The Project Natal. The Revolution has Come!

Posts Tagged ‘Sega’

Last September, Sega promised to clue the world into its plans for Project Natal and PlayStation Move in early 2010. Actually, back then, we were still calling it the PlayStation Motion Controller. Oh, so young and naive! Now that we and Sega are both a few months older and wiser, the latter's plans have been pushed back a bit -- in a recent interview with IndustryGamers, Sega West president Mike Hayes explained that the company's Natal and Move plans would be revealed at E3 2010.

Though we haven't heard much about Sega's feelings on the upcoming wave of new motion control technology, Hayes explained the company is excited about "the fact that Move and Natal will bring in more of what I'd call the PS2 type of consumer for those platforms, which then suits very much the IP that Sega has." We've hypothesized that the PS2 IP he's referring to is the already motion-infused Sega Super Stars (pictured above) -- in our heart of hearts, though, we're secretly hoping for a motion-controlled Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future.

Sega to reveal Natal, Move projects at E3 suited for 'PS2 type' audience originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sega is hard at work on software for both Project Natal and PlayStation Move. And to prove it (at least the first one), Sega America/Europe president Mike Hayes told Eurogamer that a "prototype" Natal game will be on display at E3. "We asked our Japanese studio to create something for [Natal] which we'll show off at E3," Hayes said. "They had a brilliant prototype up and running within six weeks. I mean a genuinely entertaining prototype you could just play."

Of course, Sonic Team created what could be seen as a prototype Move/Natal game in 2004. Sega Super Stars was a minigame collection that paired modified "lite" versions of classic Sega games like Space Channel 5, Virtua Fighter and Samba de Amigo with motion sensing from the EyeToy, which happens to be a direct descendent of the Move's PlayStation Eye camera. Our guess is that this "prototype" will bear some resemblance to Sega Super Stars. Not that that will necessarily translate directly into a new retail product, of course.

The fact that Hayes sees these motion controllers as best-served by "things that are more about multi, party gaming" only reinforces the idea that Sega plans to revisit Super Stars.

Sega does what Nintendon't: make prototypes for Project Natal games originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading TGS 2009: The Recap Post

TGS 2009: The Recap Post originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If there was any doubt left in your mind that Japanese developers are on board for using Project Natal, we’ve got seven fancy, high-powered Japanese developers ready to convince you of their dedication in video form — in case you didn’t know, all the cool kids are doing it.

Above, we’ve dropped Capcom’s Keiji Inafune. He sees Natal as an “enhancement” rather than a replacement, saying the current controllers prevent game developers from creating “games without limits.” This of course begs the question: What happens when you combine Garry’s Mod and Project Natal? Our guess: Madness.

Peep developers from Tecmo, Namco, Kojima Productions, Konami, From Software and Sega extolling Natal’s many virtues after the break.

Continue reading TGS 2009: Japanese developers love on Project Natal

TGS 2009: Japanese developers love on Project Natal originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kicking off Tokyo Game Show 2009 with a kick digitally translated into a game, Microsoft has announced massive industry support for upcoming motion device Project Natal. Trumpeting a laundry list of gaming industry all-stars from Activision to Ubisoft, it appears that every major publisher is in some way "actively working on games for Project Natal."

Microsoft says publishers received development kits in early June and have been hard at work ever since. EA's Peter Moore thinks Natal "could fundamentally change the way people play sports games" while Capcom's Keiji Inafune says it "will expand the possibilities of gaming." In fact, Microsoft is so intent on proving that developers love it, the company is hosting a panel at TGS featuring the aforementioned Inafune, Sega's Toshihiro Nagoshi and Konami's Hideo Kojima.

Wait a minute, Kojima is working with Project Natal? But we can't do any of that crazy Raiden ninja stuff!

TGS 2009: Every major publisher 'actively working on games for Project Natal' originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“I kind of think of it as the land of bunsen burners and test tubes,” Sega West president Mike Hayes recently told IndustryGamers, commenting on the company’s experimentation with Microsoft’s Project Natal and Sony’s motion controller. Hayes claims that while Sega is still getting into the swing, kick and jump of things, it hopes to toss out official announcements in early 2010. “We have our ideas and we know what we want to do, but the technology is pretty new, particularly with Natal, so we’ve got to get to grips with the technology and see if it can do what we want it [to] do,” he said.

Of course, turning your body into a controller is something Sega wanted to do back in the days of the Genesis. With Microsoft and Sony taking care of the hard part, perhaps it’s time to bust out all those unused Activator concept games.

Continue reading Sega hopes to activate Natal, Sony Motion plans in early 2010

Sega hopes to activate Natal, Sony Motion plans in early 2010 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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