One of the things I am wondering is if Natal can use the motion sensors for lip-reading to improve the quality of voice recognition. There is some academic worklong those lines. This wouldn’t be full-blown standalone lip-reading a la HAL but using the lip-reading to improve the quality of voice recognition especially in a noisy environment. One of the exciting things about Natal is that it combines a bunch of technologies like motion sensing, facial recognition and voice recognition into a single device and I bet there are all sorts of interesting ways to combine these capabilities.
And yes it will take a lot of work before Natal becomes a robust technology and after all Microsoft hasn’t even mentioned a release date yet. It might not be released before the next generation of hardware which will have much more powerful processors. And I would imagine that each game would need a lot of careful software optimization to ensure that Natal ignores accidental moves and the like. It may take ten years for the technology to mature but my hunch is that that Natal and similar technologies will transform the future of gaming.
I’m confused to find that everyone seems to think Microsoft showed a fully functional console. I thought it was obvious that they were basically saying, “Here’s what we’re working on. We’ve got the pieces worked out. It can read your body, your mouth, your clothes, etc. I’ll bet you can’t wait to see what we develop for it. Stay tuned.” And everyone seems disinterested because the games they showed weren’t consumer quality. Especially Milo. I got the distinct impression, that they gave Natal to Molenuex like 3 months before and said ‘come up with something please’ And he came up with Milo. As an example of facial/vocal recognition. Not as a game. It seems kinda silly as a game alone, but I can imagine a game with an avatar/friend leading you around when you get stuck, and the basis of that is Milo. Or imagine Fable3 - it starts out as a mentor, teaching you things. And of course being a Fable, you can either be a wisecraking student or a faithful servant. Then later on you can get yourself a protege and either treat him like a slave or a son. All based off of what we saw from Milo I think those are in the future. (yes - very late and under-developed as is the norm for PM)
What kind of games would you like to see based off of the functionality we saw in the videos.
Is shooting going to be as interesting? Especially if you no longer have anything to hold on to. I think RPGs and MMORPGs could be amazingly immersive if the NPCs can read your voice. I think a Swords/Sorcery game could work really well. Want to be active? Play a melee-type. Want to be more passive? Play a caster-type. Casters can cast using sweeping hand gestures (ala Black&White - an older Molyneux game)
I’d like to think this is all coming within the next year or two, but who knows what the next big thing will be.
. . . until someone walks in on you. You’re basically talking about LARPing alone. It doesn’t get any lower than that. Would you be shouting “lightning bolt” too? I’d rather be caught pants-down with a donkey and a bottle of tequila. At least I’d have some company.
Don’t judge me, I won’t judge you. I’d prefer LARPing than the endless string of soccer/football/baseball/jacks games that we’re bound to see. At least it’s an interesting turn to the system presented.
I’m confused as to why you quoted me. I was talking about the tech itself, and not any of the specific games they announced (barring Milo, which is in fact a game being worked on, fyi). Specifically, my concern is with the sizzle-reel they demonstrated, which reeked of Wii-syndrome–that is, a commercial that over-promises on a product that will likely under-deliver, in regards to how well the motion control works. In the latest demos, there’s already noticeable lag between your movements and when it’s reflected on-screen; something that wasn’t demonstrated in the video.
Again, I’m curious about the technology, and its applications, I’m just damn skeptical it’s going to work anywhere near as well as demonstrated.
I wouldn’t count on that. Those “trusty” controllers keep a large segment of gamers (and potential gamers) from relating to console games at all.
I’m a PC gamer, and have always looked down my nose at console games - partly because of the weak hardware, but mainly because of the inferior control schema.
I was intrigued by novelty of the Wii control schema, enough to buy my first dedicated game console since the Colecovision. It’s a significant improvement over the “all thumbs” approach of the gamepad, but still not as versatile as a-101 key keyboard & mouse (or KB + joystick, or KB + wheel, etc.)
The Wii remote & nunchuck concept opens a lot of doors - I’ve had way more fun with the Wii than with any PS or Xbox games, because the human interface is more intuitive, even if the console is obviously weaker in every other regard. I would love to see this basic concept developed into something a little more ergonomic and useful – whoever pulls it off.
There are almost enough buttons there, but most of them are too awkwardly placed to be of any real use. I’d like something like two snub pistols with four “triggers” each (one for each finger) and mini-sticks a couple extra buttons for each thumb. Together with positional, pointing, and gestural input, now your starting to have some possibilities.
I would give a Project Natal style input device a shot, but as far as controllers are concerned, I don’t really believe that it can be made sensitive and intuitive enough to translate into a very satisfying gaming experience. It’s like the took a totally different approach to the Wii control concept - but one that reproduces some of its worst flaws without addressing its weaknesses, oh, and let’s throw in some features with virtually no practical value.
I can see some of its features being used as part of a quick-and-dirty skinner for multiplayer models, though. That might be cool.
I would just like to see someone produce game consoles for people with big hands. Most XL gloves are too tight for me, and when I try to use a standard XBox controller, I can barely reach some of the buttons, and I get cramped up on complex games.
The original Xbox controller (not that pussified 2nd edition that they put out to placate all the whiners with baby hands) was the best console controller ever, with the Wiimote possibly earning a tie.
I think it’s a success but a lot of folks argue that it is an over-rated system and a failure in terms of game-support. (I’m not one of them, which is the reason for the parenthetical on the line you quoted from me)
You were just the closest one of many decrying the Natal’s possibilities based off of the demo. I was trying to suggest that the demo is a set of possibilities and not a finished product. My theory is that the demo is used to get people excited about the product. But that failed in some eyes. They took the demo as some kind of trickery. And while I’m sure that’s possible/probably, that’s why it’s going to take some time to get it working.
I thought about that one, but something about the way they’re holding the analogue sticks in the other one, coupled with the fact that they never mention the controllers, just slayed me the first time I read it, when it was new.