October 25th, 2009
Ok, Peter Molyneux said that during his BAFTA Annual Video Games Lecture, that Fable 3 will definitely support Natal:
As a sign off, Peter confirmed that some Project Natal aspects will be supported in Fable III. How this will be done Peter wouldn’t confirm, but he did promise something will be implemented as he thought it would be ‘stupid not to’.
[Is Project Natal in danger of alienating the existing core audience of games?]
Peter bristled at this question a little and explained that Project Natal should not be regarded as a replacement to traditional controller based gaming. It should be regarded instead as additive.
The second part is more interesting. It means Peter is not going to leave traditional controllers behind. Natal will be not a revolution, but a nice cute addition to traditional gamepad playing.
Tags: Natal Microsoft, Natal XBox, Project Natal
Posted in NEWS | 1 Comment »
October 23rd, 2009
Canesta… Who is this Canesta? And what is all the fuss about it regarding Microsoft Natal Project?
The thing is Canesta Company is developing a technology similar to Microsoft Natal Project.
And the recent news is it raised (got its hands on) 16 million USD. And they are using this money to put their device on shop shelves already in late 2010:
Spare said the new money will help the company move into full-scale production of its chips, which could be used in systems in the fall of 2010.
Will Canesta beat Natal? Who knows. 
Canesta claims their device will be really cheap. And it’s most likely true as they are going to use their technology to replace TV remote controls, so that can’t be too expensive.
However, their current tech demos reveal only the simplest hand-gesture recognition, not full-body tracking. Besides, Microsoft claims that their innovative software is a key element of Natal technology. And Canesta hardly possesses anything like that.
Watch a couple of Canesta videos below and decide for yourself.
Tech Demo Video:
Promo Video:
Please, share your opinion in comments.
Tags: Natal Microsoft, Natal XBox, Project Natal
Posted in NEWS | 2 Comments »
October 18th, 2009
Michael Pachter, game industry analyst, suggested, that Natal would cost 50$:
I think that Natal will cost $50, as it only really involves a camera (a three-lensed camera, but a camera nonetheless).
Well, I’m almost sure that he’s wrong. And it’s not just common marketing sense:
Natal device gives second breath to Xbox 360, why sell it a price of a cheap accessory?
It’s also about official claims. Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment division, said earlier:
Relative to Natal, we’ll see how the pricing cost works out. But people should except that it will go through the usual price curve.
And the “usual price curve” hardly starts at 50$. )
I asked Michael Pachter about his reasons for such a prediction, he didn’t answer. Well, may be he’s too busy predicting something else.
And what do you, guys, think? Please, share your opinion in comments )
Tags: Natal Microsoft, Natal Price, Natal XBox, Project Natal
Posted in OPINIONS | 1 Comment »
