I am not going to discuss how well it works, or whether or not Elmo, Leroy or whatever that AI kid's name was, is real.  I also am not going to discuss price point, and whether or not it is fragmented.  My problem in this post is pointed at something different.

Up until this E3, we have had the Wii made fun of for "Waggle" on here.  We are told by the hardcore folks that it is a fad, will fail, and not the future.  It is considered a gimmick.  Now, after E3, what is the talk?  Well, now Microsoft supposedly invented (or reinvented) motion control, and it is going to be HUGE.  Natal is now the future, and who needs controllers.  In other words, it tries to one up Nintendo and make people forget what Nintendo did.

This annoys me a LOT.  If it wasn't for Nintendo doing the Wiimote, we wouldn't even being discussing motion control.  Now, without even having a product or price point for the product (ok, I do mention these in a context, but can't say if the price will be wrong), they are now supposed to be kings of motion control with a product that eveyone will want?  It is the answer to casual players eveywhere and non-players.

Anyhow, it will be cool if Natal works, but can we knock off this talk like Microsoft invented motion control?  It is a futile cry on my part.  XBox fanboys will be yammering how exciting it is though, so there is no escape.

By the way, I am NOT bashing motion control itself here.  I will personally throw a Wii remote at anyone who demands it go away.  I refuse to be subjected to videogame bowling with a pad controller.  I just tried to bowl in GTA4 on the 360 the other night, I say the world is better off without it.  Same with bowling on Home.

My only problem with Natal is that i don't see any awesome software. I can't think out of the box and see how this is helpful to any of the types of game I like or how any Natal only ideas that would rock. I'm waiting for a developer to show me. Considering how long i've been waiting for awesome motion controlled games on the Wii I wouldn't be surprised if it's a while.

Dude, chill. Nintendo doesn't have anything like NATAL, in fact, no gaming company does. that's what all the hullabaloo is about. (yes I know people will bring up the Ubisoft game for the Wii, and the Eyetoy, but in reality, those are very different.)

I only disagree in your assumption that the vocal minority on message boards such as these = all the hardcore.

That group that did make that noise and now are praising it, are hypocrites, but that is not everyone.

I am looking forward to what developers will do with Natal and with the wands like the Wii-mote and Sony's motion controller (I think Sony's is pretty similar to the Wii and so will get fairly similar experiences) and will base my opinion on those devices off of the games they play.

Honestly, I think this will open up adoption of this as an option on many more games because developers now have three mediums to work with, and more resources will go there overall.

I think Natal will do well but will be the biggest piece of crap since the bog monster appearing in Dogma.

The bottom line is you can't have hardcore or even semi hardcore without buttons. Unless someone can prove me wrong, I say MS has created the shovelware periphal of the century.

Games like burnout which they demo'd- ermmm hardcore gamers and industry specialists forgot to point out that there was no way of Boosting or exploding your car when it crashes.

If an fps is made, how will u change weapons, jump, zoom in/ out n run?

It's a gimmick, just like the eyetoy and wiimote. The only difference is, the wiimote and Sony wand can have hardcore games, with Natal, I'm just very very doubtful.

What amazes me most is how the industry is treating Natal like gods gift to gaming when it is so limited. Voice recognition? Ermm eyetoy done it ages ago. Body controller? Eye toy done it ages ago. Yes, it is more precise, but at the cost of lacking functionality.

Doom to the hypocrites in the media and on the site!!!!! :p

i really dont think NATAL will do anything amazing, or anything that we havent see. Another thing is that MS doesnt have any "casual" studio, so is up to third parties to create good games for it and we have all seen how that has come up on the wii, nintendo on the other hand created all the games the wii needed.

Technically NATAL is different than eyetoy, but the usefulness is the same as the eyetoy and less that wiimote and the wand.

The only reason for the hype about natal is becuase MS has market it very well

Ignoring the tech that goes into it, Isn't Natal the EyeToy? Again, they go about it differently, and Natal does more (You control the character with your movements, not necessarily you watching yourself on screen) but Natal like gaming has been done before. As Wii remote type gaming has been done before. Though where Nintendo did was make it the main controller, and changed the face of gaming (For better or worse)

I agree with the original poster. I don't like hypocrites. We've all been guilty of it at one time or another, doesn't mean we can't call people out on it. And yes Nintendo was mocked and told it was a fad. Even though it still outsells the other two at like 2-1, we still hear the Wii is a fad. MS and Sony said as much. And now look at them. Suddenly jumping on the bandwagon. Especially MS. Hell, even at E3 itself, the Natal guy took a shot at Wii's "waggle control" and then we were treated to the girl on stage just flailing around.

Natal looks fun, but short of MS leading the way, I don't see how a setup with no controller, can work for a vast majority of games. People knocked Wii for party games and mini games? This is all Natal will have, especially since it's 4 years into the system's life, and is a secondary optional 'controller.' Remember, Nintendo was in communication with some of the biggest third party developers when they were ironing out the final details of the remote. Nintendo seemed to only be ready to release the remote, and that was it. Third parties (At least some) said they needed a control stick to go along with it. And so the nunchuck was born.

I will say this, if Natal works well, and they make games for it that go beyond party games, it'll be crazy fun to use. And I seriously doubt MS would release something that didn't work ... but it took a while for developers to even know how to use the remote. And that's pretty straightforward compared to Natal, I would imagine. Perhaps they can take what they learned from Wii, and apply it immediately to Natal. I don't know. As of right now, it doesn't seem to work all that well. When you see people steering an imaginary wheel to drive a race car, and the car responding. That's cool. So much potential there. But the sad truth is, these cars are going what looks like 20 miles an hour, and people are still unable to keep it on the road. Certain games need some sort of tactile feedback. Which Natal, in it's current state, cannot offer.

But perhaps that's the point. 360 has the traditional controller, that comes with ever system, and works with every genre. Natal could be something you use to play "wii" like games, and maybe sell a few systems to potential consumers who wouldn't have picked up the 360 otherwise. Those thinking Natal will offer new game play options on traditional games, may be disappointed. While Wii tried to be everything to everyone, Natal may very well be nothing more than a 'gimmick.' But maybe that's all MS wanted.

MS are just good at promoting stuff due to there money. When Natal comes out I think it'll actually be a bit of a dissapointment to most.

My problem with the insane levels of hype is this ...

As much as the technology behind the Nintendo DS' touch screen, the Wiimote, the Wii Fit balance board, and the MotionPlus were interesting pieces of hardware with a lot of potential when they were released what really drove adoption of this hardware was Nintendogs, Brain Training, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, New Super Mario Bros, Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Fit, and dozens of other games that appealed to a very broad group of gamers.

When you look at what Microsoft has accomplished since entering into the videogame market, (with the exception of a couple of games) Microsoft has been unable to produce anything except for shooters and racing games; and every game targeted towards a broad demographic of gamers (Banjo Kazooie, Kameo, Viva Pinata, Lips, Scene It?, and You're in the Movies) has failed to attract much attention.

Call me a cynic if you want, but I just don't see Microsoft being able to create enough interesting games that really draw in gamers to make Project Natal successful