5 Game Genres That Desperately Need Project Natal

GB writes: When Wii Remote was first shown back at E3 2006, it created a great deal of buzz in the whole gaming industry. Some labeled it as the future of gaming, some said it was just a gimmick. But the official release of Wii removed all doubts. It indeed confirmed that motion control is the new direction for gaming. Soon the competitors realized the impact of this and this year at E3 2009, the focus was on motion control again, with Nintendo showing its improved version of WiiMotionPlus and Sony showing their own Camera Motion Controller, but the best of all and what we consider is the next big step in gaming, was Microsoft's Hands Free controller Project Natal. Project Natal among all of them, showed the greatest deal of potential in revolutionizing the whole gaming scene as what we know today. It offers an enormous amount of new possibilities upon which developers can work and create experiences never thought of before. With all this excitement in mind, we as normal die hard gamers came up with the list of game types/genres, what we think, might be the most successful with all this Project Natal integration.

[williamkenny]

I'm not big on the whole motion sensitive thing. I play video games to realax, not jump around in front of my telly like some chimp on speed.

[gameseveryday]

same here, m not sure whether i will be running on walls like prince of persia.

[Reibooi]

The only thing that needs project Natal are the Mini game collections that are soon to drown the 360.

[kaveti6616]

Yeah, here we go again. Let's talk about how we "come home from a hard day's work and we don't want to jump behind the couch blah blah blah..." The thing is, we are not the game developers, and we do not have the same creative energy as these game developers. Yet when these fanboy idiots cannot think of any good ideas for Natal, they dismiss it right away. How about we let the game developers work with the tech and use their own creative energy to figure out what they can do with it. Stop assuming that you're going to need to jump across walls and hop behind the couch. That's a childish thing to assume. Just because you're not observant enough, nor creative enough to figure out what the tech can be used for, it doesn't mean you can downplay its potential.

Stick to playing games, because if MAKING games was your strong suit, then you would not be here.

[leyego]

hmn.... Natal the controller less controller....

i wonder how u move forward.... i wonder how u jump... i wonder how u do anything without getting up and mimicing it yourself.

thats what i thought.
and don't go giving us that BS about using a controller with natal because that defeates the purpose of it.

[WinterWolf]

There is no genre of games that desperately needs Natal.

Natal's success will depend on the type of games that are built from the ground up to use Natal and how fun those games really will be.

This is all judging from history. You don't see a Wii game that was partially designed to use motion sensor technology. That's because anything else is either half-assed or just a gimmick. Like throwing grenades in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Did it really need sixaxis to be successful?

And saying that a game genre desperately needs motion control is like saying it desperately needs sixaxis or Wii motion control. Such a genre shouldn't exist in the fist place, or how else would it have been successful thus far without it. Think about it...

[jimbone]

I am glad that I am not so lazy the mere though of moving around scares me. I personally do understand what you mean, but man you make your selves look like b1tches when you say it like that.If you want to look like "A Fat American Bee-ach" then keep it up.(by the way I am American). It no wonder we are the fattest country, It makes me laugh so hard when the main reason some dismiss Natal is a little physical activity.

[badz149]

I think it's more about "how M$ desperately needs Natal to appeal to casual gamers" more than anything! to think that any game genre besides the casual games is purely delusional!

[leyego]

i think u got it backwards, otherwise the wii won't have sold as much as it did.
as u can see people don't mind wagging there hands around to play a game.

but imagine playing 2 hours with natal (since hardcore games are coming out for it). imagine playing geow3 or even a burn out with natal controls, can u honestly tell me u would u play 2-3 hours straight with your hands in thin air simulating a steering wheel and stepping on the gas?

edit
the only hardcore games i can see it working REALLY well would be the RTS genre, and games that work best with a mouse since your finger can be a mouse pointer of sorts.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

Not every system will have it and hardcore gamers are usually early adopters meaning they aren't necessarily getting an Xbox 360 Natal bundle.

However, I'm excited about the idea of Natal if they can get some compelling games.

[Microsoft Xbox 360]

Waiting for that AAA pat-a-cake game. It's Natal at its truest potential.

[slayorofgods]

These are five game genre's better off without Natal.

[ShadowCK]

Very enjoyable article. Thumbs up!

[gameseveryday]

Can it beat Sonys next motion controller?

[Assassin Nawabi]

well i guess the question should be...will sony's motion controller beat wii's controller

[williamkenny]

Exactly. Sony is going to be the last one to the motion-sensetive party, so they had better bring something good.

[Fishy Fingers]

Sonys motion controller will be out well before Natal.

[PirateThom]

EyeToy was out in 2003.

[gameseveryday]

i guess Wii controller is getting really ol stand doesn't stand comparison with sony and Microsoft!

[williamkenny]

I don't know...Wii did it first, so they will always have a large community.

[Assassin Nawabi]

but you gotta remember they were the first ones into motion control and they must have some tricks in bag for future but as far as hardcore gaming goes i agree nintendo wont go there

[williamkenny]

Yep. Nintendo would never go into gardcore gaming proper, it's just not their audience.

[gameseveryday]

Nintendo doesnt follow hardcore gaming any more, so its not their forte for sure!

[Assassin Nawabi]

having said that madworld was kinda hardcore

[Dan GamingBolt]

Madworld? lol i can name like 50 hardcore games on the wii, but the wii will still have only like 5-10% hardcore games...

[Transporter47]

please enlighten me

[umair_s51]

Haha, you beat me to it

[Dan GamingBolt]

@Transporter47

it was just a random number to support my argument =)

[baldguy71]

the roject Natal thing kinda looks cool - but not sure I'd be into it myself personally

[Dan GamingBolt]

Well, i can see all of them working except an FPS, unless its like Arcade style (where it moves for you), because if you have to move, where the hell will you move? 3 meters untill your head hits the TV? lol

[Ron_Burgundy]

the gay adult genre? natal is looking out for pedos like Roman Polanski who will love Milo

[WenisWagon]

You seem to really like talking about Milo, it appears

[Defectiv3_Detectiv3]

Are 360 users really that desperate for something else? Last time I checked, games were doing just fine w/o these so called innovations. It doesn't matter how supposedly 'great' these controls are, it will do little to effect the quality of a game - that just comes down to design. If this tech ever does take the place of standard controls devs are still going to have to design quality games.

As it stands, project natal, along w/ any motion controls, are 90% hype, 10% reality. If anything, the demo burnout proves that these controls are clumsy and ineffective at best.

People are hyping this as a game changer, fact of the matter is, games haven't really changed that much to warrant an overhaul of their control scheme. If anything, this is just an excuse to market consoles to a more casual crowd, instead of it being Wii Fit and Wii Sports we're going to get MS Fit and PS Sports.

[Transporter47]

also i don't want to be holding random stuff just to play a game...

imagine i will just be skateboarding in my room instead of going outside to do it, oh yay i always wish i could of do that, thank you project natal thank you

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

realizing they want a 360 or PS3 to have better looking games, with way more technical depth than the Wii can provide... thus showing Nintendo is about to start going Gamecube!

Im starting to think this stuff will fair well for 360 and PS3... cause there really isn't s#!t to play on the Wii and the games severely lack the amount of polish found in 360/PS3 games!

My honest opinion!

[Ripyealip]

how do you play an fps and an adventure game on natal??? would you be jogging in one spot to move the character????

[ngg12345]

In your room. There are many lol worthy parts in there.

[mrv321]

Go motion sensing, for rediculous hard core games.

Most will controls poorly and be completely different controls wise, the manual will read like an art book with picures of crudly drawn humans representing certain motion.

I still don't see what's wrong with a controller and Neither does Sony or Nintendo who kept the control in amonst the motion. Microsoft are risking it and I commend them for it and will wait to see what happens, if it fails no sympathy, if it's good I'll take my hat off, I won't by it, but my hat will be off while USING the controler which is just fine,

[PLAYSTATIONGENRATION]

So we can forget about it...all those genres i see a problem in each with natal..I will just stick with my 360 controller worlds best controller(IMO)

[Bigpappy]

Eyetoy and Natal are not the same. PS Eyetoy had some basic facial detection, like: lip and eye movement. Natal knows who you are when you walk into the room. Eyetoy can track you moving some parts of the body as a gesture. Natal tracks any and all parts of the body, and can track the speed of the movement in any direction (it can tell wether you are hitting hard or soft; throwing far or near). This is why the "Z" axis is so important (this is all demonstrated in that striking the ball tech demo). If you are unable to see all of this by watching the tech demo's,that is what they are for, you just have to wait until the developer have a real game that shows this. Sony is using the bulb on the wand to try and create a bit of a 'Z" axis. It will help detect motion speed base on the wand movement. It is not as versatile as having a full body "Z" axis, but it is good enough where some Natal games that only require one hand can be ported over to the Eyetoy. The way the Z axis is implemented on Natal changes the hold motion control generation as it has been used in the past.

[ApocalypseShadow]

use ideas that sony did already and improve upon them and call it new.sounds like a plan.

we know that they will make a game like eyetoy play's air guitar game.or most games that work from eyetoy play .1-3

(5:24 seconds in)
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

eyetoy party will be copied in some manner
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

eyetoy anitgrav will be copied for skateboarding
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

one by one they will add things like play-create--share but call it play customize share like LBP and MNR.

facial recognition and face change,yup,microsoft designers will look at what sony is doing,then try to one up

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

it's a game of see monkey,see monkey do.

[jmare]

This is the problem with Natal and Sony's wand. People are trying to take existing genres with the associated gameplay conventions and cram motion controls onto them. It doesn't work. The only way Natal or the magic wand are ever going to take off is if the developers come up with something new. Base a game around the controls in a new, fun way instead of trying to make games that sell well with motion controls. And for those that talk about using Natal for voice recognition or other functions: 1: Sony can do the same thing through software, just like Natal would use; 2: Those features won't be substantial because the game would have to be playable by people without Natal and that won't convince anybody to buy Natal.

Natal could be great if the industry would get their fvcking heads out of their asses and do something new rather than the same old crap. Give us something new!

[no_more_heroes]

and RTS alone. Forget all the other games on that list. If not Natal, then someone needs to make a universal touch pad controller that attaches to the base of the controller like the mini-keyboard. Think of it like a mini version of this: (copy and paste video link)

[leyego]

id take an interface like that over natal any day.

[Christopher]

#5 Rhythm games: Only if it's the most basic of maneuvers, such as stepping on various colors with your hands and/or legs at the same time. Good luck getting your typical hardcore and buyers of most rhythm games into it since it's less likely to be a difficult or representative of playing an actual instrument.

#4 Action Adventure: I'm insulted to even see them mention SotC, but honestly, no way in heck. You've got a huge amount of delay on Natal in the most simple of games. Pump up those graphics and add in some advanced physics and motion needs and you get kids playing an extremely dumbed down version of the game. We don't need dumbed down versions of masterpieces.

#3 RTS: Should work

#2 Stealth Action FPS: Really? And how are we going to be controlling movement with the needed precision and without the lag from Natal?

#1 Sony Idea Rip Off (aka Play.Create.Share): Seems like a slower and more tedious version of just using a regular controller, honestly.

[emk2004]

i dont think any hardcore games needs them. i hate wii and wont be geting natshyt or ps3 dildo.

i dont care if they add them as long as there not required.

[Saaking]

I don't think Natal will succeed. It short, it sucks.

[Bigpappy]

Where did you pickup your Natal? I thought it wouldn't be out until late next year. Sounds like you had a nice long session with it.

[champ21]

natal is a gimmick at best.