Microsoft: Researchers Already Working on Natal II

[r505Matt]

Solid_Snake4RD said:

Microsoft is already working on the next generation of Natal according to Microsoft's Research Asia department director Hsiao-Wuen Hon.

"When we do invent something first like the Natal kind of scenario, while we have a researcher working with the product group for the first version, we already have a researcher thinking about the second version down the road so we certainly hope we will continue to be holding that technology," Hon said.

However, while the innovation behind Natal is working well for the company. Mr Hon also indicates that Microsoft could do a little better keeping up with trends.

"Looking back I can say we probably should have done more in the consumer space," Hon said in a recent interview, adding that it has targeted the 'enterprise user' in the past - one that essentially turns consumer the second he/she leaves work.

Microsoft has been criticised for releasing consumer products that seem to follow a bit too closely to its competitors - from the Bing search engine to the Zune media player and its accompanying applications store. Hon said that its focus is on researching the technologies of tomorrow, rather than the 'me-too' products of today, and that Natal and Windows 7 will be the first steps towards that direction.

Perhaps this forward-thinking approach is the reason its Windows Phone 7 series is being delayed until next year?

 

http://news.spong.com/article/20972/Microsoft-Researchers-Already-Working-on-Natal-II

So because a researcher is "thinking about the second version down the road" people are assuming it's in development? It's probably in some sort of pre-development planning stage. They're thinking of what they can do to make the current Natal better. Unfortunately, whatever they're coming up with, probably isn't cheap, and while it could be released relatively soon, it would probably be at a higher price point to do so, which could be against their current business plan with Natal.

Seriously though, this thread is filled with so much fail. What MS is doing with Natal 2, Sony and Nintendo and pretty much any major company in the world is doing as well. From cars to games to medicine, everything is planned for and developed long before it's announced. By the time a new product hits the shelves, the next model or iteration of the product is already well into the planning stage. MS is not doing something abnormal here. Just another example of people jumping to conclusions from extremely limited amounts of data.

Now if you want to talk about how it's probably stupid that the guy said anything like that, I completely agree, but it still takes a lot of hate and improperly focused imagination to assume that Natal 2 is "already being worked on". There are so many different assumptions one can make off of that statement, but they're all just assumptions, and just jumping to a conclusion and making comments on that conclusion is ridiculous.