Natal About More Than Games
So says Jason Rubin.Published 01/03/2010 at 0:08.
By wotta.
Rumour: Sonic Free Riders For Natal [8]
New Natal Footage [44]
Natal Retail Unit Revealed [48]
Natal Is Dead. Long Live Wave [45]
NATAL To Cost $149 – EDGE [48]
Speaking in the latest version of Bonus Round, Jason Rubin, boss of new start up studio Monkey Gods and Naughty Dog Co-Founder has said that Microsoft’s Natal could be appealing even to those people who don’t play games.
“Things like Natal are going to revolutionize far more than gaming. I think putting Natal in the Xbox gives the console an opportunity to become a lot more than just a game machine and I think there are things you can do outside of gaming that will justify buying the Natal. I firmly believe that if Microsoft plays its cards right that they could sell far more Xboxes next generation … they could sell it to people that don’t play games”.
“The amazing thing about Natal is that never before has a piece of hardware hooked up to your television been able to recognize you and who you are, had information about you and what you like, and been able to hear your voice and understand your voice.
“And the capabilities that come out of that I believe go far beyond games and that the killer app for it — and all these things need something that catches people’s attention — surprisingly, we may find out that it’s not specifically a game. It’s not whacking balls against the wall. It will be the interface and what it allows you to do to all the other things hooked up to your tv.
“I’m a firm believer now, after playing around with Natal, that Natal and things like it are going to revolutionize our den”.
“Once you have that interface and the ability to hook this up to your den, Natal will give you reasons to love it that aren’t games. Not calling games as bad, games will be good too, but the killer app may not be a game.”
Whether Natal appeals to everyone remains to be seen, however that fact that we are already talking about it more than Sony’s Motion controller really must be a good sign for Microsoft.
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a inferior race | 01/03/2010 00:17
I'm special
2810 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
If Natal does everything that was shown in their target E3 video then I would buy it in a heartbeat. However, I just don’t think something that is going to marketable to the masses in terms of price will be able to do all that for a few years now if not decades.
Having something that recognises me when I switch it on really doesn’t impress me as I can’t see a single use for it. However, voice control could be extremely useful. The problem for Microsoft would be that the current form of the dashboard would have to be re-evaluated so as to keep the advertising revenues whilst allowing Natal to add something new to that.
3shirts | 01/03/2010 08:07
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3850 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
I agree with you. It was such an ambitious original idea that seems to be watered down with each new demo or leak.
Also, as the only person in the house that plays my console, being identified wouldn’t be that useful a feature to me.
cc_star | 01/03/2010 00:30
Team TSA: Writer
11320 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Sounds really good when you put it like that… Microsoft need to stop touring the tired old breakout game… That is all PS3 owners are thinking of when anyone mentions Natal. I can’t wait for a peak at GDC to see what else Natal has in store
SIR-DARK-HAZE | 01/03/2010 01:28
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TSBonyman | 01/03/2010 02:27
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2916 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2009
It sounds interesting although he seems to be expecting other people to bring that sort of experience. Perhaps if he had spoken about it as a project he was currently working on it would be even more interesting.
I’ll end with a tech question *cough*…
Will the RROD interfere with Natal’s I.R. camera, or does it operate on a different frequency?
….just kidding…. ;)
Porcupine_I | 01/03/2010 07:24
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654 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
So far Natal consists of a 3D Breakout Game, 2 Concept Videos, and a lot of talk.
hazelam | 01/03/2010 08:17
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5852 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
i think some people are expecting a minority report style inteface, but i don’t think natal is precise enough for that is it?
if what i’ve read about a 4cm margin for error or something then thats not going to be precise enough to detect individual finger movements, a stab of a fist at an icon might work but that seems about it.
and what about when the tracking have an inevitable glitch now and again, bam! you know what i’m talking about, suddenly you’ve deleted a load of files or spend a couple of hundred ms points.
ms have spend so much developing natal, yet they still refuse to support the mouse on the xbox.
bunimomike | 01/03/2010 08:55
Member
8857 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
Kinda how I feel about it. If it was genuinely accurate then user interface experience could be fantastic (a la Minority Report). However, for now, every demo video seen looks like someone’s having a seizure standing up.
cc_star | 01/03/2010 09:03
Team TSA: Writer
11320 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Why not?
The PS3Eye has a Minority Report interface and Natal is miles more accurate than that
hazelam | 01/03/2010 09:35
Member
5852 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
can natal track your individual fingers though?
is it accurate enough for that?
from what i’ve read, no.
but if it is then that kind of interface is doable, otherwise you’re going to need big icons that you jab at with your fist.
but i haven’t tried it myself so i can’t say how accurate it is.
Severn2j | 01/03/2010 09:22
Member
2019 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
After playing through Heavy Rain over the weekend, I’d love to see something along the lines of that ARI Glove/Shades combo.. That was really cool, especially the office “Environments”. I wonder how hard that would be to do in real life…?
hazelam | 01/03/2010 09:40
Member
5852 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
the glasses with the hud should be feasible, you’d probably have to have a camera attached and a seperate processing unit, but in theory it could be done.
the radar gloves are a different story.
though i could see gloves that are equipped with a suite of sensors on the fingertips connected to the processing unit running the glasses.
much of it could be done but it would be bulkier then in the game.
Apnomis | 01/03/2010 10:36
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1621 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2009
The reason we are talking about it more is because Microsoft and their affiliates have not shut up about it since E3! I will wait until it’s out and we actually see the real product before I decide whether Natal is a technological revolution or not, and I suspect in the cold light of day it won’t be…
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Take for example the comment from this guy – “The amazing thing about Natal is that never before has a piece of hardware hooked up to your television been able to recognize you and who you are, had information about you and what you like, and been able to hear your voice and understand your voice.” – they make it sound like an almost sentient lifeform, like you will be walking around your house talking to your Xbox like they talk to the computer in Star Trek:TNG!!! They did the same with the Mylo demo too. Natal is NOT clever it does NOT recognise you it does NOT understand what you say – it is a 3D webcam and microphone and anything else is done in software!
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It will recognise vocal patterns the same way as EndWar did last year and will only recognise what it’s been programmed to recognise. Likewise it does not know you it just scans your features and matches them to a profile like any webcam – there is a brand of laptop (think it might be Toshiba) that has used ‘facial login’ for a while now whereby it ‘sees’ who is at the PC and logs into their profile…
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In other words Natal is nothing new (aside from maybe the human joint interpretation), and if there was a demand to voice control your TV or have it know who was watching in the room then it could have/would have been done years ago as that technology has been available for a while now! Natal may well prove to be a good way to control games (though I’m not convinced about that either) but I wish they would stop making out that this is the most significant technological breakthrough since the invention of the PC or the internet – it is a 3D webcam and microphone array, nothing more, nothing less…
Deadpixel | 01/03/2010 11:29
Member
599 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
Wow thanks a lot for putting it this way. I almost fell for that PR marketing rubbish!!
How to sell a device for controlling multimedia and home entertainment when you have to buy a gaming console along with it? Doesn’t sound like mainstream to me! In other words: would Natal be a console seller?
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What if they made Natal PC compatible? That would be awesome! Imagine what cool stuff could be developed by the open source community! :-) (I know open source is not gonna happen, but still…)