Project Natal: death knell to the Wii.

by WyldKard on June 5, 2009

Microsoft's Natal: the camera that taunts the Wii.

Reviewing the news coming out of E3 this week has shown itself to be a dreary affair. One, because we had a chance to attend the expo before other priorities revealed themselves (and thus didn’t), and two, because as the hoarse voice in our head mocks, “Perhaps you’re just not a gamer anymore.” And maybe we’re not – we’re certainly not console aficionados anymore, having shed the weight of the console wars many years ago. It was by chance that we again took up the console call with ’s enormous black boxen, and later again with the innovative . But let’s be clear: our time is a mere sliver compared to when we vapidly devoured every PC title worth playing, and the prospect of playing competitively as we did in Counterstrike years before is simply not realistic anymore. Indeed, we may even argue that our three-round battle with World of Warcraft was the end of our earnest days, but perhaps this is an overstatement: time is simply one variable that affects our level of excitement for games these days, and in short, most new titles simply do little for us. One, because we’re now more interested in titles that don’t require massive time investments per session, and two, because the vast majority of titles remaining either aren’t particularly good or simply don’t titillate us.

Sure, there’s the occasional game of note that grabs our attention, like Fallout 3 or its DLC. There’s even a couple titles from E3 that peak our interest, be it Borderlands or Grindhouse. But most titles simply bore us, and we happen to attribute much of that boredom to the simple fact that we dislike, nay, loathe the typical console control scheme. Look, we’re PC gamers at heart (it’s why we took years to come back to ), and quite simply, there’s nothing better than a keyboard and mouse to control most games. Especially titles. In fact, much as we loved Fallout 3, we purchased it for the 360, and the reliance on crappy console controls was our biggest complaint.

This hatred of typical console controls is why we had such high hopes for the Revolution . Yet sadly, as innovative as it was, the proved to be little more than a novelty. Indeed, most games we’ve played on the are either novelty titles (like Sports) which wouldn’t occupy our long-term interest anyway, else titles that really didn’t benefit much from the remotes in the first place. But rather than poo-poo all over the yet again, let’s admit that ’s effort was good, even if the result (prior to Motion Plus, maybe) was marginal.

For those who love casual games, particularly the mini-games titles are known for, the certainly stands out from the 360 and . And that’s why has managed to survive this round of the console wars, and why it was inevitable that and would want a piece of the motion-control pie. So set out both companies did, and both revealed their -killing accessories at E3. The did so with little fanfare, while just made Natal a gamer household name.

For those asleep while E3 was going on, Natal isn’t a controller, it’s the lack of a controller. Natal’s component is a camera that captures physical movements, such that 360 gamers don’t need to hold a controller to swing a sword, or punch, or jump, or do whatever. Natal, capable of facial recognition, will not only act as an interface to the 360, but to a whole slew of new games that will track user movement as an input mechanism. In theory (and from what E3 videos show us), Natal is just as sophisticated as the in terms of motion control, and will likely compete well against Motion Plus equipped Wiis too. The question and have been asking is this: “If we can duplicate functionality on a more powerful system, won’t we lure gamers away from the ?” And that’s a good question to ask, if it weren’t for the lead already has in the motion control arena. While is still vested in the original question, however, made steps not just to duplicate functionality, but to move well beyond it, making their original question moot.

It’s like this: every peripheral that intends to use functionality will likely be built to interface with the remote. If not, then the remote still needs to be used in conjunction with the peripheral. For example, why does EA Sports Active use a resistance band instead of a dumbbell? Never mind the acute advantages of a resistance band for casual athletes over a heavier exercise device: a dumbbell would simply never work alongside the remote and nunchuk. Only a resistance band will work since EA Sports Active is ultimately tied to the ’s controllers to function.

The same game on the 360 (which is indeed coming, BTW), with Natal as an input device, is far more flexible. (It will likely be cheaper, too, since the game won’t require a nunchuk pouch to be part of the package.) Indeed, EA Sports Active, with Natal, requires the user to hold no device at all, so they could just as easily use a resistance band as they could a dumbbell. In other words, the flexibility a workout game can have with Natal is hugely significant, as a Natal-equipped 360 with EA Sports Active could easily be used with a resistance band, dumbbells, a kettlebells, et al.

About the only disadvantage to Natal versus the is what the camera can’t see, as would be the case if the remote is used behind the player. And that’s a relatively unlikely scenario. There’s also the ’s added advantage of having buttons present on the remote while the swinging happens, but Natal can still be used in conjunction with a controller, remote, or other peripheral, so it’s not like Natal’s making gamers give up button presses entirely. If anything, it solves more problems than it creates, and ultimately trumps both ’s and ’s motion control offerings. The trick for will be in pricing Natal competitively, and that means cheaply, in order to keep a Natal-equipped 360 close in price to the , and there’s obviously some difficulty in that. If can work this formula out, however, there’s no reason they can’t succeed in luring the faithful away from ’s current-gen icon.

For gamers like us, Natal presents an interesting new landscape. We can likely expect not only casual games that gamers know and love, but since we’re talking the 360, more mature titles that use Natal as well. And that presents some nice possibilities, as we can easily visualize Natal control schemes for fighting games, , etc, as long as there’s some basic method to control avatar movement. For melee-oriented games, Natal is a no-brainer in this regard, as a nunchuk-like accessory would be enough to compliment the . Even could work incredibly well with a nunchuk with trigger component. The next question is, without that component (and there’s no indication that one will exist at Natal launch), will Natal games be limited to too casual games? Right now, Natal offers a rather incredible control scheme with the potential to add motion control to games that the simply can’t handle, effectively becoming what the should have been at launch. But could just as easily fail on this front, by either focusing too strongly on party games, or not pushing the possibilities for Natal-enabled mature titles to third-party developers. In other words, needs to push the idea that Natal is core to the 360 experience, else it will become just another accessory soon to be forgotten by the general 360 user (think Power Pad, the PS2 camera, etc).

That hoarse voice in our head, it’s chiding us. And if Natal proves to be little more than another console novelty, then maybe it’s right. But we’re pretty certain that Natal can recapture our love for console by making motion control both fun and efficient as an input medium. If not, we’re taking our hat and heading back to PC territory. Even if it’s only for a few minutes a week.

Similar Posts:

Tagged as: , , , , , , , , , ,

Leave a Comment