Project Natal coming in Nov 2010 with sub $50 price

[Queasy]

MCVUK - Details have leaked from Europe that Microsoft's Project Natal, a controller free motion controlled add-on to the Xbox 360, will be arriving in November of 2010 for less than £50. That means we should probably expect Natal to arrive in the United States at the same time for around $50 or less despite the exchange rates as Microsoft is trying to avoid problems that typically hit add-ons by making it an impulse buy.


As many as 14 compatible games are planned for the launch of Natal which uses cameras to detect what the user is doing and mimic that in game. After constant rumors of Microsoft bringing a motion control option to the Xbox 360 to match Nintendo's Wii, Natal was finally debuted at the E3 conference this past June. A host of game companies from Activision to Square Enix to UbiSoft have all signed up to support Natal along with Microsoft's first-party studio, Rare.

 

[purbeast0]

link?

 

[Queasy]

link added

 

[blurredvision]

Kotaku said $80, but it was possible they'd want it to enter "impulse buy" territory and selling it at $50. Not sure I care either way. I was impressed with it initially, but my opinion has completely flip-flopped after seeing more demos. The only way I'll buy it is if minor functions like dashboard navigation and facial recognition turn out to be cool, but I'm not buying it to play games.

 

[Queasy]

Kotaku said $80, but it was possible they'd want it to enter "impulse buy" territory and selling it at $50. Not sure I care either way. I was impressed with it initially, but my opinion has completely flip-flopped after seeing more demos. The only way I'll buy it is if minor functions like dashboard navigation and facial recognition turn out to be cool, but I'm not buying it to play games.

If you do the straight exchange rate right now from £50 it would be almost $80. I don't think MS would do that though because that's priced too high for an impulse buy in the United States. Even the MCV article mentions that it could be as low as £30 so I would expect it to be less than $50 in the States.

 

[oznerol]

This thing is Microsoft's Eye Toy. The camera isn't all that special - the software is a bit more advanced, though. Sony released theirs for around the same price ($50-60).

It really is nothing special.

 

[mode101wpb]

I can't see myself buying this, besides it basically seems useless unless you got a big TV. I'm using a 24" LCD monitor dual use with my PC.

 

[d4mo]

I hope there are no good games where this is mandatory. If I wanted motion crap I would get a Wii. But I think it's really gimmicky and not very fun.

 

[Beev]

lolnatal.

Can't wait for this to fail hard.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I hope there are no good games where this is mandatory. If I wanted motion crap I would get a Wii. But I think it's really gimmicky and not very fun.

lolnatal.

Can't wait for this to fail hard.

Same. I don't really care about the Wii having (IMO) gimmicky/stupid controls, because I can just not buy a Wii. I wouldn't even care if Natal were to create its own little space in the Xbox 360 ecosystem, separate from the games I like to play. But my concern is that you're going to have Natal requirements all over the place in games I'd otherwise want to play. I don't want the 360 to become like the Wii, and I don't want the Natal to ruin gaming for the rest of us. So yes, I want it to fail.

I also want it to fail so MS and other game companies quit trying this gimmicky shit and focus on releasing good games and better hardware.

 

[zerocool84]

But I think it's really gimmicky and not very fun.

That's what I've been saying since crap like this was announced. I have no interest in Microsoft doing it or Sony. It's only fun after a very short while then it gets retarded.

 

[tatteredpotato]

This thing is Microsoft's Eye Toy. The camera isn't all that special - the software is a bit more advanced, though. Sony released theirs for around the same price ($50-60).

It really is nothing special.

It actually is "special" since it doesn't just use one camera, but (iirc) 2 cameras... one regular and one IR camera and it allows for more complex computations, such as object distance and what not. If the hardware wasn't anything special they would just have an update and let you use XBL Vision camera.

 

[purbeast0]

can't wait to be doing this...

wow that looks SSSOOO fun.

 

[AstroManLuca]

can't wait to be doing this...

wow that looks SSSOOO fun.

Ever wonder what the bottom of an avatar's shoe looks like? Well BAM! There it is.

 

[yllus]

I'm trying to think of practical applications for this:

- A really badass media player where you select music/video by talking and waving your hands in the air
- So You Think You Can Dance: The Game
- A game where you play a pizza maker
- A game where you do various karate katas to get into shape
- Hole In The Wall: The Game

 

[Queasy]

I'm trying to think of practical applications for this:

- A really badass media player where you select music/video by talking and waving your hands in the air
- So You Think You Can Dance: The Game
- A game where you play a pizza maker
- A game where you do various karate katas to get into shape
- Hole In The Wall: The Game

Well, I'm interested to see what all the different devs are planning to do with this. It may work or it may totally suck. Hard to tell with the limited amount of concept demos that have been put out so far. There's even a rumor that there will be an option to use it with Fable III.

 

[yllus]

Oh man, I hope Fable doesn't do the Natal thing. Those games are disappointing enough when they're concentrating 100% on the game itself.

 

[erwos]

This thing is Microsoft's Eye Toy. The camera isn't all that special - the software is a bit more advanced, though. Sony released theirs for around the same price ($50-60).

The camera is significantly more advanced than the Eye Toy. I don't know what possessed you to say otherwise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Natal

 

[oznerol]

The camera is significantly more advanced than the Eye Toy. I don't know what possessed you to say otherwise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Natal

I'm not claiming it's a simple CMOS camera ala the Eye Toy. It's just a "next-gen" Eye Toy. Its power lies in the software. There is no real "groundbreaking" technology in it. Charging more than $50-60 for the device would be as unreasonable as Sony trying to charge that much for the Eye Toy 5+ years ago.

That is all I was trying to say.

 

[brblx]

head. tracking.

that is all i have to say. but i doubt MS would actually bother implementing something new (to consoles) and useful.

 

[Kromis]

I've said it before and I'll say it again

Developers, developers, developers, developers

 

[erwos]

It's just a "next-gen" Eye Toy. Its power lies in the software.

But, you're wrong. There are significant hardware improvements, such as a dedicated IR sensor and real on-board image processing. There's certainly innovative software to go along with it (duh), but to say all of the magic is in the software is certainly incorrect.

Is it a magical super-camera? Of course not. But comparing the EyeToy v1 to the EyeToy v2, it's clear that there's way more advancement in Natal. This isn't surprising, considering that Microsoft bought the technology from a firm that was planning on deploying it in a more stand-alone fashion.

 

[Queasy]

head. tracking.

that is all i have to say. but i doubt MS would actually bother implementing something new (to consoles) and useful.

Based on the concept demos they've shown so far, I don't see why they couldn't do head tracking. In fact, the guy that did the Wii-mote head tracking demo joined the Project Natal team.

 

[gorcorps]

But, you're wrong. There are significant hardware improvements, such as a dedicated IR sensor and real on-board image processing. There's certainly innovative software to go along with it (duh), but to say all of the magic is in the software is certainly incorrect.

Is it a magical super-camera? Of course not. But comparing the EyeToy v1 to the EyeToy v2, it's clear that there's way more advancement in Natal. This isn't surprising, considering that Microsoft bought the technology from a firm that was planning on deploying it in a more stand-alone fashion.

Yup, exactly

I'm not claiming it's a simple CMOS camera ala the Eye Toy. It's just a "next-gen" Eye Toy. Its power lies in the software. There is no real "groundbreaking" technology in it. Charging more than $50-60 for the device would be as unreasonable as Sony trying to charge that much for the Eye Toy 5+ years ago.

That is all I was trying to say.

Dude, just admit that you're not an expert on camera technology and that you don't know enough to claim all this crap. If you're not impressed, then fine... but you're making completely unfounded claims with no proof.

 

[oznerol]

Dude, just admit that you're not an expert on camera technology and that you don't know enough to claim all this crap. If you're not impressed, then fine... but you're making completely unfounded claims with no proof.

CMOS sensors - and general photonics - I know. The exact specs for Natal, I admittedly do not. From what Microsoft has released, and from the information gathered on Wikipedia, however, I wouldn't say my "claims" are unfounded.

The kind of image-processing Natal is doing has been used for almost a decade now in the automation and quality control industries. And the LIDAR technology has been used by police and the military for longer. The hardware used in either case is a bit expensive, but it's not consumer-grade (or consumer quality).

There are significant hardware improvements, such as a dedicated IR sensor and real on-board image processing.

I am assuming you meant real-time image processing - which I agree, that is what makes the camera special - but that is what I meant by the power of the device being in the software (though game developers matter, too, I suppose). Not sure of the DSP they're using to crank out the frames, but again, I imagine it is consumer-grade. If there would be one way for this device to impress me, though, it would have to function with no latency whatsoever. From what I've seen, it doesn't.