Home Gaming Natal to Bring Brand New Experiences, Says Microsoft

Natal to Bring Brand New Experiences, Says Microsoft

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AaronGreenberg

With the recent news that Natal would be forgoing its onboard processor, instead unloading the image processing on the 360’s CPU (and consuming 10 – 15 % of its resources in the process), “core” gamers are naturally starting to get a little apprehensive about Microsoft’s new device. How would developers supplement their Triple-A titles with Natal support?

Joystiq wondered the same thing, and asked Aaron Greenberg – Microsoft’s Head of Donut Acquisition and Consumption – what percentage of Natal games would be “Natal exclusive” as opposed to “Natal enhanced.”  He replied saying that “Our focus is on most if not all them will fall into that category of completely unique, brand-new experiences for Natal.”

“We’re going to manage the portfolio very carefully and our focus is going to be on bringing completely brand new original experiences to the market when we launch Natal,” Greenberg said. “We’re not looking at just adding little Natal components to games, we’re looking at how do we actually bring an entirely new category of controller-free games and entertainment to the market so I think that’s where we will continue to focus.”

Which seems to contradict slightly qith  earlier statements about the “controller not going away.“  Any enthusiasm I had for Natal is waning with each new bit of information available. My primary interest in Natal is the clever implementation of supplementation control schemes that compliment, and supplement traditional ones, as well as things like head tracking – which could increase immersion in games exponentially. What I don’t want is waggle-fest clones of Wii-esque mini-games, which statements like this allude to.

Thankfully, 3rd party developers are still free to decide their focus, as “developers will have that out there at their fingertips if they want to enable those features,” Greenberg said. “But I can’t speak to what that means from a game development standpoint. As far as I’m aware, there’s no real sacrifice.”

Naturally, I’ll still buy the thing when it’s released, if only so i can control my dashboard and pretend to be Tom Cruise. It’s inevitable that road would lead me to losing my mind and jumping on my couch a lot going “Woo!” but these are sacrifices that need to me made.

Source : Joystiq

Last Updated: January 12, 2010

3 Comments

  1. easy

    January 12, 2010 at 15:07

    10-15% is substantial.
    assuming the 360 utilises around 60-70% of its current processing potential, natal enhanced games will hit the ceiling very quickly while overloading the already suspect heating issues.
    ms should’ve stuck with a dedicated chip. this half arsed approach may make financial sense, but if natal proves to be a wet blanket with performance… it almost screams gimmick.

    another wait ‘n see story i suppose.

    Reply

  2. Someone

    January 12, 2010 at 16:49

    I thought of a nice Xmas gift for myself.

    Natal + Magnetic3D autostereoscopic TV’s = SUPER WIN!

    Info – http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/11/magnetic3d-glasses-free-3d-eyes-on/

    Reply

  3. Bobby Kotick will go blind if he doesn't stop waggling

    January 12, 2010 at 18:01

    Bobby Kotick starts “waggling”, and prepares himself for the Xbox EyeTo…uh Natal Fitness revolution.
    😆

    Reply

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