Fallout 3 head developer Ashley Cheng has suggested that Microsoft let developers loose on it’s Application Programming Interface (API) in a bid to really open up the full potential of Natal. The Bethedsa employee thinks that Natal has almost endless possibilties beyond games and that app developers and not just game developers should be allowed to tinker with it. Cheng remarked:

“Microsoft should open the NATAL API up like Apple does with the iphone/ipad. Let anyone make a NATAL “app.” I bet someone makes a killer app that has nothing to do with gaming”

Project Natal - A Shot Across The Bows

We agree, come on Bill, let ‘em have it, isolationalism will stifle Natal development. Look what Apple did with iPhone apps.

What do you think, what non-game apps would you like to see with Natal?

Steve Q

EA will annouce a big bucket load of new games at E3 in Los Angeles in June.  The slew of new releases will also be available for the PS3 Move toy.  E3 is the biggest gaming extrvaganza on the planet and EA wil use the platform as a showcase for their new addtions.

John Schappert, EA big boss, said: “We’ve only announced Tiger Woods for Sony Move to date. We have more announcements at E3, inclusive of demos of some of this technology. That said, we’re bullish on these new controllers and the new technology.”

Schappert didn’t go so far as to announce which games would be available but Need for Speed is a likely candidate. Another big games manufacturer throws it weight behind Natal super cool.

What do you think, which games are you waiting for for Natal?

Ste

Not unexpected but we learned today that Microsoft will unveil the entire Project Natal project to E3 in Los Angeles in June. The big event, being called the ‘World Premiere’ will occur on Sunday 13^th with a press follow-up on Monday 14^th. Whilst not exactly a surprise this is good news for those of us who await Natal with bated breath ‘cos it means that MS have got Natal back on track. We were slightly concerned (:-O) after the no show at GDC. 

Project Natal Full Demo at E3

Microsoft claims that the show will be the worlds ‘first look at the future of fun’ so it’s likely that this will be the final iteration and hopefully some completed games.

What I want to know Bill… is ‘where’s my invite to E3?’… maybe it’s lost in the post.

Did you get yours? Let me know

Soon

Steve

Here’s a short video of some Spaniards messing with Natal, they look like they’re having a laugh but the girl looks bored as hell. Nothing new there then . . .

Click here to view the embedded video.

Did you spot the Spanish lady looking bored to tears? That’s all for now byeeeeee!!!

Ste

More rumors about the super-duper Xbox 360 Slim to be bundled with Project Natal when it’s released in Autumn. Michael Pachter told GameTrailers TV that Microsoft will ship a skinny Xbox 360 with Natal and added that it won’t be called ‘slim’. We reckon they’ll call it the Xbox Atkins ….

Super Slim XBox 360

Pachter also confirmed that the Skinny Xbox will come bundled with Natal and retail at under the $300 mark with a larger hard drive, probably 250GB.

Super fuses, we can’t wait!! But what do you think, will it be skinny, latte or the Atkins…?

Steve

Everyone wanted a Lightsaber game for the Wii, Nintendo kept drip feeding us the promise of a Lightsaber game for Wii, but it never arrived… Now though, it looks like Lucas Arts are seriously considering the idea for the 360. Darrell Rodriguez, head-boy at LA told MCV that the new improved Natal Camera might just provide the precision that the company needs to make rumors behind the much-vaunted Lightsaber game come true.

Rodriguez, in an interview with MCV, said: “I’m very excited by the new interfaces, either Natal, Move or iPad. It’s something we’re definitely watching and we will consider in the future,”  ”The regular suggestion of a lightsaber game is one of the reasons why we are excited about it — but we’ll keep looking at it and see what we can do”

Coming soon to your games room, XBox 360 Natal Lightsaber Battles

I have no details to add, and there doesn’t seem top be much else floating around the web BUT a Lightsaber game would make complete sense for Natal, imagine jumping around your games room, cutting bits off your mates arms and legs… hilarious. Lets hope they do it, may the force be with them….

Which bit would you chop first? I’d go straight for the head, try and call that just a ‘flesh-wound’

L8rs

Ste

After demoing Natal, British TV gobshite Jonathon Ross tweeted that the performance ‘wasn’t quite there’… like he would know. Ross is well known in the UK for opening his mouth without engaging his brain. The Natal unit that he demoed was a Summer 2009 version, do us a favour Jon?…. Keep it it shut…

Jonathon Ross TV Airbag Rubbishes Natal Camera

Hosting an  event in London with various media bods a few days ago Molyneux showed his disgruntlement being blocked from demonstrating the latest versions of the Natal sensor and software. He claimed “It’s always a huge frustration as a designer when you see somebody play a version when you know it’s been exceeded many times over” That’s good news cos I, as well as many others, were a wee bit concerned… More good news, Molyneux also said:

‘So very often you get a position that what a person’s looking at is two, three, four months, a year old and you kind of want to go, ‘no, no, it’s 10 times better than that!’ So it is very, very frustrating; it always is – there’s just countless revisions of cameras since the one at X10 and countless revisions of software’

Another source, probably from Microsoft itself, claimed that the sensor in circulation was only 10% as sensitive as the current version. We’ll see when the ultimate iterration is released, along with a full line up of games, at E3 in July. Peter Molyneux will also reveal details of the much anticipated Fable III at E3.

Fable III for Project Natal

Anyone else think Jonathon Ross is a jumped-up brainless airbag? Do PM’s words fill you with hope for Natal?

Another strange piece of Project Natal news today, this time from Dawn of the Dead, Slither writer and director James Gunn. The horror specialist play-tested a couple of Natal Games at a recent Microsoft bash. One was Richochet, which we reported on here, and the other was a brand-new offering called ‘River Rush’

Zombies Not in River-Rush

Gunn reports on his blog:

“It’s a game where you stand side by side in a river raft, so it’s two people playing at once. To move right, you have to step right; to move left, you have to step left.  As you rush down right rapids, you have to jump up and slap floating stars in the air – the whole raft jumps up every time you do.”

No gore, zombies or shotguns in sight but the director was suitably overwhelmed by what he saw, particularly with the marriage of gaming and fitness, he added “it’s “sort of a dream come true, an hour of playing Natal every night will definitely burn calories” And also “Gunn concluded, “The Natal was an amazing piece of technology and I’ll be the first one in line to buy one when they come out during the holidays… I really, really can’t wait to shoot someone on that f***ing thing.” So he wants one!!!

Project Natal River Rush Weeeeeeh!!!!

Whilst it remains to be seen where exactly in the market MS will pitch Natal, more and more evidence seem to point to a direct attack on Nintendo’s Wii market. I’m not a fan of the Wii, it’s a toy, and I hope Gates’s people don’t turn the 360 into a  me-too glorified Wii with improved graphics.

What do you think? Will MS dumb down the 360 to pull in the dollars?

Ste

Head Honcho Simon Prytherch of Lightning Fish Games, is suggesting that both Project Natal and the Sony Move Toy will probably lure non-core gamers who use their games consoles for recreational play in addition to health and fitness routines rather than for simply blasting aliens and building super-hero’s.

Talking to MCV, Prythrch said he think that these types of consumers may “benefit more” from the innovative movement sensors than traditional hardcare gamers, the more typical XBox 360 audience.

“The non-games sector will benefit more than any other sector from Natal and PlayStation Move,” he explained. “These devices are suited to non-core audiences. The important element of these gadgets is the capability to precisely observe user positions.

“We will see new ways of interacting and new genres emerging as creative minds get to grips with the technology.”

Health and fitness game titles for the revolutionary sensor would certainly not be unexpected, given that games of this genre generate oodles of cash for Nintendo through the Wii.

Use your Xbox 360 and Natal to get from this . . .

To This . . . Believe us, Natal will do this to you ... just buying one makes you slimmer

For Sony’s Move, there is the likelihood that EA Sports Active 2.0 will be available for Playstation 3 and will function with the new controller, and as we’ve reported previously there’s also the prospect of a yoga game for Project Natal and the 360 (Ommmmm ).

Additionally ultra secret sources maintain that Rare are developing a workout title of sorts, and with the rumours of Microsoft touting for advertising business in magazines ‘for the ladies’ we reckon at least one ‘health and fitness’ title is on the cards. Hopefully MS won’t do too much dumbing down for the general public . . . . Hell I might even start doing Yoga myself . . . OMMMM

‘Til next time

Ste

It’s been all over the web, I’ve seen it, you’ve seen it.. hell even your momma’s seen it. Natal is shit, the lag makes it almost useless … Everyone’s been shouting that the sensor doesn’t work in low light, that it responds seconds after you’ve moved, the demo’s were faked etc etc etc yawn….

MS recently demoed the latest evolution of Project Natal to a load of Spanish (why Spain?) media bods and guess what? They loved it, particularly commenting on response times and camera sensitivity. Is Spain full of liars? Were these guys all paid by MS?

Spanish Techies Love Natal - Are They Lying?

Nope… it’s all a bit like the ‘Windows is a piece of crap’ debate, some people just hate success and these folks are worried that Natal will actually be cool…. So they find any excuse to pop their little rifles at it….

What I think is that Microsoft are still developing Natal, in close connection with games manufacturers, and that what we’ll see on the release date will blow away both the competition and the sceptics…. Even you PS3 fanboys…..
Comments welcome as always (apart from PS3 fanboys… )

Steve