Xbox Natal Project Blog

Katamari and Space Invaders get the controller free treatment.
September 24, 2009 – Motion controls are all the rage these days. Nintendo made the concept a hit and it wasn’t long before Sony and Microsoft realized the new markets opened by the likes of Wii Sports were too big to ignore. Enter Project Natal, Microsoft’s solution to giving people a way to play games without a traditional controller. In fact, there’s no controller at all in Natal. It’s just a camera that tracks your movements and then translates them on screen. The new piece of technology was unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June, but it wasn’t until the Tokyo Game Show that I got to try it out in person.

As has become the tradition in these demos, Microsoft’s creative director for Natal, Kudo Tsunoda, opened things up by showing off Ricochet. It’s a standard Breakout style game, only with Natal you’ll have to leap around to swat balls back towards the targets. One time seeing this in person and you’ll have to agree: the kids are going to go crazy for Natal. Ricochet is just so energetic — it’s exactly what a kid full of life would play until they collapsed for exhaustion.

Watching somebody play Ricochet and doing it yourself is an entirely different proposition. After a quick introduction, Tsunoda began letting attendees hop in for a try. The system automatically recognizes a new player when they step in front of the camera. It even adjusts the on-screen representation of that person to reflect their body type. When my turn came, I took a big swipe at the ball and found that the depth sensors in Natal recognized my eagerness. Instead of a normal hit, the ball lit on fire and moved at twice the speed of the rest of the balls that soon began flying about wildly.

It does take a few moments to get used to Natal. There is a small amount of lag between when you think you’re starting to move and when the avatar on the screen actually does move. Swiping at a ball just before it goes by you will just make you look silly. And if you try to stand perfectly still, you’ll notice a little bit of a jittery motion on the avatar. That’s more of a testament to its power of accurately reflecting your every motion than it is anything else. Whether you’re swinging at a ball, stepping to the side for a kick save, or pelvic thrusting towards a ball like a sex-starved maniac, Natal will convey your motions on to the screen exactly how you’d expect it to.

After we’d had our fill of Ricochet, Tsunoda booted up something I hadn’t seen before. At E3, we saw Burnout Paradise get the Natal treatment. For Tokyo Game Show, there were two surprises. First, I tried my hand at Beautiful Katamari sans controller. Then we went on to give Space Invaders Extreme a go with Natal. Both actually work surprisingly well.

For Beautiful Katamari, you direct the ball around by holding your arms out like Superman and then turning them either left or right to direct the ball. If you want to flip the camera around, all you do is raise your arms in the air quickly. The result is a Katamari game that a newcomer could actually play without struggling to drive the ball around like a tank. Pretty darn cool.

Space Invaders Extreme is controlled by sliding your entire body back and forth in front of the screen. If you hop to the left, the ship will slide with you. Step back to the right and you can slide in that direction to dodge a bullet. To fire, you simply raise your arms in the air and point up. Now, this is one instance where the game technically works with Natal, but I can’t see anybody actually preferring it to a normal controller. Holding your arms in the air and jumping back and forth is far more work and not quite as easy to stay accurate compared to a controller.

The hot and sticky show floor of the Tokyo Game Show isn’t the most idyllic place to try out something where you’re jumping around like a maniac for the first time. The sweat pouring off of me after just a few moments of play did prove one thing, at least. Natal is going to put you through a workout. Leaping after balls in Ricochet, holding your arms outstretched for minutes at a time in Katamari, or shuffling from side to side in Space Invaders Extreme is far more exercise than you’ll get sitting in a couch tapping on a button. Natal uses your entire body as the controller, which means you’ll get significantly more of a workout with a comparable game on Wii. You won’t just be waving one arm around. Well, not if you want to win at least.

Microsoft claims that Natal will work under any light conditions. It uses an infared sensor, which if sensitive enough could detect body heat and use that to track your motions. So far, however, we’ve only seen it in setups meticulously crafted by Microsoft — well lit with little background interference. For me it will be most interesting to see how well it works under changing light conditions. The Wii has always driven me nuts because the sensor bar would begin to freak out if I began playing early in the morning and then the sun came up and shined on it through the window.

It’s too early to declare Natal a success or a failure or anything in between. Ultimately, it will come down to what games it launches with. Simple gimmicks or new control schemes to games you already have won’t be enough, but neither does it appear very important for Microsoft to hit a home run on the hardcore side of things. The people that are going to get most excited about Natal are the ones that don’t view gaming through the lens of the hardcore JRPG fan.

Space Invaders Extreme and Ricochet work great as examples of what will and won’t succeed on Natal. We all know and love Space Invaders, but I don’t think I could possibly sell someone on the idea of playing it with Natal. Ricochet, on the other hand, is the kind of thing that will be a hit. We hardcore gamers like to sit around and imagine the possibilities of what you could do by combining Natal with a traditional controller. In reality, it’s the simple and fun mini or carnival games that are going to be the winners. That doesn’t mean Natal is something to be scared of. Space Invaders Extreme is proof that the traditional controller isn’t going away any time soon. Richochet is proof that jumping around like a crazed baboon can be fun. Play it with your girlfriend. Play it with your parents. But most of all play it with your little brother or cousin.

Microsoft’s Xbox Natal technology won’t be compatible with older Microsoft Xbox 360 titles, and a quick patch to get them working with the device won’t be feasible.

That’s despite the technology being showcased on older titles; a retooled Burnout Paradise was one of the first games shown utilising Natal, and at this week’s Tokyo Games Show both Beautiful Katamari and Space Invaders Extreme were playable with the motion control camera.

These are likely to prove the exceptions, with Natal evangelist Kudo Tsunoda of Microsoft Games, telling Destructoid that a quick-patch approach wouldn’t be possible, with all of the game’s on show requiring significant recoding to work with the technology.

Source: IGN

Epic Games VP Mark Rein recently commented that he believes Microsoft’s strategy with Project Natal will be to bundle the motion sensing camera with every new Xbox sold. Now Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has weighed in as part of our “Pachter’s Podium” feature, forecasting that Microsoft will entice consumers with a jam-packed Natal bundle.

“I could see a $50 price cut next year, accompanied by an upgrade to the HDD to 250Gb and the inclusion of Natal. Yes, I said a $249.99 Xbox 360 with a 250Gb hard drive and Natal included,” he stated.

If Pachter’s forecast turns out to be accurate, we have to say that a bundle like that would be very compelling. Check out the rest of the feature for more of Pachter’s thoughts on the motion sensing battle, the PSPgo’s reception, mergers and acquisitions in the games space, and more.

Source:http://www.industrygamers.com/news/xbox-360-natal-bundle-with-250gb-hdd-for-249/

A big part of Microsoft’s ‘Open House’ event in New York today was to pimp the holiday games and updates for the Xbox 360 due in the coming months. But the most interesting nuggets came from a roundtable discussion with Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment & devices division.360logo

Here are a few notable comments on the possible projects in the queue for the company’s games unit:

* Start saving now for Project Natal. Bach says the new control peripheral for the Xbox 360 will mirror that of the console itself – start high, then slowly work its way down. “Relative to Natal, we’ll see how the pricing cost works out,” he said. “But people should except that it will go through the usual price curve.”
* Asked when we’ll be able to stop referring to the device by its code name ‘Natal’ Bach jokingly answered “When we tell you to call it something else.”
* Microsoft has been touting the synergy between the Xbox 360 and Zune HD when it comes to video, but there are only a couple of older Xbox games coming out for the personal media player. Can we expect more? Bach wasn’t willing to commit: “We’ll decide how w we want to evolve [the Zune HD] and how it plays into our mobile strategy platform later.”

# Pressed on whether Microsoft had plans to launch a portable gaming device, Bach waxed philosophically, but gave the rumor-mongers plenty to ponder: “The portable market is important,” he said. You have to decide which direction the market is going, though. Is it going to stay with portable devices and continue to grow or is the phone you get going to be powerful enough to handle games? I’m probably more biased to think that [phones are] the direction the market is going.

“So in the gaming space, you need to make a fork in the road decision on whether you’re going to do a portable device or focus on phones. The way technology is advancing with phones, [they are] going to be a very strong platform. The only thing holding it back today is battery life.”

Source:http://weblogs.variety.com/the_cut_scene/2009/10/want-project-natal-it-may-cost-you.html?query=natal

The father of Metal Gear told Kotaku that he’d like to make games for Natal that appeal to people who like his own work and Halo.

Hideo Kojima elaborated on his interest in Microsoft’s hands-free Xbox controller system, Project Natal, during his interview with Kotaku at the Tokyo Game Show on Friday. He was following up on comments he made during an all-star Natal panel of Japanese developers.

“I am very interested in Natal,” he said through a translator. “It seems like magic.” Some of the excitment around Project Natal has been from those who see it broadening the access of gaming systems to non-gamers, of making the Xbox 360, like the Wii before it, a better generator of casual experiences.

That’s not where Kojima’s interest lies.

“I’m not interested in making Natal games for casual users, but I’m interested in making games that hardcore users always wanted to play,” he said. “I want to make to a core game experience on Natal — something that , like a Halo or Gears of War or, of course, like Metal Gear Solid, is a core experience. It’s not like I just want to make an FPS. And I don’t want to make something that’s very simple. I want to make something that is deep for players. I want to give them something that is a deeper experience with Natal.”

Kojima said he was also interested in the potential of the Natal’s voice-recognition and motion-sensing systems to empower a machine to recognize and maybe even “understand” a person. But while he’s interested in that, he thinks creators other than him will be the ones to focus on that aspect.

Source:http://kotaku.com/5368212/kojima-talks-more-about-hardcore-natal-plans

The Microsoft Game Studios’ head discusses Project Natal and the software strategy surrounding it
Unlike in previous years, the buzz surrounding the Xbox 360 lies not in its software offering but instead its hardware upgrades.

Though a beastly power-console in 2005, Microsoft’s box is now undergoing a complete metamorphosis to become a mass-market-friendly machine. Project Natal, of course, is the keystone in the bridge from core to casual.

In the second part of our interview with Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft Game Studios, we discuss the publisher’s software strategy that will interweave with Project Natal.

Tell us more about the beginnings of Project Natal.
We started looking at controller-less gaming about four years ago. So it’s been quite a while. The great thing about Microsoft is that we are a big software company – and almost everything in Natal is software driven. Obviously there is some hardware that enables the console to ‘see’, but the research division at Microsoft has done a lot of work on facial recognition, voice recognition, skeletal mapping – I’m talking PhD people in Cambridge and China – which has all contributed to the software powering it.

We have long been committed to making this work – that is, empowering players and removing the entire concept of needing a controller – but have taken our time to find the right solution.

If Microsoft is ‘a software company’ how do you strike the balance between peripheral design and software creation?
For us – the people who love and play games and who make and sell them – the method is to get the creative people involved very early, people like Kudo and Peter Molyneux. That way we can make sure that the software is well developed by the time we launch the hardware; it’s a result of the strength we have by putting a strong internal base of creative leaders alongside great platform leaders.

Peter and I saw the first [Natal] prototype about 2 years ago. He focused on what people want to do in this environment, and that’s where a project of Lionhead’s, called Dimitri, become Milo – the team’s previous idea took on a whole new lease of life with Natal.

In time, we found the right platform for an ambitious software idea – and that’s something Microsoft has regularly done. I’d draw the same analogy between Halo 2 or Project Gotham Racing and Xbox Live. There’s a synergy between hardware and software which, when you get it right, truly captivates an audience.

At Xbox, that’s always our strategy. In our office, I sit opposite [Xbox Live chief] Marc Whitten and we, every day, talk about things we need to enable on the hardware to let innovative software come to the fore, be that in things we develop or the software developed by third parties.

Another great example was Rare designing the Avatars for the New Xbox Experience – our efforts to maintain momentum on hardware only worked thanks to our great software innovations.

Sony also announced a new motion controller at E3, a different kind of controller to Natal…
We don’t have a controller. We are controller-free. You are the controller.

Okay, so is that the key message you need to get across to developers and publishers about why they should care about Natal?
We started showing Natal to people earlier this year, and to a great reception.
The thinking is that when you completely remove the need to have a controller, all you need is what is in your head. All you need is your body. We’ve put players in front of the games with a car, or a football, and told them ‘Do what you feel you need to do’. And minutes later they are playing it, kicking the ball or driving the car.

There is no mapping your expectations through a device onto the screen as you would with a pad or other controller. Our catchphrase for Natal is ‘the only experience you need is life experience’. That sounds a little like marketing-speak but it’s actually a core message from a design standpoint: we want to encourage people to do what they would naturally do.

Lionhead’s Milo is a great example. You just walk up and talk to him. He reacts to you, and you don’t have to think about how he might react to some ball on the end of a stick. You are the interface and that resonates extremely well.

Back at E3, Xbox boss Don Mattrick said that Natal replaces the need for a next-generation Xbox.
Well, as I said, software is our heart and soul. I’ve been here 21 years and started as a programmer.
We effectively reinvented the Xbox once already when we rewrote the dashboard. It’s not about trying to sell consumers a new piece of hardware at the wrong time, it’s about evolving the platform continuously. And we are going to find things, like Natal, that are hardware-related to also do that.

But when Natal is added to 360, which is already an online-enabled powerful box, it starts a new generation of entertainment.

So that’s no to an ‘Xbox 720’, then?
Do we need to sell a new console at some point? I don’t think we need to right now. We’ll wait until our experiences are at the right point, like we have done with the Natal camera. We’ll wait until everyone is ready for it from a software perspective.

What Don was saying was that when Natal comes out it will feel like a new generation has come. I see it as like the launch of the Xbox 360 back in 2005 – there will be a launch portfolio of games to support it.

And in terms of putting more hardware on the market, what else can we do? Put more memory in it? I don’t think that’s enough. We like where we are at with the box – 360 currently has a great price point. Consumers don’t want another $400 box right now.

We instead want consumers and developers to know that we are all going to make a huge return on that original investment in the hardware – the one Microsoft made in building it, the one developers made in making games for it, and the investment consumers made in buying the console. In the current climate that’s something people are going to appreciate much more.

That’s why we are just adding functionality and broadening the console’s appeal, with the best games. The mix we have of content, software and hardware is perfect. And it’s only year four for the 360; look at the history of the industry, when does that happen? When before has there been a console that hasn’t peaked and is in its fourth year still growing and offering so much potential?

Source: http://www.develop-online.net/features/618/QA-Microsofts-Phil-Spencer-Part-2

MGS’ Phil Spencer says the company will look for new ways to modernise the 360

Xbox 360 game developers looking to make use of new technology may not need to wait for Microsoft’s next console.

The platform holder wants to continue to evolve the 360 well after Natal is released, according to Microsoft Game Studios’ head Phil Spencer.

“We effectively reinvented the Xbox once already when we rewrote the dashboard,” Spencer told Develop in an interview published today.

“It’s not about trying to sell consumers a new piece of hardware at the wrong time, it’s about evolving the platform continuously. And we are going to find things, like Natal, that are hardware-related to also do that.”

Spencer added that the 360 has already undergone a major transformation, with the New Xbox Experience replacing the 360’s original ‘blade’ system, as well as the introduction of Mii-like avatars.

“When Natal is added to 360, which is already an online-enabled powerful box, it starts a new generation of entertainment,” he added.

Source: http://www.develop-online.net/news/32825/Microsoft-aims-for-more-Natal-like-evolutions