein commented. “We always want to have something that exploits the unique capabilities of a platform.” While Rein had no idea what type of game Epic would make with Natal, he did have some ideas on how Natal could improve the hardcore experience — namely, simplifying the controls.
An example he used was taking one’s hand off the controller to mimic throwing a grenade, or using a hand gesture to signal your squad move to a certain location. On paper it sounds great, but we have to question how much such controls could improve on what is arguably one of the easiest things one could ever do: pushing a button.
Mark Rein: future Epic games will have ’some’ Natal support originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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