Project Natal coming in October?

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Jos

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Last night in London Microsoft brought a handful of European journalists and local celebrities up to speed on its upcoming motion-tracking camera for the Xbox 360, codenamed Project Natal. It was essentially the same Dodgeball demonstration presented at E3 in Los Angeles last year, but this time one of the attendees might have just let slip the official launch date for the device.

According to UK television presenter and avid gamer Jonathan Ross -- who last year also accidentally revealed that Lionhead had started working on Fable 3 -- Microsoft's Project Natal is coming in October. Ross mentioned the date while sharing his impressions via his Twitter account, saying the device is "not quite there yet" but they have "until October and if they get it right… sky's the limit."

This may mean an October release or it may imply they can work on it through October in time for an early November release, which is consistent with earlier rumors and Microsoft's plans to get the tech out in time for the holidays. Speculation is that Project Natal will cost up to $99 and it will work with all existing Xbox 360 consoles out there. Microsoft hasn't officially commented on a price or exact release date, though.

On a separate report Silicon Republic said that Natal's motion detection "isn't perfect, but it's very close -- probably as close as it needs to be at this stage," adding that the device reduces the Wii to a mere gimmick. Russ Frushtick of MTV Multiplayer used the occasion to time Project Natal's responsiveness with a stopwatch, pinning the lag between movement and action on the screen to around a tenth of a second.

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Be interesting to see how this really flies with XBox gamers. For the Wii, it was a novelty that attracted all ages to really what amounts to "fluff" games like bowling, tennis, etc.

I really don't see how this will translate to XBox gamers who are more interested in games like Mass Effect, Halo, GTA, etc.
 
TomSEA said:
Be interesting to see how this really flies with XBox gamers. For the Wii, it was a novelty that attracted all ages to really what amounts to "fluff" games like bowling, tennis, etc.

I really don't see how this will translate to XBox gamers who are more interested in games like Mass Effect, Halo, GTA, etc.
aggreed.
 
Yes! i can finally browse the xbox dashboard menus without having to pickup anything! =)
 
TomSEA said:
I really don't see how this will translate to XBox gamers who are more interested in games like Mass Effect, Halo, GTA, etc.

It probably won't amongst most but I hope developers see the potential of the Natal besides the novelty sports games as you pointed out. Games like Flower from the PS3 would be awesome imo, developers could expand on to all sorts of things involving nature, oceans even space. We could see a new type of interactive gaming/entertainment if they do it right. And as a 360 gamer I will get the Natal IF they do develop something unique. I mean even RPG games like ME could incorporate some elements (not mandatory) like for puzzles or anything else when your character isn't fighting. But when it comes to fighting and shooting I have to have a controller :) .
 
Yeay! Here comes Air-Guitar Hero! (No instruments needed)

I'd imagine that Natal isn't for the typical teen male locked in his dungeon, I mean bedroom. Unless some Japanese developers start to use it for Beach Volley Ball voyeur or what ever. Natal looks more a party/family room game.

"Natal" is its development project code-name. Any guesses as to what it's name will be when it hits the shelves?
 
dont really see the point and use for project Natal... ..but at least its a lot better then crappy Wii controllers.

...dont know what i should use this for though?

Really dont want it in racing games,
dont want it for action/war type of games (FPS)
dont want it for RPG's ..

...minigolf? ...

Why cant they just launch support for a mouse and a keyboard properly...then i could finally play fps games on the xbox 360......that is all i need.
 
9Nails said:
Yeay! Here comes Air-Guitar Hero! (No instruments needed)

I'd imagine that Natal isn't for the typical teen male locked in his dungeon, I mean bedroom. Unless some Japanese developers start to use it for Beach Volley Ball voyeur or what ever. Natal looks more a party/family room game.

"Natal" is its development project code-name. Any guesses as to what it's name will be when it hits the shelves?

"useless toy"?
"now we are only going to launch pointless kidsgames" - controller?
"the thing you buy, but then never use"?
"ops i broke the coffeetable"- controller?
"stop running around the living room ,damn kids"-controller?
"the flop"?
"iCrap"?
"atleast it gets your fat kid out of the couch"?
"we couldn´t annoy you enough with the avatars so now made this"-controller?
"dust collector"?
 
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