Gaming Should Big N fear Project Natal

[Commadore64]

NEWS FLASH
Microsoft pulls project NATAL 06-16-2009 16:39 GMT

Microsoft unveiled the Project Natal at E3 in June 2009. Project NATAL which allows players to use their bodies to control a game, without a hand-held device - is hardware designed to extend the life of the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 was released in 2005 and Microsoft is hoping its lifespan will stretch into 2015. The spokeswoman said Natal is not about a new console.

However, the project was pulled and orders for all code, hardware and project whiteboards to be immediately surrendered to Microsoft no later than June 30, 2009. Shocking the industry, many people asked why was this done. The spokeswoman replied:
"Have you ever been stuck on a long airplane trip with a crying baby sitting next to you? That dentist drill type of annoying cry? Now picture 50 million of them wearing Lil Mario Bibs. I mean it is just nauseating to listen to 'Waa Eyetoy... Waa Motion control... Waa... Movement... Waaaaaaaa'. Even they guys at Sony told us to quiet down the kids. So we pulled NATAL. To make nice with Nintendo, we are going to make some games the 9 year old and under crowd will enjoy (87% of the Nintendo market), once they approve licensing. Here is a line up:
Super Smash Sisters Scuffle
Super Maria Sisters
Mythology of Zolda
Super Maria Kart

We were going to send out a pacifier to each Wii owner, however it is easier to squirt out a game in 3 weeks to satisfy the masses than it would be to manufacture 50 million pacifiers. The maker of "Parappa the Rappa" will be in charge of quality control. They should be happy. They really enjoy remakes of games they played 9 months earlier.
"From the bottom of our hearts to the top of our hearts, Microsoft apologizes to Nintendo"

All reporters where shocked at such a move. When asking for a comment from Nintendo, the secretaries said "all managers are in the meeting wearing Vitality Sensors at the moment and cannot comment at this time"

Yes this is a joke - cope with it.

 

[scousethief]

If thats what you call a joke .... ok

 

[Commadore64]

I thought it was funny

Not as good as others I heard but it does fit the situation pretty well
*I agree with scousetheif though, Letterman would have had a better delivery

Here is another funny one

Come on - it is funny

 

[frazzledazzle]

Am I the only one who remembers that crappy you're in the movies game? Microsoft have already tried motion sensing and failed.

 

[Commadore64]

Isnt that like saying (back in 1989) the Nintendo Power Glove was a flop so any alternative controller for the Nintendo in the future is a failure?

The Power Glove is a controller accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the first peripheral interface controller to recreate human hand movements on a television or computer screen in real time.[1] It was unpopular and faced criticism for its imprecise and difficult-to-use controls, despite laying the foundation for the Wii Remote controller for the Wii console

 

[frazzledazzle]

errrr wasn't the nes zapper what gave nintendo the idea for the wii remote?

 

[Vidboy10]

Can't wait to do that myself!

LOL
Just like the wii music guy from last year. XD

EDIT: Sweet, my 700th post!

 

[Commadore64]

errrr wasn't the nes zapper what gave nintendo the idea for the wii remote?

Nope - unless Wikipedia is wrong

Nes Zapper was a "ripoff" of Magnavox Odyssey Shooting Gallery The first gun for a home console was in fact a big rifle, which looked very lifelike and even needed to be "cocked" after each shot

*ripoff was used to keep in context with ripoff used in other posts in same thread

 

[scousethief]

Hehehehe yeah that one was funny

reminded me of myself.

Thing is with me im not exactly a fan boy ive had the 3 current consoles as well as others in the past , the only one that i still have is the Wii the others have been sold because they basically did nothing that my pc does and i didnt see the point in investing £££ in my pc and then investing £££ in a console that really did nothing other than put a gamepad in my hands , the wii did so it stayed.

MS and Sony can go suck donkey bollocks for all i care , MS cant even get an OS right ffs.

 

[Commadore64]

I had a mess of consoles as well
Magnavox Oddessy (pong)
Atari 2600, 5200, 7800
Intellivision
Colecovision
SNES
Genesis
PS1
Dreamcast (still got this one)
Wii
360

...and PC (quad 2.8 ghz overclocked to 3 ghz with pin 1 tape) - 4 gig ram - blah blah blah

Yup PC has some cool games but not everything I can play on the systems can I play on Wii or 360
Althought the computer is connected to TV, I am stuck on the computer (or damn close to it) to play a game witha joystick or mouse. Console let me camp out on the couch to play - and also easier to play multiplayer stuff without getting up and switching chairs.

As far as OS's go.....
In Ubuntu Linux, try lookining at a folder across the network with a 1000 picutes in it in thumbnail mode - forget it
..or try (re)installing a video driver or duplicating a desktop for another user

On my MAC, my Toshiba CamCorder when connected to the USB will give me the Colorwheel of Death - and hang until I reboot

My Windows Vista machine registers 3.3 gig out of 4 gig of ram and does not give me thumbnails of FLV files

There is no good OS but that goes along with there are no perfect consoles as well
....life

 

[yuyuyup]

since this post is way too popular nobody will catch a detailed response from me so short answer NOPE but I do hope Natal and ps3 motion turn out successful. I would never wish bad on a videogame, that's fucking satanic. Fucking fanboys

 

[Commadore64]

I would never wish bad on a videogame, that's fucking satanic. Fucking fanboys

...that is an awesome statement.

 

[scousethief]

I dont wish them bad as hopefully the turn around will come ( easier to list )

nintendo wii with a pretty good control method and some seriously inovative ideas ( ok the graphics arent up to much but graphics arent the be all and end all ( and RE4 still looks great))

so MS and Phoney after getting their piss taking eyes stabbed out by nintendo sales ( doesnt matter about games they were actually arse raped by nintendo for console sales ) are starting to think outside the box a little more and are trying to expand ways of control and immersion , this is a good thing , they seriously wont pull it off but its still a good thing.

Round 2 , the next generation of consoles, firstly you have to admit if the next gen WII had its motion controls and 360 or ps3 graphics it would really blow your balls off , the xbox 720 and ps4 whatever , would have to pull something special out of the bag to do the same , a motion camera is a little dumb to be honest ,as someone has said already how the fuck would you do FPS ??? the motion camera would need depth of field plus pure realtime multi person motion tracking and it still wouldnt work lol movement being different than aiming ( might have to think about that one to get what i mean) drivings the same we all scratch out balls , was that a gear change ???, lots of issues that would need working out but i still look forward to whatever comes for the next gen.



And the Atari 2600 was fookin ace.

and the PS1 , silent hill , final fantasy 7 lots of decent titles

 

[weiff]

Posted in the thread earlier... Was being sarcastic about the size. Anywho...


I agree that the software is really what is driving the overall usefulness of NATAL, but again, even with room recognition and simplified motion capture, they still are expecting too much of the user. I have had some friends with parents that never could keep a room in the same configuration. TV over here, couch there... two weeks later the couch was in a different room replaced by two chairs... again this is not probably the norm for most homes, but I expect that there will need to be a calibration for each time the cameras are shifted. This again goes into the flailing aspect... Need I remind the community about the thrown mote issues? What happens if you bump the camera in the middle of a game? Does it stop and recalibrate or is it that all your moves now look the the table next to you is doing jumping jacks? This is also a concern for pet owners... what happens when the dog wanders through the play field?

Also I stated that they are behind in the scene and implementation. This is true and cannot be denied, but I did not say they should not try. Just that they should not expect some grand and sudden turnaround. If they are going to start packing these in with the new consoles... doesn't mean they are going to cost more again? They certainly are not going to put all this development in place and say, "Here, free of charge, just buy a new console and Taadaa!" I expect that the cost of the NATAL hardware is going to be in the range of $80-90, making it cost prohibitive to sell in large quantities. Even if they can manage it at $50 it is going to be a hard sell.

 

[Commadore64]

the next generation of consoles, firstly you have to admit if the next gen WII had its motion controls and 360 or ps3 graphics it would really blow your balls off , the xbox 720 and ps4 whateve

Wait, wouldnt this inturn cause PS3/360 people to say "Wii ripped us off, we had high definition first", or if Wii got a DVD player that plays DVD movies or god forbid, a BluRay player? Or to demo a game before purchasing or on Demand movies? I mean the same stupid whining will happening again unfortunately

Everyone will cry for some reason

Honestly though - if NATAL is good and Nintendo is threatened (just listen it wasnt an attack), dont you think Nintendo must come with something better? Regardless if it is an addon device or utilize what it has. It makes sense, they have to. And that in general is good for everyone

@weiff
Room recognition?
I dont know about the NATALs capabilities but could it possibly go on face recognition, and then associate the "moving object" with a confidence factor when it can determine it has a face snapshot that this is the same person? regardless if the couch has moved or not? Of if a dog ran infront of it?
Here is some cheap face recognition software for a PC that allows you to access the computer if it recognises your face
I tried this software (well not that one exaclty) with a cheap camera and it does work on a not so fast machine.
It was tracking my eyes to determine which way my head was looking and taking a snapshot a couple of time a second until it recognized me (like 3 seconds) and I could keep the "monitor application" running on training mode and it would watch me.
So this isnt new .. depth camera - honestly I never heard of one before.


QUOTEThey certainly are not going to put all this development in place and say, "Here, free of charge, just buy a new console and Taadaa!" I expect that the cost of the NATAL hardware is going to be in the range of $80-90, making it cost prohibitive to sell in large quantities. Even if they can manage it at $50 it is going to be a hard sell.

Was Wii motion plus free? *not only that but certain NEW games can use it!?!?!?!
Was Wii Fitness Board free?
Guitar for Guitar Hero free?
...

If NATAL does the motions to the media of xbox with speech recognition, I would purchase that for that alone - regardless if no games came out for it.
I think $50 is low balling the price though. I am thinking $150-$200....but I dont know...I hope you are correct

 

[andyc799]

how does that thing work? like the eyetoy?

Notice how in the videos only one person is standing? I wonder if it can support multiplayers? One of the biggest reasons why the Wii was a huge success was because of the multiplayer support found on wii sports

did you not see the 2 women playing football in multiplayer????????????

 

[Commadore64]

removed - pointless dribble