Kotaku 
Enter your username and password.
Denver, 10:53 AM
Mon Dec 7
27 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip us:
Editor-In-Chief:
Brian Crecente
| AIM | Twitter
Deputy Editor:
Stephen Totilo
| AIM | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Michael McWhertor
| AIM | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor, Japan:
Brian Ashcraft
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, East Coast:
Michael Fahey
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Oceania:
Luke Plunkett
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Weekends:
Owen Good
| AIM | Twitter
Correspondent, San Francisco:
AJ Glasser
| AIM | Twitter
Columnist:
Leigh Alexander
Columnist:
Tim Rogers
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/29/09
When I first read that, I never thought it might become a reality someday.
11/28/09
You guys sound like a bunch of grandpa's to me....
"Dang kids and their newfangled weeeeemote....I remember back in my day I just use dere dials on meh television humph!"
I really don't want to turn into that...
11/28/09
11/28/09
And I don't want to turn into a jackass flailing about in front to a TV to play a game. I don't even want to think about how much of an idiot I'll look like trying to play a flight simulator with motion control...
Secondly when I get home from class, the dojo, or hikeing, I'd rather vegetate on my futon with my gamepad, than be standing in my cramped bed room flailing about.
What I'd rather see is a continued evolution of the gamepad, as opposed to this motion sensing BS.
11/28/09
Have a little more imagination here. We haven't even seen the kinds of crazy stuff that third party developers might do with this technology. There isn't much good reason for people act so threatened by this little experiment.
11/28/09
With regards to the evolution of the gamepad, I don't know how much further you can take it. The duelshock has been redesigned three times over and yet still sports the same basic design. Some might even go so far as to say that it's pretty close to perfection. Adding an extra button here or there or improving the shoulder trigger's is hardly considered an evolution
No, what I am interested in is people constantly trying to push the envelope and progress towards some semblance of the future. I can understand your hesitancy but with the amount of genuinely smart people running the industry, I have no idea how you can not be excited. Moreover, I don't understand how you can criticize something that isn't even out yet and at best is still a year away from the shelf.
Don't be afraid of change. The more the industry holds back, the less gaming as a whole can progress. Natal might not be the next big thing, but it is a step forward. I eagerly await the day when we can have gaming like they do in Futurama. I say embrace it or get left behind gramps.
11/28/09
11/29/09
So when someone in the room makes a stupid/funny/weird remark and I make a particular expression, it'll change the channel on me? How would that avoid false positives?
11/29/09
Changing the channel though voice control. Ok what stops some jackass in the other room from screaming and changing the channel on you?
Here is my thing, when it starts getting close to reality, then you're getting close to the point of you may as well just get up and do it yourself.
For example, I own a pair of WWII rifles, if I have to get up off my couch and "aim" and all that, why don't I just go out to the range and do the real thing. I also train in iaido, if I'm playing some game where I have to swing a "sword" around, why don't I just go to the dojo and do the real thing? I like playing games because at the end of the day, I'm just plain lazy.
What I'd like to see tested out in a gamepad, is pressure sensitive grips. Instead of tilting the stick to pressing the D-pad you squeeze the grips to turn or what ever ever. I'm sure other people have different ideas they'd like to see tested.
Secondly, explain to me how you'd play a flightsim or a racing game (or anything with a car) with motion control? I can't imagine Ace Combat being anything more than a bitch to play though motion control. You don't flail around in a cockpit or the driver's seat to control a vehicle.
It's not being afraid of change, it's called "if it ain't broke don't fix it." The keyboard and mouse have been around for how long? And I don't see people trying to mess with that. Why? Because it works.
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
It's not planned to replace controllers, no one wants that entirely. But just imagine small little innovations to games such as FPSs. For example, you could play an FPS with a controller the same as you do today but when you move your head left or right your perspective changes. Think of those Wii headtracking hack videos.
11/29/09
What worries me is that focus will shift from tradtional imput methods to motion control, something that i don't really want to see happen, it's just an opinion buddy learn to be more tolerent.
11/28/09
The difference between television and videogames in respect to this is that while you can choose to play games with these features as and when you would like, and are in the mood for it, the schedules of television and its workings don't always work around you, and even if you have Tivo, Sky+, DVD recorders or some equivalent, it wouldn't change the fact that you had to interact with the TV in this way everytime you wanted to use it. You would most likely play the game precisely because you wanted to interact Natal in these ways, and they would be a part of the experience, but when its application is universalised it would inevitably become a chore that distances us from, and is not a feature of, what we want at that time.
Most of the parodies in the replies to the article do a good job of summarising what this amounts to (Mr Person Eating's especially). The interaction would be awkward, unhelpful, grow tired after a while and ancilary to what you get out of it in the end. It would be nothing but a chore, and I can say that it's only saving grace is that I don't seriously think it will ever be implemented as described. Anyone who finds this an overly-pessimistic account only needs to look at the parodies. What reason or value is there in making someone perform arbitrary actions to say we've outgrown the remote control? And if I'll be sliding my hands from side to side and talking to the TV, when a remote would do just fine, how is that any different from being asked to roll over or sing an old sailor's song in E minor whenever I want to change channels or increase the volume respectively?
11/28/09
Coooool
11/28/09
11/28/09
Coming soon to DVD and Blu-Ray, Disney Pixar's UP!
"What the-"
Who's our next contestant on the Price is Right? Bernie Johnson, c'mon down!
"Son of a-"
... and it's 100% DEET free. Keep bugs away with OFF!
"God damnit!"
11/27/09
11/27/09
11/27/09
11/28/09
you're never going to have to dig thru the cushions looking for your guestures.
assuming the voice recog is accurate enough, you're not going to accidentally press the wrong button (say "channel 137" instead of accidentally pressing "135" in the dark).
If they are talking about integrating voice and guestures, it seems like beating false positives wouldn't be too hard: just have a trigger guesture. Natal ignores what you say until you raise your hand and wave once at the tv, for example.
Is it "easier"? Define "easier". does "point and press" expend fewer calories than "wave and speak"? Probably so. But will nana find it easier to guesture opening a book (bringing up the guide), grab/drag to scroll to a channel and time, then say "set that show" to make the tv automatically kick on and switch to the Golden Girls martathon Tuesday night, or will she find it easier to manipulate the 47 button remote, press "guide", read the on-screen menu to determine that reminders have to be selected from a sub-menu chosen by pressing the "C" button, then using the directional buttons to cycle to the program, then . . . well, do you press "enter", do you press "c" again, or do you press "exit"?
How much easier is the "clapper" for turning lights on and off? Hell, how much easier is a remote over walking to the tv and pushing the button on it?
Personally I think it would be hard to make guesture/voice control more complicated than the standard TV/cable remote for the general public. I just checked: my tv remote has 32 buttons and my cable remote has 59 buttons. That's a metric crapload of complication to alot of people.
11/27/09
11/27/09
Do you know the chaos that will amount from families shouting at each other because dad wants to watch ESPN and mom wants to watch Lifetime?
Will it understand different languages? Slang?
Just...just focus on the game implementations first then everything else. Don't start throwing out crazy things that are just going to make the thing overhyped more then it already is.
That goes for you too Sony. Just make the damn thing WORK PROPERLY first...then promise that it can heal cancer, summon the Dragonzord or whatever.
11/27/09
11/27/09
No..I did not forget that...that wasn't my point.
My point is do they really NEED to do that. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
If it's successful when it's released then go on and waste money...but neither of them are released. So right now...narrowing your scope is a REALLY good idea.
11/28/09
11/28/09
And no reason to be worried. As with everything nowadays there will probably be options to turn off given features. And while this idea could go very wrong, it could also go very, very right. I'm interested at least.
11/28/09
Whining about the availability of options that you yourself may never use is, well, lame to everybody else that thinks this is a cool idea.
11/28/09
Research and development is an essential part of progress anyway. Not everything will work out -- most of the time it won't, actually. But sometimes when it does, it works out in a huge way. Just look at the Wii or iPhone. Are you really going to rant against a giant company trying something new? They're eating the cost of developing it, what do we as consumers have to lose here?
11/27/09
Is Natal really going to be able to distinguish those things? It seems like the bar is awfully high at the moment, especially when nobody's seen the device outside of a tightly controlled environment.
I've also got my doubts about the voice input as a valid control scheme, but that has more to do with the fact that I still can't get the blasted thing to work on my cell phone.
11/27/09