Project Natal hasn't yet made its way to stores - heck, Natal might not even be its final name - but that's not stopping Microsoft from researching the next iteration of their motion sensing technology. The Sydney Morning Herald recently chatted it up with several Microsoft insiders, and one in particular suggested that the development of Natal 2 is already underway.
"We are aware that we are not necessarily a media darling," divulged Microsoft Research Asia managing director Hsiao-Wuen Hon. "People don't perceive us as innovative as we actually are. Many of them use our products but don't know it."
A brutal reset, a smarter story, and a return to what made it great—Mortal Kombat (2011) revived the series.
Underrated comment. I used to hate that game so much that any time my siblings asked me to play it, I just picked Hom and shut myself down mid-match.
15 years went by so fast. I remember playing through the story mode at launch.
The name "Hewson" carries a special weight for anyone who grew up during the golden age of British computing. As the son of Andrew Hewson—the man behind legendary publisher Hewson Consultants—Rob Hewson didn't just grow up playing video games; he learned to spell his name from their title screens. However, Rob didn't just rest on his family's 8-bit laurels. From leading major LEGO franchises at TT Games to tackling the high-stakes world of technical porting at Huey Games, Rob has carved out a unique path in an ever-evolving industry. In this candid interview Rob to discussed the burden and beauty of a family legacy, the technical "scar tissue" left by the ambitious Hydrophobia, and why porting a masterpiece like Inscryption to consoles is far more than a simple copy-paste job.
To celebrate Tomb Raider: Legend's 20th anniversary, the official channels have shared an early in-development gameplay demo.
I know this is just a stupid blog article, but I must say, if the quotation it contains is credible., then shame on MS. The spokesperson said and I quote:
"“We are aware that we are not necessarily a media darling,” divulged Microsoft Research Asia managing director Hsiao-Wuen Hon. “People don’t perceive us as innovative as we actually are. Many of them use our products but don’t know it.”
Hon continued, “And when we do invent something first like the Natal kind of scenario, while we have a researcher working with the product group for the first version, we already have a researcher thinking about the second version down the road so we certainly hope we will continue to be holding that technology. I really love what Microsoft is doing.”
Microsoft did not invent Natal. Microsoft brought out a company called 3DV or something like that, and acquired the tech from them. And in any case, the tech and concepts have been around for years. I need not mention from where.
Microsoft, oh Microsoft.
It's almost as if they are expecting it to fail.
They know that Natal doesn't work like it should. Why else would they already be working on another one?
I can swear I read this yesterday.