Re: Microsoft E3 Discussion
Telegraph UK Natal Impressions
Wired Natal and Milo Impressions
Telegraph UK Natal Impressions
Natal automatically recognised that I was a woman by using its sensors to look at my hair and body shape, and loaded a female avatar without any prompting.
Moreover, it continues to recognise where your legs and arms are, even if an object, such a piece of furniture, is placed between you and the camera. Even more impressively, it recognises when a second player enters its field of vision, and can track movement simultaneously, but independently – this opens up some fantastic possibilities for multi-player interaction on both casual games, such as tennis, and co-operative titles.
The second demo used a standard retail copy of Burnout Paradise, and we had to turn an imaginary steering wheel and pump an imaginary accelerator to send our car haring around the track.
The initial confusing sensation of standing in the middle of a room, arms outscretched, hands tightly clutched around an imaginary wheel, soon passed; the actual interface, the mechanism of driving the car, became second nature. The camera was able to identify how much “pressure” was being put on the accelerator pedal, and therefore how fast to go, while a mistimed jerked of the steering wheel was instantly recognised, and sent the car veering wildly across the track. Braking involved taking a foot off the gas pedal and stepping backwards; holding the foot in that position sent the car careering in to reverse.
The initial confusing sensation of standing in the middle of a room, arms outscretched, hands tightly clutched around an imaginary wheel, soon passed; the actual interface, the mechanism of driving the car, became second nature. The camera was able to identify how much “pressure” was being put on the accelerator pedal, and therefore how fast to go, while a mistimed jerked of the steering wheel was instantly recognised, and sent the car veering wildly across the track. Braking involved taking a foot off the gas pedal and stepping backwards; holding the foot in that position sent the car careering in to reverse.
What Project Natal demonstrates is that a pure gaming experience, unencumbered by controllers or wires, can in fact prove one of the most enjoyable and intuitive ways of playing.
Though Microsoft seems set, at least initially, to focus on launching the system with a slew of casual titles designed to appeal to all gamers, the company is adamant that it will be applicable to “proper” games too.
Both Don Mattrick, one of the most senior managers in the Xbox division, and Kudo Tsunoda, who has been instrumental to the project, have spoken repeatedly of satisfying the “core”, the loyal fanbase of Xbox 360 owners who prefer gun fights and racing games to daubing paint on a virtual canvas.
Project Natal is astonishing piece of technology, made all the better for its simplicity. Today, I got a glimpse of the future of gaming, and I liked what I saw.
Though Microsoft seems set, at least initially, to focus on launching the system with a slew of casual titles designed to appeal to all gamers, the company is adamant that it will be applicable to “proper” games too.
Both Don Mattrick, one of the most senior managers in the Xbox division, and Kudo Tsunoda, who has been instrumental to the project, have spoken repeatedly of satisfying the “core”, the loyal fanbase of Xbox 360 owners who prefer gun fights and racing games to daubing paint on a virtual canvas.
Project Natal is astonishing piece of technology, made all the better for its simplicity. Today, I got a glimpse of the future of gaming, and I liked what I saw.
I immediately got into it, starting to work up a sweat as I lunged for the balls, trying to block them with my hands and feet and send them flying back into the screen. Since the connection between my body movements and the onscreen avatar’s felt so seamless, it was quite a lot of fun to interact like that. At one point, I thought the camera was screwing up because I wasn’t hitting the balls, but as it turns out, virtual me was too far away from the virtual ball, and I had to step forward. The camera seems to measure depth — the distance between you and the screen — quite well.
Finally, we entered the last room — an audience with Lionhead Studios’ Peter Molyneux and his new game Milo and Kate. Unlike the technical demos that we’d played already, Molyneux stressed, Milo and Kate is a retail product, the next big game from Lionhead. It’s like virtual pet games like Nintendogs, but with a realistic-looking person instead — a young boy named Milo. (Not appearing in the demo was his dog Kate.)
Natal is used to make your interactions with Milo seamless and natural. By standing in front of him as he plays on the swingset, you can move the “camera” just by walking around the room — your viewing angle will change in accordance with your natural movements. When Milo throws you a pair of goggles to go fishing with, you put them on by raising your hands to your head and making “glasses” around your eyes with your hands. When you fish, you can splash around in the water and grab at the fish — it all comes very natural.
Unfortunately, the Milo and Kate demo was quite brief — if you watched Microsoft’s press conference stream, you saw most of what we did. When Game Informer magazine editor Andy McNamara stood in front of Milo and said his name, Milo responded, “Hi Andy. I see you’re wearing green today.”
Natal is used to make your interactions with Milo seamless and natural. By standing in front of him as he plays on the swingset, you can move the “camera” just by walking around the room — your viewing angle will change in accordance with your natural movements. When Milo throws you a pair of goggles to go fishing with, you put them on by raising your hands to your head and making “glasses” around your eyes with your hands. When you fish, you can splash around in the water and grab at the fish — it all comes very natural.
Unfortunately, the Milo and Kate demo was quite brief — if you watched Microsoft’s press conference stream, you saw most of what we did. When Game Informer magazine editor Andy McNamara stood in front of Milo and said his name, Milo responded, “Hi Andy. I see you’re wearing green today.”
For now, what I can say is that the hands-on demos worked great, and Molyneux’s project could be a killer app. But who knows how the final product will be received.
Comment