NEWS > GAMES > LAZY 360 OWNERS PICKING UP CONTROLLERS IN PROTEST OF NATAL

LAZY 360 OWNERS PICKING UP CONTROLLERS IN PROTEST OF NATAL

June 2 2009

Los Angeles, CA – With all the flash and dazzle of which they accustomed, Microsoft kicked of this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. Using high powered celebrities and surprising announcements the company once again has challenged its rivals with surprises and technology that no one had quite expected. Nothing is more surprising
though then the introduction of Project Natal which was accompanied by support from legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg and legendary game designer Peter Molyneux.

Using sophisticated motion tracking technology, the new system will allow users of the Xbox 360 game console to use their bodies to control interaction with software. Tracking people in real time, the company touted the new technology as the biggest revolution in the history of the medium. Already 360 owners are weighing in with scepticism, afraid that the new system will force them off their couches and into the realm which so many have rebelled against, the casual game.

“For far too many people the controller is a barrier separating video game players from everyone else,” said Don Mattrick, Senior Vice President of Xbox. “With this in mind we asked ourselves a new set of questions. Can we go beyond the controller? Can we deliver games and entertainment that everyone can instantly enjoy? Can we make you the controller? We can.”

That declaration, as well as the unbridled support of the most popular filmmaker in the history of the medium, Steven Spielberg, is what has set many Xbox players on edge. For some it is the prospect of their system becoming more accessible to the mainstream. For others it is a concern about Wii-ified games. For most though it is simply the prospect of getting off their couch in order to play games.

“Owners of the 360 have long held themselves as the last bastion of pure gaming and this move towards the mainstream threatens that. Natal more or less integrates the concept of the Wii, which many of them consider a toy at best, into their hardcore gaming platform. Aside from now having to backtrack and having to find new reasons to make fun of the Wii, the obvious concern is that their mothers will want to play their 360,” said Scrape TV Gaming analyst Graeme Hawthorne. “Add to that the fear that they will lose the type of games that makes the Xbox the Xbox and I can see a full scale panic. Their fears are probably quite accurate as well. Microsoft is obviously going after a chunk of the Wii crowd and all they want to play are titles like ‘Monopoly’ and ‘Carnival Games’. Sure they’ll still have ‘Halo’ but inevitably it will go more casual.”

Microsoft also announced the latest titles in the Halo series, ‘ODST’ and ‘The Fall of Reach’. It’s not clear how the new titles will integrate the new motion control but it is expected that at least the latter title will feature a large selection of mini games to coincide with the release of ‘Natal’.

“Microsoft hasn’t spent what is likely millions and millions of dollars on this technology to just give people the option of using it. It will be integrated into virtually every aspect of the 360 experience and likely become a requirement for developers. They realize their crowd is hardcore and they are going to have to do everything they can to change that if they want Natal to work,” continued Hawthorne. “Aside from the inundation of mini-games and shovelware that has become so much a part of the Wii experience, now 360 owners will actually have to get up and move. Aside from protest at the physical aspect of that and the fatigue involved, that has been the primary point of derision against Wii players. My guess is there are going to be a lot of angry and exhausted 360 players in the very near future.”

The majority of 360 owners have also made it clear that they will not gravitate towards the PlayStation 3 due in part to the continued use of motion control in the controllers.

Douglas Havermore, Games Correspondent

NEWS > GAMES > LAZY 360 OWNERS PICKING UP CONTROLLERS IN PROTEST OF NATAL