I am amazed how much the Wii gets ignored in the console wars.

[dharh]

Khuutra said:

dharh said:

Raze said:

You do realize that the HD gamers will "bow to the Wii" when they pick up Natal or PS3 Gem? Basically, thats MS and Sony's way of conceeding defeat to Nintendo's concept of controls. Just sayin

No, we won't. First of all, it's not Nintendo's concept, unless by concept you mean mainstream non-precise wand based motion control. Second, motion controls predate the Wii, in fact both SONY and Nintendo had previous motion controls. Third, both SONY and MS version of motion controls are basically non-mainstream, meaning they will most likely still not be competition for the Wii. Fourth, and this is my sincere hope, both HD-twins versions of motion controls will not be the primary way to control games. The dualshock 3/4 and the X360/720 controller will still be the primary way to play games, as it should be.

If by chance all games end up with motion control a sizable chunk of the market will walk away. I can guarantee it. 

Would you care to make a bet concerning any of this? Particularly the idea that Natal isn't trying to appeal to the mainstream.

Hmm. If by bet we just put a message in our sig sure. I don't do wagers.

As for Natal, I think we need more details than what I've seen. Natal _could_ be a very intuitive way to control the X360 in a number of different ways that have nothing to do with gaming. Like saying 'Turn on/off', 'Play Music', 'Pause', 'Start Game', etc. Notice how all that is voice btw. Gesture based controls are not used for anything but the most simplest and short list of commands for a reason, its much easier to remember visual/audio interfaces. Using your hand as a 'wand' to select stuff will not come into its own until 3D interfaces become a reality where you can 'grab' and 'touch'.

Gaming with Natal on the other hand I think will not be appealing. Everything i've seen thus far suggests that to be the case. Air kicking a soccer ball, playing air tennis, air guitar, playing an FPS with your finger as the gun!, etc are all very suspect concepts. I think even the mainstream is still going to want to have some form of tactile controller for most games. And forcing game studios to come out with 101 different controllers that can interact with Natal is also not going to be a good move, and expensive to boot. Not to mention genres where even the Wii does not add anything at all (RPGs, FPS).

Is Natal going to appeal to the mainstream? Depends on what aspect of it you look at. For gaming, I think a big fat NO. For everything else, a resounding YES.

What bet do you want to do?

1) Final Fantasy XIII (English edition, already have JP)

2) Star Ocean: The Last Hope International

3) White Knight Chronicles: International Edition