More On Natal

Max may be right; Natal may just be the next step in the burgeoning immersive gaming scene. I mean, it’s pretty obvious that gaming has been redefined with the onslaught of the Wii, and according Microsoft’s keynote at E3 this year, they are poised to get in on some of that sweet casual gaming love.

 

There are, however, a few of things that concern me about Natal. First off, Microsoft is pretty adamant about getting Natal into (err, out of?) gamer’s hands in 2010. And while things like Milo, and Burnout were playable to a select audience, I thought it pretty interesting that instead of live tech demo (a la Sony and their new motion control…remote…wand…dildo?) Microsoft showed us a lengthy and seemingly over-produced video (http://tinyurl.com/m73abn) while only demonstrating a few of these capabilities live. Besides that, no matter how awesome your motion sensing camera is, you’ll probably never have THAT much fun with you family.

 

Next is this idea that Microsoft will be launching an entirely new line of Xbox 360, rather than releasing Natal as a stand-alone product. Now, this is not a new console, mind you, (http://tinyurl.com/lt3q8j) it’s the same 360 we’ve come to know and love, but now it comes with Natal built in. Kind of a bummer for those of us who own a 360 and can’t really afford a new highfalutin model, but might be able to buy just the Natal camera and live out our dreams of hanging out with a creepy English kid (http://tinyurl.com/kuok59) just like everyone else.

 

Lastly, I play video games to escape reality. I play them because all I need to do is sit and relax and press a few buttons to be someone else. The idea of jumping around and flapping my arms to play a game has never really interested me, it’s why I don’t own a Wii. I personally think that using a controller can be more immersive, the better a game controls the less you think about the hunk of plastic in your hand anyway.

 

That being said, I think some of Natal’s other functionalities look awesome. The face and voice recognition is pretty amazing, and it would be great to get some face time with my gaming chums (Hey man, you wanna get down on some Halo? Nice boxer shorts!) And the Minority Report-esque features for surfing the web and browsing the system are downright cool.

 

But enough of these ramblings, I’m just about done with Infamous and I’d like to get a review up in the next couple of days. I also just picked up Ghostbusters for 360 and I’d like to get down to some busting, because, you know…it makes me feel good.