Tretton Is AntiNatal
Jack unsure about the birth of Motion Camera.Published 26/02/2010 at 12:45.
By wotta.
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Sony’s American boss Jack Tretton has been speaking out regarding Sony’s new motion controller and Project Natal. Needless to say while he is full of praise for Sony’s innovation, he is more than a little sceptical when it comes to Microsoft.
Speaking to The Fast Company in a recent interview the SCEA bossmain said, ”We introduced motion gaming with the EyeToy for PS2 – it was an incredible experience to be able to stand in front of the TV with nothing in your hands, and see yourself on the TV and interact with the objects there, but it was somewhat limited in terms of the type of gaming experiences. I think freeing yourself from a controller has advantages, but it also has key disadvantages. And we feel all that experience and all that learning, has put us in the perfect position”.
We’re able to take advantage of the camera, take advantage of the ability to identity yourself in 3D space, but then have controls in hand to do things like shooting and swinging an object, and much more accurately than ever done before. You can have it as an element of a game, you can do it as a dedicated game, you can do it in a social gaming atmosphere.
“None of our franchises are going to be out of the realm of possibility for motion gaming: it’s going to do wonders for MLB, for SOCOM, for Little Big Planet, and it will create franchises that nobody has ever heard of or envisioned.”
This debate has been rumbling over the past few weeks, with plenty of Sony Execs and Microsoft’s finest battling it out in a “my controllers better than your controller war of words”. It seems that we may be about to witness the Console Wars: Part 2 - Motion Wars, and even the Wii could join that debate.
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cc_star | 26/02/2010 12:49
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On the face of it it does look like Sony has the best of both worlds.
Natal-like arm waving when needed for fun party 5min games, but there is always the option of the controller making the service open to a whole new range of game types…
I personally think Natal has it all to prove that it isn’t just a party gaming device and has moved the gameplay on from what we saw many years ago on the PS2, GDC or E3 will be very interesting indeed
Bilbo_bobbins | 26/02/2010 13:01
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I just can’t see Natal being much more than what Sony had years ago. Arm waving and thats it. Like he says, having a controller makes a massive difference. Has there been any mention of Natal games so far?
cc_star | 26/02/2010 13:18
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I’ve only seen that 3D Breakout game being played and Burnout Paradise as a tech demo, whereas on the ARC side of things we’ve had that big series of developer diaries and tech demos and have seen it used in LBP and Resi5
Bilbo_bobbins | 26/02/2010 14:13
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Burnout Paradise on Natal, how do you do that? Can’t work it out. Do you just pretend steer with your hands?
KeRaSh | 26/02/2010 15:02
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Actually, yes.
cc_star | 26/02/2010 17:25
Team TSA: Writer
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Yes steer with your hands and use an imaginary accelerator and brake – worked really well in the hands of the pro, but if my memory serves me correct the tech demo seemed to be devoid of handbrake turns
deezoned | 26/02/2010 17:19
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Agreed, the Sony Motion Controller will have a great advantage with the buttons present on the controller itself. Waving is not sufficient with modern games.
a inferior race | 26/02/2010 12:53
I'm special
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Just so everyone knows, Greenburg is going to say something bad about the Arc.
On a different note if all Tretton is telling me is that ARC, will be shoe-horned into some games, have some dedicated games and have some shovelware. I’m getting less interested in this by the day.
bunimomike | 26/02/2010 15:20
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As a controller, that puts it way out in front of the three options (MS, Sony, Nint). Saying that, still not that interesting, eh? :D
shields_t | 26/02/2010 13:01
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Shame it’s no doubt going to sell less because of Microsoft’s marketing machine.
jimmy-google | 26/02/2010 13:15
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If it sells it looks like it will be to a new casual market rather than existing owners unless someone makes a great FPS with Natal (which i just don’t see happening).
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Even if its going to reach the casual market it needs games that you can’t get on a wii or do something the wii can’t. Nintendo at least had an icon in Mario to be able to sell along side the wii. The 360 doesn’t have one that can break the casual market yet so the games will need to be something special. Master Chief and Sonic and the Olympics just won’t work.
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Sony can use the simple angle of “why wait for a wii HD, we already have it here”. They have some casual icons in Ratchet and Clank, Sackboy etc.. (though not on the same scale as Mario) wil work. Sackboy and Sonic at the olympics anyone?
shields_t | 26/02/2010 13:20
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“Sony can use the simple angle of “why wait for a wii HD, we already have it here”.”
Agreed, but you know they won’t don’t you? They’ll market id by showing a guy kicking around a swimming pool near a sh!t hotel with a bag of money and oh wait, that’s how they advertised the PS3.
Vaile23 | 26/02/2010 13:39
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why does every good game have to be a generic FPS? im fed up of seeing almost 2/3′s of games released being of this genre
shields_t | 26/02/2010 13:05
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Hats off for the cracking pun headline by the way.
jimmy-google | 26/02/2010 13:07
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In the same interview Tretton also speaks positively about Nintendo:
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“You have to tip your hat to Nintendo for introducing the motion gaming using their controllers, doing it in a more social fashion.”
Cjdamon042 | 26/02/2010 13:08
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He makes a lot of sense. Natal is great for party like games and whatnot, but try playing your average game with it and it’ll be a nightmare. Controllers are needed for some things, you can’t take everything away from the player and still expect them to be able to do all the things they’ve done in the past. At least with the Wand/Arc/Sphere/Motion Controller you kind of have best of both worlds.
Still, Natal will probably do much better mostly because it has a name and Microsoft has been advertising it. That’s where Sony isn’t quite doing so well. But I’ve heard rumours that Natal could cost anywhere between 100 and 200 Euros, and if that’s the case (which I doubt it), then I doubt it’ll do too well IMO.
MUKARKAR | 26/02/2010 13:11
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i got use to play video games with a controller.
eirekun | 26/02/2010 13:12
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I get the feeling Sony are going to win this one, if not just on the specs then through a slow war of attrition like they did with blu-ray. My guess is Natal will have a wand-controller by the end of the year.
Winkle | 26/02/2010 13:31
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Sound interesting the way they are looking to add it to existing games. Cant wait for the new Socom where you use hand signals to command your squad. Raises fist in the air stop stop squad, points hand left to signal contact etc. Could take alot of existing franchises to a new immersive level. Only hope they program it to recognise picking up a cup of rosey as pause the game!
Apnomis | 26/02/2010 13:35
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I’m sorry but I think Mr Tretton is absolutely on the money with his thoughts here – it’s exactly what I’ve been thinking since Natal was unveiled. Sony’s experience with the EyeToy is a huge elephant in the room at Natal’s hype party…
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Simple fact is, to at least some extent, the PS3 tech will be able to mimic the functionality of Natal (though not perfectly) and mimic the functionality of the Wii (arguably far better than the Wii can) as well as being combined at once to create a whole new experience – it’s almost like a 3-in-1 deal!