Count me impressed. My first reaction to this video motion control was skepticism. I don't like motion control just for the sake of it or most of the types of games where using a wand motion controller is _good enough_, its the main reason I don't like most wii games. For the most part using a traditional controller is better because of precision, which means wand motion control only really benefits games that don't require precision or complexity (heck the point of a motion controller is to simplify control for those who can't handle a traditional controller). The Wii has to have an add on that now, motion plus, that gives better precision. We will have to wait and see where that takes us.
Now we have project Natal from microsoft. A couple things crossed my mind as i've learned the details. First, oh great another gimmick to add motion control for games ill probably never want to play. Second, I hope they don't mess up the games I DO like to play. Third, after learning some real details as outlined in the time article, voice and face recognition actually sounds like a good idea. Put aside the motion control stuff, issuing voice commands _could_ be quite cool. Finally, project Natal has a long way to go. They probably need two cameras for it to be as precise as I would like it to be, probably making it too expensive.
My verdict is already in for the Wii's wand motion control, it's neither good enough (and probably still after motion plus) nor are the games any good. It's too early to tell how well microsoft will implement it's video motion control or what the developers do with it. In reality they could make the most precise motion control in the world but if the games that use it are the same fare as whats on the Wii, then its useless.
A warrior keeps death on the mind from the moment of their first breath to the moment of their last.
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