Ubisoft’s 2010 Waggle Line-up Favours Natal
Twice as many motion controlled games for Xbox 360 than PS3.Published 30/11/2009 at 23:00 by nofi
Crytek UK Trademark “Self Defense” [14]
Codemasters: No Motion Control [18]
Developer: Move Is Better Than Natal [40]
In a financial earnings call late Monday, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated that the company is working on twice as many motion control games for the Xbox 360’s new Natal hardware as it is for the PlayStation 3’s wand – sphere – thing. The Xbox 360 titles will “come for Natal during the first six months of the launch,” said Guillemot, following with “we expect four to five games for [Sony's motion controller].”
“That’s the picture at the moment. It can change in the next 12 months.”
Expect the majority of the motion-control only games to be fairly casual, with “70%” of them being “new property”. Other games, such as the recently announced Prince of Persia were not included in the above estimates, but may well include motion control features as an additional gameplay mechanic. We’d expect Ubisoft’s support for the new hardware (on both platforms) to be considerably more than most publishers at this stage.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
CaptainMurdo | 30/11/2009 23:07
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I’ll most likely be getting both so it will be interesting to see which comes out first and which works better overall.
I don’t “believe” Natal yet though.
carlosfilippsen | 30/11/2009 23:18
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Me too. I will probably get both but for some reason I think PlayStation 3’s wand is going to do better than Natal.
DJ Judas | 01/12/2009 09:19
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It will BE infinitely better, but I highly doubt it will DO better. MS have gone for an idea that in practice will never work as well as people would like. However, MS know exactly how to persuade the mob to buy something.
carlosfilippsen | 01/12/2009 13:32
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True.
bajere | 01/12/2009 13:37
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I cant really see what the difference between the eye toy and natal apart from the programming stuff from real world objects…Eyepet seems quite advanced, so im guessing the Sony wand and cam will work together to make a more involved game…wand still need an analogue stick tho!
skibadee | 30/11/2009 23:18
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hopefully a few good titles. I looking forward to the wand/sphere.
cc_star | 30/11/2009 23:19
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Developer support is something Sony aren’t great at gaining.
YouTube, Custom Background Music, and a variety of other things, hell even a constant stream of sub-standard ports some 3 years after the PS3 went on sale.
If Ubisoft’s actions are mirrored by other publishers then yet again will something Sony produce go under-utilised and not be as good as it could be.
Microsoft have been very vocal about their efforts to get Naral dev kits in as many developers hands as possible, I just hope this early news about Natal Vs Wand doesn’t become the norm, but I won’t be surprised if it does.
BlingOnMyWrist | 01/12/2009 02:55
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Aside from this, I find that things have really been looking up for Sony lately.
Raen | 01/12/2009 09:17
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I remember hearing that Sony are only giving out Wands to first-parties, and even then they have to make a case for it. Given that the Wand (I thought someone had started calling it Sony Motion? Wand is better) is currently set to release far closer you’d think they’d be doing more than MS to get devs on board. Nintendo seem to have the same issue.
jimmy-google | 01/12/2009 11:04
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Depends on their aim. Maybe Sony are trying to stop shovelware and after seeing the problems with the wii putting off hard core gamers they are being more selective about what games they allow to use it. They’ve done a similar thing with the psp minis. Rather than having 1000’s of games like the iphone they’re looking for a higher overall quality.
It’s all about reputation in the early stages. If either MS or Sony want their motion systems to be bought by the hard core crowd they can’t let them be heavily associated with shovelware or they’ll be dead in the water.
Raen | 01/12/2009 11:08
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True. However look at how much of a failing the Motion Plus has been due to limited developer support. What is it, about four games? I know shovelware is bad, but you need to get this out to developers and let them play with it and see what they can come out with. It’s bad to have poor quality titles, but no one is going to shell out for it if only a handful of titles support it.
jimmy-google | 01/12/2009 11:22
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I think motion plus is a different kettle of fish. The cost to the average person is far too much. When you’ve already shelled out £30 each for a controller plus the £15 for th nunchuck and then someone tells you you need another add-on people just aren’t going to buy it. Where is the incentive to developers when? It just reduces the number of people they can sell their games to.
Clearly third-parties have had their hands a wand for a while as Ubisoft are already making games and EA delayed Grand Slam tennis a while before the announcement about the wand in order to incorpate it into the game. Capcom are adapting RE5 for the wand too.
Raen | 01/12/2009 13:42
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I’ve just remembered where I heard that they were keeping it to first parties, and it’s struck me it was a while ago. A little bit after E3 in a conversation that I shouldn’t repeat. Opps.
ChoZanWan | 30/11/2009 23:23
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Natal is so much dreamware at the moment. The PS3 has proven tech in the camera, whilst everyone seems to be believing that Natal will be huge.
IF MS can bring the E3 kit to an affordable level, with no loss of features, I’ll be impressed.
cc_star | 30/11/2009 23:41
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Natal is also proven camera tech, the tech behind it came from a company MS purchased, I can’t remember their name at the mo, but it does do what it says on the tin
TctclMvPhase | 01/12/2009 03:15
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The company was 3DV Systems. While I wont argue that it is proven to work technically, I would disagree that its usefulness has been proven. The company originally debuted the system back in late 2006, which makes me wonder why no one else picked up on it. I personally think that all these systems are limited by their applications.
As for Ubisoft, just look at their Wii lineup, having an extra five titles may just mean that 360 gamers get myHorsez AND myPonies while PS3 gamers are just stuck with the former.
Raen | 01/12/2009 09:18
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But don’t you want the choice between horses and ponies?
Erroneus | 30/11/2009 23:28
Wanted "Trophy Hunter" but was too late.
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I’m guessing because Natal is more friendly to the casual gamer and it’s easier and cheaper, to create casual games. Also there will properly be quite some hype about it, meaning lower quality games can easily push some sales through, as long they support Natal. The same thing happened with the Wii in the start, the hype meant good sales for some mediocre games.
FluBBa | 01/12/2009 08:06
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Some sources have said that Natal will be cheaper than Sonys wand/sphere but MS has denied all such comments. Seeing that it’s only a couple of months left until Sonys tech should be on shelves and around a year until Natal I guess Ubis lineup is pretty good (since they have less time until Sonys launch).
Mick939 | 01/12/2009 01:07
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I read 12 and 6 before… Is it just me who couldn’t give a fuck about either motion thingys… Had a wii it was balls too.
jacklum | 01/12/2009 01:47
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This is Ubisoft, so a fair chunk of it will probably be shovelware anyway (if their Wii/DS casual game line up is anything to go by).
Imaruler | 01/12/2009 02:15
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I hope the games for the Sony motion control thing are good.
Divine | 01/12/2009 09:07
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Tbh Ubisoft titles don’t tend to show up on my ‘must have’ games list very frequently.
jimmy-google | 01/12/2009 10:54
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Could this be a bit misleading as the ps motion controller is due out around 6 months before Natal. These are just number of games in the first 6 months from their respective launches. It could simply mean that Natal will have more released in its first 6 months as it will launch with all the games already out for the ps3 motion controller. At no point did Ubisoft say they’re working on more games for one than the other – they just commented about the first 6 months worth of games for each.
“That’s the picture at the moment. It can change in the next 12 months.”
In 12 months Natal should only just be out where the ps motion controller will have been out for a while so I can’t see Ubisoft having more games out for Natal at that point.
Personally I don’t really care what Ubisoft has to offer as it has done little to suggest anything other than shovelware.
3shirts | 01/12/2009 12:38
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Am I the only one that is not convinced either of these products will be as good as the proposition implies? I will see what games appear and probably get the wand if its not too expensive but I can’t imagine it being anything more than a novelty anyway
FireasBall | 01/12/2009 13:19
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Playstation got allready 2 games that support the wand(by an update i think), lbp and resident evil
tantalus_blank | 01/12/2009 14:37
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i think Resi 5 will get DLC for another campaign which will incorporate it. So will still have to be paid for. Not sure about LBP though
skibadee | 01/12/2009 22:56
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resi 5 is getting the wand treatment.
cc_star | 01/12/2009 13:49
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Good point about Ubisoft, and the lack of their titles which appear on a ‘must buy’ list.
They do own ‘Imagine’ the top shovelware makers for the DS, I wonder if half these Natal games are Imagine-style games? If so people in the comments may well scoff, but games like that are the reason the DS has sold over 100m units and widening the core appeal is what these new additions (Natal & Wand) are for, isn’t it?
PS. Don’t be too snobby PlayStation owners, a huge part of the PS2’s success (140m+ unit sales) is that there are over 1,600 games for it – the overwhelming majority of which are little more than shovelware.
jacklum | 01/12/2009 17:04
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Shovelware is not what makes a system popular, rather it’s the most popular systems that attract the most shovelware. I have nothing against casual games when they’re done well (e.g. Pop Cap’s games), but I can’t really see Ubisoft reaching that standard.
gazzagb | 01/12/2009 18:22
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Sony need to get more awareness for their wand, MS have really been pushing Natal whereas ive barely heard anything about Sony’s motion controler.
urbankiller14 | 02/12/2009 11:06
* Banned *
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it all about ps3, project natal is swag you can only move sideways wft ps3 motion rock you can move 360 no limits.!!!!!!!!!!!