Every few weeks we get another story about Microsoft framing Natal as the way to interact with the 360, and this is no different. Speaking at the Streaming Media West show, XBL GM Marc Whitten spoke of the Natal as a replacement for a TV remote as well as the 360 controller.
Now, I think Natal is a great idea. I even went so far as to outline some neat possibilities in one of my articles on KOMBO. But just as in that case, I think Microsoft’s handling of the technology is a little misguided.
I think some of the examples in the article are great. something like Jeopardy or a Scene-It style game would be great on Natal. Acting out charades, yelling out answers fast, those would work spectacularly well. Going through parts of the Xbox interface would work quite well, too, as it’s a fairly simple interface.
But a replacement for the TV remote? I think not. “With the power of my voice I can start a movie,” he says. “With the flick of a wrist I can change channels.” Now, I’ll admit that not having to find the remote would be fabulous, but then again I haven’t lost my remote in years. Maybe spending nearly two hundred dollars on it played a role there. Just throwing that out there.
However, remote in hand, i can change channels by twitching my finger. I can bring up a guide, my recorded shows, any of that, with a couple more twitches. With all the things modern remotes can do, I think that Natal, regardless of the fidelity of the motion tracking, just is too simple to work as something control your tv watching. I feel like we’d have to start doing flag semaphore to operate the system. Here are a few possibilities:
Kidding aside, I think the technology has great potential to add a lot to games. I just don’t think it’s going to replace, well, anything. I do think it has the potential to cut down on the amount of peripherals required to play games. Nintendo could take a page from that way of thinking.
Talking about the ideas he presents regarding delivery of user content, my feelings are mixed. He suggests it delivering what we want to watch instead of us having to look for it. But then there’s a few questions. It’s a chicken and egg thing. We have to be able to find the content we want first, and wading through a content library that big could get annoying.
Secondly, and I’ll be the first to admit I’m not exactly the biggest tv watcher, how does someone find something new if its just sending them stuff they’ll like? It’s sort of a confirmation bias thing. If you only rate mecha anime and it only sends you mecha anime, you’re never going to find anything unique to watch. Of course, this comes from the guy who only watches Attack of the Show and Community.
My hopes for Natal are high, but my expectations are more tempered. If a game or aspect of the Xbox interface are going to be Natal only, it’s going to have to work REALLY well to keep me from doing the third option above.
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