Project Natal’s problem: No output.
I think Project Natal can prove to be a stroke of genius from Microsoft’s side if the technology actually works.
But the one big issue I have with it is that it is input only.
I’m not in any way saying that this will cause it’s utter and complete failure, but it is something that every “Natal game designer” will have to work on.
If Natal actually works, it will be able to pretty much keep track of your entire bodies motions, facial recognition, color recognition and voice recognition. These are all inputs. It gives nothing in return.
What the player will get is audio/visual feedback from the TV/speakers just like with any other game and the designers will have to make that part top notch if it is to provide a great gaming experience.
A “normal” controller gives lots and lots of feedback! Not only does is shake/rumble that might be the first thing people think of, but every time you press a button you can feel yourself doing it, you can feel when it’s pressed and when it’s released. When you’re pulling the sticks, there’s a force applied to your thumb that along with its position and angle tells you how far you’ve pulled it.
Some might argue that Natal is like Wii with its motion sensors, but I disagree. You still have the physical Wii-mote, its weight and its buttons. I don’t think it’s anywhere near Natal.
I think even the iPhone would be a better comparison. There are tons and tons of games being released for the iPhone and many of them suffer from not being able to give the player enough feedback when it comes to controls. I get sad every time I see an iPhone game with a D-Pad smacked right onto the screen. It really never works.
But games using the accelerometer and make games that you lean and tilt the iPhone to control, they work like a charm, because you get 1:1 feedback. I lean the iPhone, I lean what’s inside the iPhone.
Another input only gaming device are microphones used in singing games, like Singstar. The microphones don’t give any feedback to the player and the great thing is; they don’t have to!
Just as Singstar single handedly proves that it doesn’t have to be problem, a game for Natal could easily do the same. But I’m really hoping that all Natal designers out there will work hard on this issue and create something other than karaoke games and “dodge the ball”-stuff.
I have no doubt in my mind that it’s possible.
And btw, no one said you can’t have a game that uses both a normal controller and the Natal-camera, right? Enhancing!
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September 30th, 2009 - 14:24
I’ve been wondering about the Natal thing myself. I saw it demo’d on one of the late night shows (Conan?) and what struck me is how difficult it seemed for people to grasp where they were in virtual space. You’d think that “well, your body is the controller, how much more intuitive can it get?” But people were really awkward when they first attempted to swat a stationary ball with their hand.
The most obvious – and exciting, application to me would be in fighting games, but it seems weird that your character will be recoiling, getting knocked down, doing flips(?) but you – the player – will not. It isn’t as 1:1 as it appears. There will still be a lot of physical short-hand (just like Wii-mote gestures wind up being).
As for Mic feed back, I think it’s interesting and helpful that Rock Band style games give you a visual feedback in addition to the auditory implicit in using a Mic. To make the game more playable (and thereby more fun) they ADD a sensory level to the simulator not present in the actual act (not many rock stars perform concerts with their eyes glued to a tuner).
October 1st, 2009 - 22:20
@Mike C
Yeah, I also see that problem, with it not being 1:1. But I don’t think 1:1 replication should be what to strive for either. What’s the point of doing what you can do in real life, in a game?
It’s probably cooler to enhance the actions. Let’s say you jump straight up in your living room, but in the game, you jumped 100 meters straight up.
However, I do think it’s wise to use movement we’re used to execute anyway, instead of requiring the player to do a backflip.
And I totally agree with you about the visual feedback in Rock Band.
October 2nd, 2009 - 15:15
Another point of the natal interface is that it gives a type of “1:1 feedback”. In regular games you press a button and the character does a action that might be: “sword thrust”. But the actual press of the button is not enough feedback, you need exaggerated animation, effects, and hit effects for the player to feel satisfied with the action.
In Natal you have to thrust your hand to make the character do the same. That is actually rather weak compared to standard feedback as there are no animation principles or other effects to give weight to the action. So how does one add anticipation, exageration and other stuff to a movement that is supposed to be “1:1″?
I don’t really have a point here, just a thought,
October 4th, 2009 - 23:44
@Arshak
Anticipation, exagartion, etc. Do you need it if you ARE the hero? Do you need it when fighting in real life… If you do fight in real life.
And I’m not sure 1:1 representation is the best way to go with Natal anyway. But it’ll be a blast to see what will come out of it!
October 5th, 2009 - 23:08
Well you said it yourself, you would rather jump 100meters into the air what you would do if you were the hero. That’s exaggeration. But I believe you need all those things, you want to be a super hero, not an everyday regular one that doesn’t have any umpf in his punch.