Comments on: FPS on Natal? Dear God!

By: Ste

Ste — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:12:00 +0000

I think some of you are being slightly unfair on the Wii here. Yes the Wii has motion control but its intregrated into a controller which marries the two systems off quite well I think. With Natal there is nothing but the camera which will interpret your movements into commands, and this is where I think Natal will suffer. I personally don’t believe the Natal will be able to do this accurately just yet. However I agree with Simon and suggest we not write it off completely just yet, but at the same time I wont be buying one off the bat. The technology needs to mature for a while first before I would even consider it.

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:54:23 +0000

If the technology is good enough, it could be used to learn people sign language. I expect a lot of training style non games like the ones you see on DS.

By: Lorna

Lorna — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:14:41 +0000

I think people are writing it off because those new ways to play also are impratical. Toning down a game if it sees you are having troube is not a good thing IMO…that just teaches people – kids especially that life will be made easy on them if they are having a tough time figuring something out. Games used to be bastard hard and it made us try or else we got nowhere, but we learnt that practice and patience and applied knowledge paid off. Voice commands…great untl you can’t wake the baby or partner up at 1am or it can’t understand you local dialect.

Personally, I can see one useful application and that is for disabled or impaired gamers. This could be the peripheral that they need to help them level the field more. People with missing fingers, hands, or arms can suddenly get their hobby back again or develop a new one…that could be life changing and that is what MS should concentrate on.

By: Victor

Victor — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:35:54 +0000

I think that MarkuzR will suffer from post-natal depression as well. I can feel it.

By: MarkuzR

MarkuzR — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:04:19 +0000

My own particular point is, and always will be, that I want the choice. I want to be able to stick to playing games with a controller if that’s what I’d rather do, and still be able to play the majority of games. If it goes the way of the Wii where certain games that COULD be played using regular controlllers CAN’T, purely because they’re trying to push the “wave your arms around” mentality then I just won’t be happy. The Wii sits under our TV and has maybe been used a half dozen times because any of the “regular” games (ie not games that actually require movement to play) are either not compatible with the regular controller or not enough effort has been made into the regular controls, and so they’re counter intuitive. There needs to be the freedom of choice with Natal that there isn’t with the Wii.

I also don’t want my console trying to reach out to me every time I walk past and try to suggest playing particular games with me. The second I hear the words “Greetings Professor Falken”, that fucker is in the bin.

By: Victor

Victor — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:23:00 +0000

I think that I will suffer from post-natal depression.

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:18:14 +0000

People really need to stop thinking about shoe horning games as we know them now onto Natal. Think of the possibilities of new genres and getting previous game that don’t work well on a pad. Suddenly RTS might have the perfect interface to work on a console where as before it was a confusion of button combinations and drill menus. Think about the games that will use facial recognition to tone down the difficulty when the game see’s that you are having distress with a certain part of a game. Natal could be used in conjunction with other peripherals, such as activating a more accurate star power in music games or even use voice recognition to issue orders to other squads in shooters like Bad Company.

People are writing something off something that might possibly give them new ways to play. Did people complain when games went into 3d? No, they got on with it. Did people complain when they were given analogue controls? No, they got on with it. Will people complain when Natal comes out? Hopefully they will just get on with it.

By: The Preacher

The Preacher — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:19:00 +0000

I tend to veer between supreme indifference to Natal, and alarm that it will replace the conventional controller. I play a lot of games that need a controller; RPGs, J-RPGS, flight sims and strategy titles. At least with a shooter, or a fighting game, or a driving game, or a sports game, you can conceivably play them waving about, even if you do look a complete tosser in the process (though I take my driving games very seriously, and I do not for one second think that the kind of tight, precise handling and steering you get in games like Forza will be fully achievable with Natal).

Greg is right too about the Wii and some shooters; the Metroid Prime Trilogy work extremely well on the Wii. The main problem with the Wii generally is that developers have been releasing shoddily produced, cheap little crappy titles, because of the perception of the console as an under-powered gimmicky cash-cow. When a game is done well for the Wii, and really has that thought and effort put into the controls, it can be very good. Though I still bought the Gamecube edition of Zelda Twilight Princess – some things just don’t need motion control.

In the end, we don’t know how this will turn out, and we won’t until its released. It might be better if we all get proved wrong on this occasion, as a lot of people were about the Wii, and the DS before that. If we’re right, all that really means is that a major gaming company will take a big financial and reputational blow, and that can only hurt them in other areas I do care about, like their hardcore gaming efforts. Even Microsoft isn’t invulnerable.

By: Rook

Rook — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:41:04 +0000

Aawwww, personally, like you too. :p

By: Lorna

Lorna — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:05:06 +0000

Personally, like Rook, I am terrified at the thought of any game achievements (especially Fable 3) being Natal specific. As stated before on Rob’s piece, I’m anti-Natal…I want to use a proper controller and game properly…not dick about like an idiot. I have a Wii festering in the corner for that nonsense. Given that the Xbox (until now) has been a sensible middle ground between the two other consoles, it is disappointing, albeit unsurprising that MS have gone down this route. Let’s just hope it crashes and burns…then MS can jump around and pretend to be putting out the flames by puffing and blowing…