Phil Spencer, Head of Microsoft Game Studio, gave interview to “Develop” portal.
Here are the most interesting pieces:
– 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. … 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.
– Back at E3, Xbox boss Don Mattrick said that Natal replaces the need for a next-generation Xbox.
– 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… 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… 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… 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.
That’s it ) No new console from Microsoft, they are concentrating on Natal technology. That’s good. )
Tags: Natal Microsoft, Natal News, Natal XBox, Project Natal
