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Is Project Natal PlayStation EyeToy All Over Again?
Jon Ireson | Mar 05, 2010 | Comments 43
While Nintendo has innovated the console gaming realm with the first controller-based motion detection system in the Wii, Sony and Microsoft are now seeking to cash in on this. One of the ways that Microsoft is planning to do this is with a little webcam/ software bundle called Project Natal. Although people who support this idea in theory, even though it has not been released yet, would say that this is a dead argument the PlayStation EyeToy has done everything that Natal is about to do, before. That’s right, and if you think I’m wrong then read more, you be the judge.
So people are going crazy over this Natal thing, even with the exposure of a delay from user input timing in at over a tenth of a second consistently, the would-be Natal fan-base has been placated by Peter Molyneux’s comments that there have been “endless updates” to the Natal and surely it will be great. His boldface lies in the gaming industry are widespread and well known, not to mention this guy has a knack for incomplete game design in his games. Black and White and Fable are prime examples of what I’m talking about here, great game ideas with no follow through equals a very sloppy game experience that feels incomplete.
I digress, casual gamers are probably in for a treat real soon, family gamers too but my question here relates to hardcore gamers, should they be as excited as they are about this thing? Personally, I see Sony’s motion detection as the more reasonable choice for hardcore gamers. Sure it will cost more, mainly because of the ability to wield two controllers at once, but it has triggers and the abilities of a real 1:1 input system, which will in theory prove a much more fluid and enjoyable gameplay experience. Are casual gamers better off with the Nintendo Wii Wii-mote and Wii-Motion Plus than this outdated Natal? You be the judge and tell us what you think, take a look at the video below for a few examples and keep in mind difference between Project Natal games and PlayStation EyeToy games in graphics isn’t a big deal here since the Natal is up against the Wii and PS3 not the PS2.
Filed Under: DualShockers TV • Editorials • Microsoft • Posts • Videos • XBOX 360
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Sony Butt hurt site hahahahaha pathetic.
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Natal = End of ps3
R.I.P ps3 2010.
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Make way for a new style of gaming! I think that regardless of the system and proposed components, we are in for a treat with the new array of motion-sensing based games. As the gaming experience gets ever more immersive, I wonder what the next step is in gaming evolution, and how it relates to this new motion-sensing fad. Maybe a mix of 3DHD and motion-sensing? We can only hope for as much.
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You get 3DHD and motion sensing gaming with PS3s Move. Killzone 3 is one of the best looking console games period and its only in pre-alpha stage and supports both move and 720p HD in 3D
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Wow, pp and MetalGearRising the two biggest xbots in the world.
A little butthurt over the truth…. that your Natal that is supposedly going to save your crashing and burning 360, is actually 10 year-old technology that is highly faulty? On second thought, it fits perfectly with the 360.
You even have the lag similar to xbox live.
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wow natal looks…….great *yawn*
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i don’t see the appeal of natal, it bores me.
people really need to seriously imagine themselves playing it to realize how boring it is besides some of the wii sport style minigames that get boring after a few months
sure there will be exceptions for this but motion controls plain suck and everybody knows it!
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Both natal and the arc controller will bearly be used. However Natal is Eyetoy but advertised in the right way. Another thing I want people to tell me what game or games will support natal based games. I remember seeing a saposid vide of half life with natal being used. The guy playing looked awkward standing in front of his screen waving his arms around like a crazy man. same thing with the arc waving my arms around like a fool. Leave it for wii players. When I play my video games i just wanna sit back for about 2-3 hours sitting comfitably with out having to move while i play. If you do like the idea of having to move around while you play as if its virtual reality than awsome get natal or the arc, but most of you will buy iether or product and have it sit and collect dust.
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MetalGearRising:
2009 = Beginning of the end of Xbox 360.
Every Xbox owner knows it in the back of their mind.
Sony has the Arc and Sonys 3D is superior that basic 3D that microsoft are offering.
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i wrote a review on this before,like how fanboys arent talking about
you ll need a HUGE ass room to do this right
(which knocks out most dorm rooms,peoples bed rooms,etc)
it ll knock out most of the preteens to teenagers that builds the 360 core group,whos going to be able to put down 250$ for a camera…
natal will be fun for a little bit but standing in front of a camera for hours doesnt seem like much fun to me,btw im a ps3 and a 360 owner
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Natal = Nothing At ALL, just another Sony EyeToy Clone
Sony invented motion controller on PS2 with Eyetoy.
Sony’s ARC with HD Graphics, Bluray and 3D coming will offer the best experience for the hardcore and casual gamer. What a great time to be a PS3 owner.
Playing Heavy Rain now and God of War III in less than 10 days ..! Motion in fall and 3D in Xmas
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Nico, that was a 80% solid post, but I’d expect both the PS3 and 360 to do well this year. From a core gamer (rather than casual) perspective, I think everyone’s getting far too worked up about these motion control doodads. Try standing up for 30 minutes holding your hands up for the vast majority of the time – you’ll find that you can’t, your arms will tire, and you’ll need a rest. Hence, all this motion stuff is casual by dint of how the human body is made – you can’t have an epic 5-hour session of a Natal, Arc or Wii game that relies heavily on motion, because you’ll be knackered half an hour in. It’ll be fun (I love the Eyetoy, and enjoy Wii Sports Resort (although found Wii Sports an imprecise mess)), but I’m quite confident that in five years time we’ll still be spending most of our gaming time on a controller.
All you need to do is stand for 30 minutes holding your a
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It’s not out yet, keep your biased mouth and fingers back where they belong.
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Nico, though I agree with some of your comments, you do realize that your reply is a fanboy post too, right?
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Even though i don’t know much about either of them I cant tell which one will really be better until they both come out. But I’m pretty sure both will sell good.
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@Someguy: I’m with you, as it stands right now, anyway. I can see Natal being nifty to use with the dashboard, Netflix, the face/voice recognition to sign people in and out of Xbox Live, but that’s about it. And, to be honest, at the price point the thing will be it won’t even be worth it.
However, I will not pre-judge it, perhaps Microsoft has something up their sleeve. Although I, too, can’t really see people standing in front of the thing playing Half-Life or any “hardcore” game, really. The appeal of the device will probably be very limited.
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Did the XBot trolls above even watch the video? The whole point of the article was to summarize and introduce the video and let people judge the originality of Natal. I judge it to be pretty freakin unoriginal and another lame M$ effort that defocuses their efforts in gaming. They have already stated that Natal will be for the casual crowd first, hoping to capitalize on the motion craze, but they are too late, just like they were with the Zune, with the original XBox, and with the Microsoft stores they are starting to open. They have no ideas of their own, they just copy true innovators and they aren’t even good at that. Everyone who wanted casual games already has a Wii. They aren’t going to buy Natal or Arc. And real gamers don’t want to run around like dopes in front of their TVs. But if Natal is successful at all, it will be because they threw money at developers to make anything for their lame new platform and then will proceed to market the crap out of it, trying to force some of their dumber customers to actually think it will be worth it. And there are a lot of dumb XBots, because who else would continue to buy new consoles after theirs failed time and again while M$ struggled to finally get it right. There’s early adopters, and then there is just stupid. And with the lag and the hit to the 360 processor, games will be short, weak, and will control like Red Steel on the Wii. Hope you all enjoy, I’ll stick to real gaming thanks.
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What people really don’t understand is that Natal is not simply a webcam; it’s a much more robust and thought out approach to motion controls. The fact that this article fails to mention the innovation of the IR or 3D camera functionalities, as well as microphone inputs, just shows how far Sony fanboys are willing to go to snuff out something that has great potential.
In addition to this, much of the power of Natal comes from the software itself, something the EyeToy really didn’t have. Microsoft has basically created a device that takes multiple inputs and provides intuitive information to developers to utilize for gameplay experiences WITHOUT USING THE 360 ITSELF TO PROCESS THE DATA. That means that (besides the lag time, which is undoubtedly being improved for the Natal’s fall release) developers now have the chance to come up with interesting new ways to use the streamlined data without having to worry about how to detect the motion/gestures themselves or whether the detection will have an impact on their game’s performance.
Sony, on the other hand, has trouble getting developers, especially western ones, to understand how to properly develop games for its console, let alone creating a easily integrated platform for motion detection via EyeToy or its new device (which, speaking of outdated technology, is a prime example of the hypocrisy of this article). The developers at Valve see this, for example, and they aren’t wasting their time struggling to create a game such as Portal 2 when so many games are often inferior (cough cough Bayonetta and Ghostbusters) to their 360 counterparts.
If Sony can’t even get it together enough to make it easy to develop for the Playstation 3, which is technically a more capable piece of hardware than the 360, how do you expect them to attract developers to its new motion-based controls? Just like the EyeToy, the new motion controller is going to fail because developers aren’t going to want to waste their time trying to figure out how to program for it.
As for the Wii, I give Nintendo credit for coming up with this alternate approach to game input; however, the games coming out for the Wii are generally targeted towards a casual market. It’s almost like comparing apples to oranges because the games are so different that they really don’t appeal to the more ‘hardcore’ audience mentioned in the article.
So, in all, the Sony nation bent on an endless campaign to destroy all things Microsoft needs to stop and think about why there are so few memorable exclusives for the PS3. I am not pro-Microsoft by any means, but I am for the most part anti-Sony because of their inability to meet 21st-century developers halfway with the increasingly time-consuming process of making a game. Sony really needs to re-evaluate their approach to manufacturing hardware, which would best be achieved through consultation with game developers across the world, so that future products can be utilized to their fullest potential.
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Eyetoy and PSEye have microphones and they work quite well. The only thing that limits their voice recognition is software. THE 360 ITSELF DOES PROCESS THE DATA. THEY TOOK OUT ITS PROCESSOR TO SAVE MONEY BECAUSE MICROSOFT IS CHEAP.
Kinect lags, is inaccurate, and fakes live demos. It is the true gimmick of modern motion controls. Sure games like Ricochet work but thats because they worked alone on that game for months just to achieve where it is now which is still noticeably laggy and inaccurate when its the same gameplay the whole time and they worked on it for over a year.
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Natal is not going to do as well as some fanboys in here think it is. Sure Microsoft has millions and billions to spend on advertising their sluggish motion capture crap, same with Sony, but is it going to do better? No. Just buying the 360 alone is already more than a Wii. Both Sony and Microsoft would have to give it away for free with a game if they expect to get a market for it.
So in the end: Natal and ARC (what ever Sony wants to call their ice cream cone thing) will go down the same road as the Nintendo Virtual Boy.
Don’t deny it. Both Sony and Microsoft are not only a day late and a dollar short, but missing 3 tacos to form a combination plate. Sorry but both will be forgotten 1 week after their launches. With a big advertisement ring… 2 weeks…
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it’s funny how the video was suppose to show how natal is similar to eye toy but you clearly see ps3 arc being used.
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frankly… im not gonna judge the thing until it’s out and i have tried it. Wii got me all excited for nothing.
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The fail is rather large. I’m not going to go crazy and say it’s the end of the Playstation 3, but what I will say is that Natal is the step in the direction we all dream about… effing holodecks… anything that takes up closer to that idea is ace in my books
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MetalGearRising…..hahaha that funny….if you dont have money for a ps3 dont hate it….!!!!!and wots even more funny….how many xtos 360’s out there???lets say 40 mil…the prob is thats not impresive it means 20 mil ownes a 360 coz there probly on there socond console
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I said it before and i’ll say it again, it’s comin sense Wii has controller, Xbox360 has Cam, Sony PS3 has both, put together using both technologies, use your brain which one is going to work best. Now if you’ve been playing games sense the last console war you should know Sony always brings out the most games & most AAA games & the most exclusives. It’s been that way sense the PSOne won it’s console war & the PS2 won it’s console war, Point Blank.
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This was one of the smae idiots screaming that the Wii was going to suck, and they shut everyone up. I mean numbers don’t lie, last I checked they blew both Sony and MS out of the water.
But to honeslty say that Project Natal is outdated, before it’s even released? Why don’t you take Sony’s di…k out of your mouth already.
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Project Natal is obviously a casual game peripheral and such only wii like games will be developed for it, i assume there is no argument against this?…
the attempt to include a casual audience will RUIN the Xboxs reputation as a hardcore games only console so it will have no special selling type and will become level with every other console….leave motion to the wii..please
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God of War 3 is about to end the console war… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXUDTnoXYXE
Microsoft will delay NAtal
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Natal will sell bcus even trash halo games sell in the millions, but that is only because due to lack of quality games and components on xbox the fanboys buy anything they feel might be worthwhile. But lets not fool ourselves sony will make something of higher quality and the response time will be way better that has already been a proven fact. Natal was already garbage when it had its own cpu chip but now that they removed it and it uses up to 30% of the xbox power lol the games will be a joke. It is playstation eye redone lets face the fact there is nothign revolutionary about this.
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Will someone reading this please actally look into the tech before they start berating it! The TECH behind natal is solid (as is that behind PS3’s magic wand) and Microsoft havent said anything about it being for “Casual Gamers” they have said that it can do both.
The idea isnt that hardcore gamers will suddenly want to jump around the room and wave there arms around (no one over the age of 10 should WANT to do that) its that there will now be an extension to a controller, Natal doesnt just handle montion control it also handles voice control and recognition.
Imaging playing COD (WITH A CONTROLLER) and being able to talk fully with the members of your (AI) squad and being able to communicate silently via handsignals if the need arose.
Yea theres gonna be alot of childish games but its the little things designed to enhance the core gamers game that we all end wanting.
Personally I have all the consoles and dont have a preference but you have to stay open minded to these things.
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@THE ORIGINAL seabass29: Not necessarily. While I do agree with you that Natal may be nothing more than a casual game peripheral, it is sold separately and Microsoft, at least at this point, isn’t planning on marketing it or its games to the “hardcore” crowd. This, in turn, changes nothing about how “hardcore” the Xbox 360 is.
It is basically like selling a “casual” game for the 360 – it changes nothing about the system or the other games on the system, it is just there in case someone who is more casual wants to play it.
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Xbox suck
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Xbox = fail
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Ps3 is best
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i agree, Xbox sucks
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xbox fanboys are retarded
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@Alg0r1thm: Look at the following articles and tell me how Natal will process the motion without using the 360 processor:
http://360.kombo.com/article.php?artid=18176
http://kotaku.com/5442458/report-microsoft-drops-natal-chip
The motion control capture will be software only, and will require the use of the 360 processor to run this software since they are taking the processor out of the camera (haven’t they learned yet about price cutting shortcuts?) Yet they still seem to remain optimistic for some reason, though I’ve heard that Natal will handcuff at least one of the three processor cores…making true AAA titles like Reach and Gears motion control impossible…which leads to their true purpose…casual games.
As for casual games, check out the following articles to see how third parties are reacting to Natal:
http://negativegamer.com/2009/07/06/tecmo-koei-on-the-new-motion-controls-casual-gamers-first-then-core-gamers/
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/28/ubisoft-looks-to-the-wii-project-natal-for-casual-gaming-future/
I also read somewhere that Microsoft itself stated it would start with casual games but I couldn’t find the article.
NATAL = COMPLETE FAILURE AND WASTE OF TIME
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worldwide charts ps3 has 18 in the top 50….xbox only has 12. aa’aa’and..
Motorstorm 3
Twisted Metal 4
Ace combat 7
The mark of kri
Starhawk
SSX
Uncharted 3
Resistance 3
Killzone 3
God of war 3
Gran turismo 5
Grand theft auto 5
syphon filter 5
The last guardian
Agent
infamous 2
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that was last week… worldwide hardware this week….xbox 151,000 ps3 206,000
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ps3 has been consistently higher every week sinse the price drop….xbox die already, u chew my disks, you break down and you charge me for playing online 40 bucks a year. go away!!!GRRR BLU-RAY GAMES R BES’ hehe
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Nice writeup. I guess time will tell. there may be room for both in them market.
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Does all the “rip off” claims realize that Eye toy was created for Dreamcast first. Before the one for PS2. So does that mean PS2 ripped off dreamcast.
Screw it EVERYONE should rip off Dreamcast. It owned.
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You bring up a good point. The issue here is not who rips off who to me personally, it’s when people get a false misconception around an idea thinking it will be something it is not.
In this article I introduce the idea that Project Natal (now known as Kinect) will be the same as Eyetoy and PS Eye.
Everyone was/is expecting all of these big unfulfilled fantasies to manifest on Kinect, but here we are post-E3 and I see my article was even more accurate than originally thought.