Project Natal has been in the media spotlight since last year and much more so than Sony’s wand controller. One of the big reasons is due to the promise sold by the Milo demo during E3. However, one can’t help wonder if Microsoft may have over-hyped the device before it can truly deliver?

Peter Molyneux has been in charge of hyping Project Natal, which isn’t all that surprising given his Fable legacy, and has done an excellent job. The product was displayed with a bang that had many excited at its potential. However, this excitement waned overtime as many including myself started looking at it with a critical eye.

This can be you

Develop, a trade publication dedicated to video gaming development efforts, recently put out an interesting piece where they polled developers in the community to see where they stand on Natal. As Microsoft alleges approximately 70 to 80 percent of the publishers are playing around with Natal dev kits currently.

However, it seems that the development community is somewhat split as far as the potential for Natal. Developers and media outlets have voiced that there is a growing fear that it may become a platform for shovelware.

The EpicBattleCry crew even commented on this fear as well during a recent podcast. Late last month developer Traveller’s Tales expressed concerns over the lag issue in Natal, which became amplified by Microsoft’s recent announcement.

The Guardian also recently indicated that there is a growing concern in the development community in regards to the processor taken out of Natal. Also, the site believes that most publishers will just tack on Natal onto existing franchises similar to the PS3’s Sixaxis functionality.

I have to agree with Joystiq and Weaseltron studio, that unless Microsoft pushes out a killer app for Natal, interest is going to wane considerably towards it.

http://gamer.blorge.com/2010/01/17/xbox-360-developers-split-on-the-future-of-natal/

good to see people using a bit more their "true sight" skill when they look at Natal

("true sight" has always been a underrated skill of the ptom IMO)

The EpicBattleCry crew? Why link to a random podcast?

You have to be careful when posting articles from Joystiq, but the jury is definitely still out on Natal. I have a feeling a lot of those concerns will be removed in the coming months.

In my opinion this is the lamest thing MS will do this generation.

yes lets look at this random post that gets no developer input... how about the other post whre they actually have developers commenting on it... I'm sure it got posted here

well its gonna be great for social party games but not for core games. a proper controller is best way

The first party games are what will shine for both motion devices.

What I fear most is that the lag will destroy Natal.

Even in the commercials where that boy is boxing and skating and stuff, the lag was very apparent. I was annoyed just by looking at it. I would not play the laggy games they've shown so far.

Natal will be blast imo, of course, depending on what genere they us it for. exercise games, mini games and party games will be cool. but fighting, rpg, fps n action adventure please no.