Hands-on: Project Natal impresses, brings us to our knees
Posted on 26. May, 2010 by Mark Cullinane in Console, Hands-on impressions, Previews, Xbox 360
Ever since Microsoft caused quite the stir at E3 last year with their swish promotional video showcasing the capabilities of their new motion-control apparatus for the Xbox 360, gamers everywhere have been clamouring to experience it for themselves to see if the much-touted technology is really up to snuff or whether it’s all a bit smoke and unicorns. Er, mirrors.
So when Microsoft got in touch to invite me to finally test-drive the still-in-development peripheral, I naturally jumped at the chance. What I saw and experienced answered some questions, but raised others.
Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to prise some information from their cold dead hands, Microsoft’s PR team pre-empted just about all of my pre-prepared questions (does the voice recognition really work? Why was the onboard hardware processing ditched?) by announcing in no uncertain terms that today’s demonstration would not come with even a nugget of new information- indeed, the sample we would be playing was identical to the one demoed at last year’s E3 convention.
That game was Ricochet, a simple mini-game which places the player in an alley filled with you at one end and blocks at the other- and then throws a whole bunch of red balls at you. Your job is to punch, kick, head or otherwise connect with said balls in order to hit the blocks. As a game, Ricochet was a bit of aimless whimsy, but the fast-paced nature of the gameplay means that it is an excellent exemplar of the kind of accuracy that the Natal technology can bring to the motion-sensing party. And it was the extent of this accuracy that I really set out to test.
I was suitably impressed by the results, with the peripheral able to simulate just about everything I threw at it, including kneeling down, leaning my head forward, and waving my arms around manically- all at once. The things we do for science.
Being the diligent correspondent I am, I risked pulling a muscle or twelve by contorting my body into just about every position I could think of to see if the system could replicate my movements on-screen. I was suitably impressed by the results, with the peripheral able to simulate just about everything I threw at it, including kneeling down, leaning my head forward, and waving my arms around manically- all at once. The things we do for science. Upon completion of the brief mini-game, the software then shows you a selection of photographs of you playing the game in a variety of poses, in a manner highly reminiscent of Nintendo’s experimental DSi WarioWare title. It’s an amusing touch, and Microsoft PR heavily hinted that the resultant screenshots will be shareable on social networking services (presumably Facebook and Twitter).
Less impressive is the menu system which relies on players using their hand to direct an on-screen pointer. Although it does work, it’s a bit sluggish and frustrating and feels it could really do with a Wii Remote or PlayStation Move-style physical controller to act as a pixel-perfect pointing device. In fact, my prediction for E3 is that Microsoft will unveil such a device. Microsoft’s singular focus seems to be on developing a fully controller-free experience, but my previous belief that complex gameplay in traditional genres without a controller will prove to be a mammoth task for developers has only been reinforced by my play session with Natal.
Despite the extraordinary ability of the hardware plus software combo to realistically replicate players’ movements on-screen, there was definitely evidence of the judder, frame-skipping and jerkiness in the player animation that players of Wii Sports Resort will recognise. It is this, rather than lag (which was just about imperceptible) that has the potential to hurt Natal’s grand promises somewhat. Given the extraordinary technical challenges in producing perfectly error-free 1:1 movement replication, we’re happy to cut Microsoft some slack here. It’s also worth noting that since this demo was produced, significant advances in both hardware and software of Natal may have improved matters, rendering my observations here moot.
The main purpose of the preview event, of course, was to drum up enthusiasm and discussion about the device in the run up to next month’s E3 conference, which we expect will be accompanied by a torrent of Natal-related news. For now, the main takeaway is that Project Natal’s potential is very real, and it seems certain to breath fresh life- and if they play their cards right, a brand new demographic- into the evergreen Xbox 360.
source: http://noaddedsugar.ie/previews/hands-on-impressions/hands-on-project-natal/
Pay attention to the bolded part, Natal is getting mixed feedback at this point in time which makes me think just how much is MS actally hiding from us??
Also interestingly he comments on how he perceive's a another motion controller coming because some of the drawbacks with natal, so this basically nullifies the need for buying Natal in the first place, you may as well just get a wii or get a ps3+ps move
