360°

Beehivecity- Hands On: Microsoft Xbox 360 Project Natal, our first play

It’s a lot of fun. As soon as you walk in front of the screen, your lifelike avatar appears and copies everything you do … when you clap your hands, it claps its hands, when you stack it because you’re awful at the game, it stacks it too … it’s scarily good. The system is intuitive and takes about three seconds to get the hang of … and once your slapping, heading and kicking balls around the cyber-court, you don’t want to stop.

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beehivecity.com
niceguywii605127d ago

"look like Natal will be a massive hit"

That's like saying the Wii will do >good< before Wii launched.

360RRODFIX5127d ago ShowReplies(2)
StanLee5127d ago

How did some no name site get a hands on with Natal?! O_o

The Wood5127d ago

Maybe MS will do an apple and send the 'boys' in

IdleLeeSiuLung5127d ago

It seems a lot of non-gaming sites are getting hands-on with Natal as well....

karl5127d ago

by saying good things about it?

dizzleK5127d ago

it's so they get the press they want. real gamers would probably tear it to shreds.

facelike5126d ago

I was thinking the same thing. Are these real sites? Why is it no name sites that report on gaming, not gaming sites reporting on gaming?

Viacom is big, MTV big, yet Gametrailers(owned by Viacom) cant find an exclusive with Natal, yet this person can. Huh?????

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360RRODFIX5127d ago ShowReplies(1)
sxpacks5127d ago

Ricochet again?!
Really!? They can't even do a behind closed doors demo of something else besides ricochet?

C'mon Natal show me what you can do!

SixZeroFour5127d ago

if all they show is ricochet at e3 this year, THEN you can say "ricochet again?!" other than that, dont you think its possible that ms wants to keep every other game secret for e3, so itll be just that much more exciting to see it in action?

Bigpappy5126d ago (Edited 5126d ago )

as we have been saying here on N4G. It is not even E3 yet and just today alone we have them getting a better port of one of the hottest Multi-plats so far this year (RDR) and a site getting hands-on with Natal (Ricochet) and reporting it is Smooth, Amazing and FUN.

Am I allowed to point this out are am I going to loose a bubble? Come on guys, don't do it. I only have a 360 and I love the possibilities Natal bring to it. Natal may not be for every one, but I could see it being a very hot item the Holliday season, if it does well again this E3.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 5126d ago
cyborg69715127d ago

Everyone laughed at the wii before it was launched.

presto7175127d ago

I think we all know how soooooooo wrong they were.....

mcgrawgamer5127d ago

not sure what world you live in presto, but in the world I live in HD-DVD was the next best thing and bluray was the next gen betamax. Matter of fact anytime a movie didn't sell more on bluray than it's dvd counterpart it was the end of bluray. Bluray was supposed to have died the first 2 years of it's life. Even though it was killing HD-DVD in sales. the media finally got off HD-DVD nades when toshiba gave up on the format.

madmonkey05127d ago

sounds good, it could work if it has any decent software to use it on,

i wont be buying it though, but im undecided on move, at least with that we have seen real games.

Double Toasted5127d ago

Looks like someone has a crush...

BeaArthur5127d ago

No thanks. I'll stick with my analogs and buttons.

BeaArthur5127d ago

Maybe you didn't read what I wrote correctly. I wasn't saying I don't want Natal because I want Move. My comment was directed at all motion controls.

The Wood5126d ago (Edited 5126d ago )

...but you left yourself open;)

check the wink....see

van-essa5127d ago

why post in this article then?

BeaArthur5127d ago

It's called an opinion and this is the section for opinions. Why post on my post?

Baka-akaB5127d ago (Edited 5127d ago )

you gotta admit that it's a bit gratuitous , when you've already said so before .

By doing that , you'rr a bit fishing for the negative comments you just go

thief5127d ago

When analog first came out, almost all leading game franchises dropped the d-pad controls or whatever they were called then in favour of analog. Hower, years after the wii, most games still run on analog and you dont see the same rush for motion controls. Simply speaking, motion controls are not a leap forward for most popular games. Of course, you do get more accuracy - but developers have learned to use tricks such as auto-aim to overcome that obstacle, and with some practise dual analog is pretty easy and accurate to use.

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150°

10 Biggest Xbox Mistakes of All Time (So Far)

The Xbox brand has done a lot of good over the years, but their various blunders are pretty wild to look back on in their magnitude.

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culturedvultures.com
piroh8d ago (Edited 8d ago )

Ironically number 9 can save them at this point (releasing games on multiple platforms)

ChasterMies6d ago

By “save them” you mean make more profit for Microsoft. Xbox will still be a dying hardware platform.

OtterX7d ago

You could add the naming scheme for the consoles, it just confuses customers. I know they wanted to avoid traditional numbering bc it would always be lower than their competitor, but this whole 360 then One then Series thing is confusing af. Imagine a Soccer Mom trying to figure this stuff out. I still mistakenly call the Series X the One from time to time on accident.

RNTody7d ago

Don't forget about the Xbox One, Xbox One X and Xbox Series X! Good luck to Soccer moms around the world.

S2Killinit6d ago (Edited 6d ago )

They did that on purpose to confuse and direct attention away from the generational numbering.

MS doesn’t like reminding people that they joined the industry after others had already been involved in gaming.

For instance, they called the xbox “360” to combat PlayStation “3” because they wanted to seem like “more” than “3”, so instead of xbox 2, they opted for xbox 360. Also this had the additional benefit of selling consoles to uninformed parents who might purchase a “360” instead of a “3” by mistake, or because they thought 360 was more than 3. Kind of a disingenuous move.

They have been continuing with their confusing naming patterns for pretty much the same reasons. Frankly, it fits with who and what they are as a brand.

FinalFantasyFanatic6d ago

I can understand their reasoning, but whoever came up with that naming scheme should be fired, bad naming schemes have killed consoles (I'm pretty sure it was the major reason for the downfall of the WiiU). They should have had unqiue names like Nintendo and Sega have had for their consoles, far less confusing for the consumer.

rob-GP2d ago

@FinalFantasyFanatic "They should have had unqiue names like Nintendo..."

lol, you mean:

NES, SNES
GameBoy, GameBoy Advanced, GameBoy Colour, GameBoy SP
DS, DSi, DSXL
3DS, 3DS XL, New 3DS, New 3DS XL
Wii, Wii U
Switch, Switch OLED

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Cacabunga7d ago (Edited 7d ago )

Phil Spencer is the worst that has happened to Xbox.
They built a respectable brand up to Xbox one. Then this guy took over and things became a joke

Reaper22_7d ago

He still has his job. Something you can't say about Jim Ryan.

Cacabunga7d ago

Both bad execs. One is on job and one thankfully retired.

FinalFantasyFanatic6d ago (Edited 6d ago )

I didn't like either person, both people damaged their respective brands and produced worse outcomes, but Phil did save the Xbox brand from being retired by Microsoft. Although in hindsight, he should have just let it die, rather than languish in limbo like it is now.

Rainbowcookie5d ago

Yeah but the one that was "bad" didn't even affect sales.

bunt-custardly6d ago

Phil Spencer was also on the team back when 360 was around, alongside Shane Kim, Peter Moore etc. I think the damage that did the most harm was the Don Mattrick "Always Online" console (ahead of its time basically). They handed Sony and Nintendo a free-pass when that was revealed. It went downhill from there. Then the corporate machine went into full swing to try and recover. They have to a degree as a games company for the masses, and less so for the core gamer. Outside USA, the Xbox brand does not sell as well as Japanese based consoles (citation needed).

Cacabunga6d ago

Want a decision maker. The always online and TV plans was a disaster yes, but they caught up by announcing 1st party games that gamers actually kept the hype going.. until this moron took over and introduced the PC day one release.. e all know where that ended..

S2Killinit6d ago

I dont think they were ever a respectable brand, not since the beginning, when their goal was never to be involved and share in the gaming space. I think the OG xbox was an exception because MS as a brand was still getting its foot in and so the people behind that were people of the gaming industry.

FinalFantasyFanatic6d ago

The 360 was the brand in its prime though, everything went downhill towards the end of that generation. Its staple games like Halo, Forza and Gears are what kept the console relevant and afloat for so long.

MaximusPrime_7d ago

Really good video.

I remember the days with RRoD was big news on here, N4G.

Microsoft had it turbulence number of years.

Looking at the success of Sea of Thieves despite being 6 years old, time to release Halo, Forza horizon 4 & 5 on PS5. It'll help their revenue

shinoff21837d ago (Edited 7d ago )

2 of the 4 games they did already sold really well. So it's definitely going down. Idk about halo or forza but I feel those studios they've bought in the last 5 years, their coming

ChasterMies6d ago

I found this video painful to watch. Can someone list them out?

Top 10 for me from are:
1. 2013 reveal presentation
2. Bundling Kinect 2 with Xbox One
3. RRoD or why rushing to market with hardware is always a bad idea.
4. Buying studios only to close them.
5. Ads on the Home Screen
6. Letting Halo die.
7. Letting Geard of War die.
8. Every console name
9. Charging for Xbox Live on Xbox 360 when Sony let PS3 players play online for free.
10. Cancelling release of OG Xbox games after the Xbox 360 launched.

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150°

Microsoft to Add Copilot AI to Video Games

Microsoft recently revealed its plans to incorporate Copilot directly into video games, with Minecraft being the first showcased example.

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xpgained.co.uk
Fishy Fingers11d ago (Edited 11d ago )

F*** AI

"Hey Copilot, what's a good meme to prove I dislike AI".... https://giphy.com/clips/sou...

Einhander197211d ago

Two trillion dollar company that just can't wait to put as many people possible out of work as fast as possible.

It feels like every single thing they do is making gaming worse and destroying the industry.

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darthv7210d ago

....you know it takes people to program the AI.... right? It isnt like it is sentient. We haven't reach skynet level of situation or anywhere close to the matrix just yet.

That's next Thursday.

Einhander197210d ago (Edited 10d ago )

It takes a people to program the AI then that AI is used for who knows how many games eliminating countless jobs which only grows as AI is used for more and more game creation functions.

What you're saying is so ridiculously short sighted and truly larking any kind of understanding and foresight.

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CaptainFaisal11d ago

Why all the hate? Im actually excited about this! Always wanted this kind of immersion, and an AI companion with me all the time helping me out knowing the status of my skills/inventory/progress and giving me tips on the best approach or how to craft something specific is game changing for the industry.

Hate all you want about AI, but this is just the start and I can see the potential already. You wont be complaining in the next 5-10 years about this, but rather complain if a game hasn’t implemented it.

MrDead11d ago

Yes we can't wait for the work of others to be used without the need to pay them so that MS can profit even more from the people they fire.

I_am_Batman11d ago (Edited 11d ago )

There is no chance I'd ever use something like this, especially if it's not part of the core game design, but a layer on top of it. It's way too much handholding. Many games already feel like busy work, because they don't let the player figure things out on their own. Having a real-time interactive guide defeats the purpose of playing the game in the first place in my opinion.

If this were to become the standard like you predict, we'll see more and more video games get away with bad design, because people will just be used to ask for help from the AI companion anyway.

Number1TailzFan11d ago

Well Nintendo don't need this with some of their games these days, with invincible characters, items, easy bosses etc.. they do the hand holding built in

helicoptergirl11d ago

Takes "hand holding" in games to a whole new level.

BlackDoomAx10d ago

Because human nature xD Almost every new technology had these kind of comments.

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70°

Activision team is opening a new game studio in Poland 'Elsewhere Entertainment' to build new AAA IP

Microsoft's Activision subsidiary announced today that it is opening a new game development studio to take advantage of the huge talent pool growing in Poland. It'll be the second Activision studio based in the region, joining Infinity Ward Krakow, although this studio is, in fact, not working on Call of Duty.

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windowscentral.com
Psychonaut8515d ago

They’re not working on Call of Duty? Give it time.