Kinect (previously Natal)

[Spatial]

Time to break out the animated GIF please...

BAM!

[Charlie]

Dual shock

But dual shock was more an admittance of omission than the introduction of new hardware. I mean the PS2 had dual shock. Everybody with a PS3 can buy a dual shock controller and use it for all their games, whether those games support vibration or not.

[Jebus]

Was just about to post the same thing, Natal and Rockband (and the host of other plastic crap out there) is not the same thing.

People (myself included) are baulking at the price because all we've really seen of it so far is that muppet Kudo's avatar spazzing out, some woman waving herself around like she's on fire, a crappy paint app and some pre-orchestrated video which allows you to groom a young boy.

Precicely, so far I've seen nothing that isn't already being done on my caked in dust redundant Wii.

I never play that and I couldn't be less interested in the minority report style swiping of blades and the horrible idea of voice control. I really can't wait for the first story about someone's "mom" turning a 360 off with voice controls whilst her son is playing Halo Reach and him battering her to death with the console as a consequence.

So yeah, to say I'm not gonna be a day one adopter (especially at that price...I'd rather be buying games with that money) is an understatement. They'll have to blow my mind to get my money and I doubt cirque du solei will be the thing that does it.

[ChrisF]

I can't wait to play natal/wave enabled Street Fighter. I used to do fireballs all the time at school, so I think I'll be pretty good at it.

[abigsmurf]

A lot of the tech for Natal was faked. Milo used a lot of tricks to give the impression it was doing something it wasn't (heard it even had a man behind a curtain guiding it for some things).

The 'scanning your board's design' thing was especially rubbish. You'd never get anything other than a blurry, murky image and it would never be as quick and simple as they made it out to be.

[Jebus]

Yup, Milo was controlled behind the scenes on a PC. Doesn't mean it's impossible though...

[EvilBoris]

But dual shock was more an admittance of omission than the introduction of new hardware. I mean the PS2 had dual shock. Everybody with a PS3 can buy a dual shock controller and use it for all their games, whether those games support vibration or not.

I think he meant the first dual analog pads for ps1, which weren't included with the console initially , you had to buy it separately.
There were games that were dual stick only and required them.

[Neil]

I really can't wait for the first story about someone's "mom" turning a 360 off with voice controls whilst her son is playing Halo Reach and him battering her to death with the console as a consequence.

Very funny but sooooo true.

[EvilBoris]

Yup, Milo was controlled behind the scenes on a PC. Doesn't mean it's impossible though...

I think it was more a showcase of the different kind of game experience that will be possible due to Natal, whether or not we'll be playing his vision in the next 5 years or 20 is open for debate, but it WILL happen.

I don't think Natal will be going away and I fully expect a version of it to be part of the next gen xbox too.
Whilst it may not be in every 360 owners house for this generation and Microsoft may take a large financial for it, at least developers and consumers will be ready for it next time round. Much like the xbox 1 was.

The good thing vs the old mega cd 32x argument is that there is no reason that any games will require natal to function, at least additionally. I'm sure developers will shoehorn in a non natal control scheme if they are really pushed, which will at least mean that anyone can buy it.

[Matt]

I think it was more a showcase of the different kind of game experience that will be possible due to Natal, whether or not we'll be playing his vision in the next 5 years or 20 is open for debate, but it WILL happen.

Yet when Sony done it with KillZone2 the fanboys went bat ****....

[Charlie]

I think he meant the first dual analog pads for ps1, which weren't included with the console initially , you had to buy it separately.
There were games that were dual stick only and required them.

My bad. But the same argument - that all (PS1) players could use their new dual shock controllers to play their existing library - still holds true.

I'm always sceptical about pricey hardware peripherals that cannot be used on existing games because they're usually only adopted by the minority and as a consequence are largely neglected by developers. Why develop a Natal game that only a fraction (Natal adopters) of 360 owners can play when you can develop a standard 360 game that every 360 owner can play.

[sj33]

The Dual Shock (and the original Analogue Controller) was also about £30, a relatively trivial 'investment' that wasn't really intended to 'increase the audience size' as such, but to fill a feature void. Most critisism of Natal has been directed at the price - I think few would disagree that Natal would have a greater chance of adoption at a more realistic price point - in fact, that's the point that many people are arguing.

When you consider the fact that the point of Natal is to appeal to the 'larger audience' who does not own a 360, the price of the console itself should be taken into the equation. This isn't going to be the same as the Wii, Microsoft aren't going to have their job of selling the thing essentially being done for them through pure hype, it will require a much more active effort on Microsoft's part to entice their target audience.

[Prototype]

My bad. But the same argument - that all (PS1) players could use their new dual shock controllers to play their existing library - still holds true.

I'm always sceptical about pricey hardware peripherals that cannot be used on existing games because they're usually only adopted by the minority and as a consequence are largely neglected by developers. Why develop a Natal game that only a fraction (Natal adopters) of 360 owners can play when you can develop a standard 360 game that every 360 owner can play.

Erm a developer then can release a standard game with Natal features in it. Not hard. I believe Fable 3 is rumoured to have some sort of Natal feature.

[Jebus]

Yet when Sony done it with KillZone2 the fanboys went bat ****....

Whether people will admit it or not, there is a huge bias towards the 360 most of the time.

Final Fantasy XIII proved that categorically.

[Charlie]

Erm a developer then can release a standard game with Natal features in it. Not hard. I believe Fable 3 is rumoured to have some sort of Natal feature.

Sure, there'll be plenty of that, but I'm thinking those who invest ?100 in a Natal system will be wanting more than a few tacked-on Natal features in a handful of games.