Microsoft announce project natal release date

Gunmonkey

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Any game that uses Natal, will be able to incorporate the Xbox controller into it.
Using Natal as an additional outlet, rather than a replacement.

Sorry to butcher your post but this is what I hope Microsoft envisage for the Natal. Using it too add features to a game rather than replacing the controller.

Stuff like a FPS where you hold a button to zoom to a RTS view and use your hand as a pointer to tell your AI partners, or even other players in online play, where to go and what to do rather than the traditional LOS "Go there" malarky.

Hope we see some nice games at E3 and not just "sport game compilation #48389" "mini game compilation #1946593" "3d boxing game #3754". Was the same deal with the PS Move, apart from the shoehorning into SOCOM 4 the games were rubbish and released on the Wii 3 years prior.

EGriff

Grumpypants wrote: »

Got to test this out today. Its impressive to be fair. Played the dodgeball game its very responsive follows your movement very accurately with no delay.

This is a bad sign I think. They harp on about all the stuff natal can do but what they actually show is this dodgeball rubbish. Not very imaginative. The painting app they showed a while back looked kinda cool though, would be good if you could paint live with someone online.

Vyse

EGriff wrote: »

This is a bad sign I think. They harp on about all the stuff natal can do but what they actually show is this dodgeball rubbish. Not very imaginative. The painting app they showed a while back looked kinda cool though, would be good if you could paint live with someone online.

I would imagine that there will be a much wider variety of games displayed at the E3 conference. They're probably trying to keep a few suprises for the conference.

Vyse

Grumpypants wrote: »

Got to test this out today. Its impressive to be fair. Played the dodgeball game its very responsive follows your movement very accurately with no delay.

Yeah I read your review, it was linked on N4G.com. Sounds like you enjoyed the experience!

Optimus Prime

Had a go of it yesterday too, i have to say i was very impressed by it, sure its just whacking a ball down an alley but the potential is there. I mainly wanted to see how responsive it is to tracking your movements and i didnt see any delay on it at all.

Grumpypants

EGriff wrote: »

This is a bad sign I think. They harp on about all the stuff natal can do but what they actually show is this dodgeball rubbish. Not very imaginative. The painting app they showed a while back looked kinda cool though, would be good if you could paint live with someone online.

See this wasn't an official launch party or anything it was just to give us a look at it in the flesh. I'm sure with E3 3 weeks away any new games will be saved for that. The dodge ball game is fairly basic but far from rubbish. It does display the way Natal works which is impressive.

Fingleberries

Grumpypants wrote: »

See this wasn't an official launch party or anything it was just to give us a look at it in the flesh. I'm sure with E3 3 weeks away any new games will be saved for that. The dodge ball game is fairly basic but far from rubbish. It does display the way Natal works which is impressive.

I'd agree. The dodgeball game is a tech demo to show you what it can do. (fast reaction, full body mapping, etc.) It immerses you in the game also, if you're playing your moving to get the balls.

Microsoft know what the Internet is like and probably wouldn't show anyone an AAA title with Natal integration when they've got the official launch just a couple of weeks away. They'll hold on to any big reveals for then.
If they show anything else to journalists, etc, it'd be with a massive NDA or reporting block on it until after the big reveal.

DeVore

I am guessing the dodgeball thing is a tech-demo rather then a serious effort at a game.

DeV.

Grumpypants

Fingleberries wrote: »

I'd agree. The dodgeball game is a tech demo to show you what it can do. (fast reaction, full body mapping, etc.) It immerses you in the game also, if you're playing your moving to get the balls.

Microsoft know what the Internet is like and probably wouldn't show anyone an AAA title with Natal integration when they've got the official launch just a couple of weeks away. They'll hold on to any big reveals for then.
If they show anything else to journalists, etc, it'd be with a massive NDA or reporting block on it until after the big reveal.

Yea one slip and its all over the place and then E3 is ruined so they are not going to risk this by telling or showing me anything. Could you imagine how much trouble the microsoft guy would get in if he showed someone a game and ruined the big E3 reveal !!

Grumpypants

DeVore wrote: »

I am guessing the dodgeball thing is a tech-demo rather then a serious effort at a game.

DeV.

Yea but i would guess that it will come with the Natal when you buy it. Im sure it will have a few free tester games in the box. Similar little party games similar to the free disk you get with a Wii.

NotorietyH

There's rumours floating around today that Natal is going to cost $150 in the US which usually means €150 here. I went from maybe picking up Natal to never picking up Natal in an instant.

Vyse

NotorietyH wrote: »

There's rumours floating around today that Natal is going to cost $150 in the US which usually means €150 here. I went from maybe picking up Natal to never picking up Natal in an instant.

I really think it needs to be below the €100 mark. You can pick up a brand new XBox for less than €149 in some stores. E3 will reveal a lot.

NotorietyH

Vyse wrote: »

I really think it needs to be below the €100 mark. You can pick up a brand new XBox for less than €149 in some stores. E3 will reveal a lot.

Those same rumours are saying they'll offer a bundle of an Arcade 360 and Natal for $300.

There's an awful lot of tech in the Natal camera, so it may cost a bit.

It's Edge who got the story apparently from a 'source'.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/natal-to-cost-149-%E2%80%93-source

jaykhunter

I can't see anyone spending $149 on a gimmick peripheral. Even $100 is too much. They'd better have a couple exclusive killer apps that have to use Natal only for anyone to buy it. Who'd spend 150 bucks to play a tech demo? (again, after doing so with the Wii, i mean :D)

i.e. make Fable III, the next Silent Hill and i dunno, some Halo, Gears or Bioshock spin-off natal only and it'll have a fighting chance.

We got the novelty of motion control a few years ago. While I agree that Natal has a better chance of success than Sony's wand (an updated Wiimote), motion control has been around for a few years now and the Xbox wasn't "made" for it. I'd love to be proved wrong though.

I just don't think Sony or MS can eat into the casual gamer market, even with better tech. You can't hype an expensive peripheral with just tech demos. Sure it looks cool, and it is innovative (no controller), but without a few serious games behind it, it won't be taken seriously and it'll not take off. The majority of the hype is now, culminating at launch. By three weeks to go, if there aren't any major games for it, people will have set their minds to "sure there's no major games for it; pass".

I could swear I heard originally Natal was gonna be 50-70 bucks, definitely under 100...guess that was a pipe dream.

NotorietyH

jaykhunter wrote: »

I could swear I heard originally Natal was gonna be 50-70 bucks, definitely under 100...guess that was a pipe dream.

Michael Pachter guessed that Natal would be around 50. The one thing Sony's controller has going for it is that it's going to be less than $100 including a game. Depending on what game it is I'd definitely consider picking that up. In the same way I don't mind buying Rock Band peripherals with the game as long as the game is good enough to warrant it.

I think a lot depends on what game Natal comes bundled with (if any).

Bob the Seducer

rizzla wrote: »

I doubt they would release it on a Sunday. 10-10-10 would be alright for marketing but a Sunday??

I wonder if it's an ex Sega employee having a bit of fun since the Dreamcast's US release date was 9-9-99 :pac:

Helix

NotorietyH wrote: »

The one thing Sony's controller has going for it is that it's going to be less than $100 including a game.

also that its really really good

works fantastically well

Helix

jaykhunter wrote: »

I can't see anyone spending $149 on a gimmick peripheral. Even $100 is too much. They'd better have a couple exclusive killer apps that have to use Natal only for anyone to buy it. Who'd spend 150 bucks to play a tech demo? (again, after doing so with the Wii, i mean :D)

i.e. make Fable III, the next Silent Hill and i dunno, some Halo, Gears or Bioshock spin-off natal only and it'll have a fighting chance.

We got the novelty of motion control a few years ago. While I agree that Natal has a better chance of success than Sony's wand (an updated Wiimote), motion control has been around for a few years now and the Xbox wasn't "made" for it. I'd love to be proved wrong though.

I just don't think Sony or MS can eat into the casual gamer market, even with better tech. You can't hype an expensive peripheral with just tech demos. Sure it looks cool, and it is innovative (no controller), but without a few serious games behind it, it won't be taken seriously and it'll not take off. The majority of the hype is now, culminating at launch. By three weeks to go, if there aren't any major games for it, people will have set their minds to "sure there's no major games for it; pass".

I could swear I heard originally Natal was gonna be 50-70 bucks, definitely under 100...guess that was a pipe dream.

theyre looking at $80, so €80 id assume

NotorietyH

Helix wrote: »

also that its really really good

works fantastically well

Yeah everything I've seen of it looks very impressive. I'm sure Natal will be impressive too. It's going to be very interesting to see if either of them are actually successful. E3 should be interesting. I'm just happy that Microsoft are having a seperate Natal event so their press conference won't be dominated by it.

Helix

havent got to play with natal yet, one of the other lads has though and says its a super bit of kit - even the 8 month old build he was using

-Al-

What was the original price for the full rock band kit? was over 200 wasnt it?

I dont think this being priced over 100 would effect sales too much. Compared to rock band/guitar hero it has a greater number of uses. It would need the games at launch though, will be no good if all you get is MS version of wii sports and have to wait for some proper games to come out.

Gunmonkey

Or if you can get 4 people using it at once, the cost compared to 4 controlers for a 360 or PS3 or 4 Wiimotes and Nunchucks. Or the Playstation Move, which looks to be close to €100 for one main controller/ game bundle and the seperate sub-controller.

Will all depend on the software side of things at this stage.

jaykhunter

rock band worked with Guitar Hero stuff tho, and was/is a killer game. 200 is pretty high, though, unless that was with a guitar, drum and microphone. Even then I reckon it was closer to 160.

Definitely right, it's all about killer games to justify the price.

rizzla

Gunmonkey wrote: »

Or if you can get 4 people using it at once, the cost compared to 4 controlers for a 360 or PS3 or 4 Wiimotes and Nunchucks. Or the Playstation Move, which looks to be close to €100 for one main controller/ game bundle and the seperate sub-controller.

Will all depend on the software side of things at this stage.

Good point. You'll only need 1 natal for multiplayer whereas you'll need several Moves and sub controllers, so on second thought and in context €100 - €150 would be resonable.