Xbox Project Natal vs. PS Motion Controller

[GrantMeThePower]

Which do you think is the better implementation of motion control?

No wii.

 

[Krazy4Real]

Why did you do this? Only bad things will come of this thread.

 

[R Nilla]

Ping pong balls taped to your body > both.

 

[herkulease]

Neither. Project Natal and the PS motion thing are still concepts. Until I get to put in my hands I can't judge.

 

[ChaoZ]

Microsoft's was cooler, but Sony showed theirs in real-time. So they're equal in my view.

 

[Rage187]

Natal looks more finished but the PS3 implementation looked like it was geared toward games I would play. As some mentioned in another thread, "who wants to babysit some kid?".

 

[Kromis]

Imagine if they put the Milo AI into a military-themed game/simulation...

 

[BoberFett]

Where's the "Both are silly" option? Call me crazy, but I think the Wii will prove superior because there's still a physical object in your hand, as opposed to just flailing your arms around hoping the camera is seeing your movements correctly.

 

[Lonyo]

Uh, there was a physical object in the Sony demo...
Did you even watch it?

As for which is better? There are two answers.
Conceptually Natal is so much better it's not even funny. What it has the ability to do is waaaaay beyond the Wii or PS3 ideas, BUT....
In practice the PS3 idea looks superior based on the demos given. It was much simpler in terms of interaction (IMO) since it's clear what you are working with, and it looked so much more responsive than Natal.

I think that Natal is ahead of its time, and the system might not be able to keep up (there seemed to be a lot of input lag in the demo, and I know it's not in production yet, but I can forsee that kind of problem remaining because it seems like it requires a lot more CPU effort to work out what's going on).
The PS3 idea seems a big like the Wii, but possibly a bit better and with greater flexibility and capabilities (since the sensor acts as a camera as well giving obvious extra opportunities).

In the end it (obviously) depends on how they are used in games, but I think the PS3 system will work better, at least in the short term, while Natal has IMO a much better long term future, especially if you think to the next generation of consoles, or PC use.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I think the PS Eye will work much better in gaming.

The problem with Natal was that it showed too much "cool" stuff. If thats the right way to put it. Log on with face recognition? Great. Body recognition. Pretty cool. But how would those be implemented in games? I have a deed for a bridge or two if people believe that the boy demo didn't have pre-scripting in it.

I think the precision provided by those wand things will work really well with games. No input lag, millimeter precision, and a actual tangible physical object, which I tend to prefer in gaming. Sony also showed more gaming aspects than MS did, showing the potential it has.

But of course, there has to be SUPPORT for these things. I don't think a developer could care enough to put this kind of stuff as a integral part of games. Maybe games like WKS will use tech to make character faces look like you, but this tech isn't going to work without significant dev support

 

[Dari]

I prefer the Sony one because, like Nintendo's, there's a physical object in your hand and it goes beyond the Wii with 1:1 control. It's also multidemisional (sic?). Natal is a very cool concept but I doubt it'll work as advertised. I also worry about the things in my house getting hit. I also live in a small NYC apartment so that worries me as well.

With that said, all three consoles have been out for years now so this new technology won't sway Xbox or Sony gamers to switch sides. But it will affect Nintendo since all they have is their gimmick.

 

[Tu13erhead]

Originally posted by: ChaoZ
Microsoft's was cooler, but Sony showed theirs in real-time. So they're equal in my view.

They had a real-time demo of Natal also. The girl played the ricochet game and the guy played the paint one..

 

[herkulease]

Originally posted by: tenshodo13
I think the PS Eye will work much better in gaming.

The problem with Natal was that it showed too much "cool" stuff. If thats the right way to put it. Log on with face recognition? Great. Body recognition. Pretty cool. But how would those be implemented in games? I have a deed for a bridge or two if people believe that the boy demo didn't have pre-scripting in it.

I think the precision provided by those wand things will work really well with games. No input lag, millimeter precision, and a actual tangible physical object, which I tend to prefer in gaming. Sony also showed more gaming aspects than MS did, showing the potential it has.

Do you mean pre scripted responses? Of course everything will have pre scripted responses. I doubt we'll ever see the day where an AI can think on its own and respond with unique answers.

Engadget/Joystiq previewed that thing and they've confirmed they were able to do things liek the video. But they stumped Milo with questions outside of what its capable of doing.

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: Tu13erhead

Originally posted by: ChaoZ
Microsoft's was cooler, but Sony showed theirs in real-time. So they're equal in my view.

They had a real-time demo of Natal also. The girl played the ricochet game and the guy played the paint one..

And there was a lot of lag (with the girl's demo, I didn't care for the guy's).

 

[Queasy]

Ultimately it will depend on the software for both games and what developers can use them for or come up with. Both are little more than tech demos at this stage.

Both had ideas that I liked though.

 

[GrantMeThePower]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
Uh, there was a physical object in the Sony demo...
Did you even watch it?

As for which is better? There are two answers.
Conceptually Natal is so much better it's not even funny. What it has the ability to do is waaaaay beyond the Wii or PS3 ideas, BUT....
In practice the PS3 idea looks superior based on the demos given. It was much simpler in terms of interaction (IMO) since it's clear what you are working with, and it looked so much more responsive than Natal.

I think that Natal is ahead of its time, and the system might not be able to keep up (there seemed to be a lot of input lag in the demo, and I know it's not in production yet, but I can forsee that kind of problem remaining because it seems like it requires a lot more CPU effort to work out what's going on).
The PS3 idea seems a big like the Wii, but possibly a bit better and with greater flexibility and capabilities (since the sensor acts as a camera as well giving obvious extra opportunities).

In the end it (obviously) depends on how they are used in games, but I think the PS3 system will work better, at least in the short term, while Natal has IMO a much better long term future, especially if you think to the next generation of consoles, or PC use.

I think you summed it up well. And the future possibilities is why i selected the Natal. It is really much more forward thinking that the sony implementation which is much more "wii-like".

the only thing i dont get on the natal one is how do you, say, pull a trigger?

The coolest aspects to me are almost more than the gaming parts. The hand gestures for navigation. the voice recognition without holding a microphone or headset, the multiple player recognition....those are great.

 

[erwos]

Natal is, by far, more advanced. That said, criticizing the tech demos that demonstrated either tech is ludicrous - they're tech demos, pre-alpha, they're not going to be perfect. In particular, there's no inherent reason for the lag that Natal demonstrated, other than that it was a tech demo, and those tend to be dirty.

I will point out, though, that there's nothing particularly stopping Microsoft from recognizing objects ala Sony. That's a much easier task than the other stuff it (supposedly) already does. In fact, there's also a wand that got announced at E3: the GameTrak Freedom.

 

[mmntech]

Sony has always had the motion control (SIXAXIS, PS Eye) but they never really been widely implemented it, and when they did, it just sucked (cough... Lair). Granted Flower did make it work well. Both look interesting but both are kind of late to the party. Of course I prefer Sony's because I have a PS3. Microsoft's is similar to the PS Eye but it will be interesting to see where they take it. I've only seen pictures so far but I'll have to check out the videos later.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Natal seemed painfully slow, much like how the Wii is now. It may have more feature support, but I'll take highly responsive primitive support over very sluggish anything for gaming. Maybe they will get the performance up, but as of right now Natal just looked terrible next to ET2.

Oh yeah, Spielberg seemed to like the Natal idea, can you possibly have a worse omen in the game industry? Mans first major game almost destroyed the entire industry

 

[herkulease]

Its a bit harsh to blame Spielberg for the crap that was ET. He chose someone who made a good game in raiders of the lost ark. why ET turned out crap I dunno. 20+ years later I still don't see how you can make a game out of ET.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: erwos
Natal is, by far, more advanced. That said, criticizing the tech demos that demonstrated either tech is ludicrous - they're tech demos, pre-alpha, they're not going to be perfect. In particular, there's no inherent reason for the lag that Natal demonstrated, other than that it was a tech demo, and those tend to be dirty.

I will point out, though, that there's nothing particularly stopping Microsoft from recognizing objects ala Sony. That's a much easier task than the other stuff it (supposedly) already does. In fact, there's also a wand that got announced at E3: the GameTrak Freedom.

How can you argue there's no inherent reason for the lag in Natal?
The Eyetoy was marking the relative positions of two glowing balls, while Natal was having to consider a person and calculate what is a person and what isn't, and the movements that person is making.

I'd assume that tracking a pair of bright specific objects would be simpler than establishing the boundaries of a human individual (or pair of) and their corresponding movements, which ignoring all background stuff, as well as being able to deal with voice commands.
Just try voice recognition software. Even on my 3.4GHz overclocked Core 2 Dragon Naturally Speak 9 can get a bit behind in its transcribing.
I would be willing to bet that the processes involved in Natal are a lot more heavy than those for the Eyetoy.

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: erwos
Natal is, by far, more advanced. That said, criticizing the tech demos that demonstrated either tech is ludicrous - they're tech demos, pre-alpha, they're not going to be perfect. In particular, there's no inherent reason for the lag that Natal demonstrated, other than that it was a tech demo, and those tend to be dirty.

I will point out, though, that there's nothing particularly stopping Microsoft from recognizing objects ala Sony. That's a much easier task than the other stuff it (supposedly) already does. In fact, there's also a wand that got announced at E3: the GameTrak Freedom.

How can you argue there's no inherent reason for the lag in Natal?
The Eyetoy was marking the relative positions of two glowing balls, while Natal was having to consider a person and calculate what is a person and what isn't, and the movements that person is making.

I'd assume that tracking a pair of bright specific objects would be simpler than establishing the boundaries of a human individual (or pair of) and their corresponding movements, which ignoring all background stuff, as well as being able to deal with voice commands.
Just try voice recognition software. Even on my 3.4GHz overclocked Core 2 Dragon Naturally Speak 9 can get a bit behind in its transcribing.
I would be willing to bet that the processes involved in Natal are a lot more heavy than those for the Eyetoy.

Well, that's the route MS wanted to go. However, there should be no excuses considering this was their choice to have all these features.

 

[blurredvision]

I don't see how anybody can honestly say that the current Wii implementation and the Sony announcement (granted, I haven't seen the video, just read impressions) has anything on Project Natal. Natal has way more potential than anything out there right now. Whether Microsoft can harness it's potential, we'll see (and I'm skeptical).

 

[quest55720]

I was really impressed with what Sony did. The problem is it only a slight upgrade from the Wii motion plus. I have a Wii and just don't see a reason to buy motion controls for my PS3. The Sony motion controls look rock solid and I am sure will work great. Natal is really next gen motion controls. If MS can pull it off I will be happy as hell an shocked. I think all next gen consoles will have a Natal type device as standard. If they pull it off they won't be able to make them fast enough. I know I will buy a Natal day 1 if they can pull it off. Natal is the next step in casual gaming. Fight Night 5 or UCF 2011 with full body controls would be all sorts of win if Natal works well.

It is obvious that no one wants to launch a new console any time soon. That is why Sony and MS busted out the motion controls. They want to extend this generation to 2013 or later because of the world wide recession.

 

[hans030390]

Natal is definitely cooler, but likely much less "optimal" for hardcore gaming. This is largely due to it tracking your body instead of some sort of controller or sensor. Also, in the tech demos, there was definitely lag with Natal. Not so with the PS3. PS3 was also much more precise (as mentioned above).

Natal just had bad tech demos...PS3 motion controllers started terrible, but were really showing great potential by the end.

Etc...My vote goes for PS3 simply for a more realistic approach that will work better on hardcore games.