Time Magazine writes about Natal

[Bitmap Frogs]

Helios said:

Bitmap Frogs said:

But that happened to Nintendo as well, they had to add the Motion Plus to the standard Wiimote. This is a testbed for Natal 2.0 that'll debut with the 720.

I think the real difference here is how they are doing it: Nintendo hybridized the traditional control with the casual appeal of motions while Microsoft is building a wall between both worlds. Looking forward we'll see Nintendo building bridges between the casuals and traditional gaming while Microsoft will keep everyone on different rooms.

Exactly. Natal is interesting, and it certainly will find its uses, but it will never be able to play 'traditional' games - not without some kind of controller interface. Nintendo realized that with the Wii, but Microsoft apparently did not.

How will Natal enable you play a first person shooter, or action game, or just about any game where you move in a 3D space? It simply won't. By itself it will only be truly useful for simulations and quirky little minigames, like the ones they showed at the conference. Granted, I assume it will be able to function in tandem with the Xbox controller, and then things might get interesting, but doesn't that defeat the point of the so-called 'interface-revolution'?

Nintendo's biggest fear is, in other words, a loss of PR, rather than the Natal itself. This particular article is so poorly written and obviously biased that I will not comment on it, but if this sentiment prevails among the press (and, ultimately, the public) it might mean something, though frankly I don't anything can change the outcome of the 'console war' at this stage.

 

Yeah... the question is, once casual customers realize they can waggle through minigames both on Nintendo and Microsoft platforms, what will they chose?