Natal Will Be a Challenge

Each year electronics companies introduce some new kind of technology to the public. The piece of technology is usually something so breakthrough it makes us all go “Wow” and leave the presentation speechless. Later on we speculate what it is going to offer, how it will work and whether or not it will succeed enough for the company to keep supporting it. Just like any other product electronics have a life cycle before it moves on to the next level. In the gaming industry there are three giants; Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, and each one has the same vision but brings it about with a different style.

You had the PS EyeToy which used a camera and your movements to play the game. Then the Nintendo Wii came out with motion sensing controller technology which made it seem like you were in the game, and it worked quite good. Microsoft then thought to themselves “Hey let’s try something like the EyeToy and see where it goes.” All the manufacturers had great ideas, Sony’s EyeToy worked quite well and the Wii was fun, with motion controllers making Mario games more fun than ever before. Even Microsoft’s Vision Cam had a great touch to it, but it failed when compared to Sony and Nintendo’s technologies. Project Natal is the new technology from Microsoft that is similar to Vision Cam. It looked impressive, but can it succeed where Vision Cam failed?  Let’s look into some reasons why Natal might fail to grasp the market.

CONTROLLER(LESS) GAMING

I know many around the net ask “Are gamers willing to play without controllers?” Well the answer is up to you. Are you willing to try something different? Gamers are the ones that make technology successful. If you are buying Natal to try something more casual, and less hardcore, it can succeed. The casual market is booming and publishers may want to create games for it, they will see an opportunity to make money. If you are lazy and want to hold a controller in your hand, sit on the couch and enjoy your gaming then it might fail. Publishers don’t want to invest their time and money into something that’s obviously not making any financial impact for the company. The reason Vision Camera failed was because of low sales of titles that included the Vision Cam. The few games that tried the technology were marketed poorly and because of this Vision Cam was doomed. Factor in the low sales and you can see why developers wanted nothing to do with it. Successful marketing is critical if Natal is to succeed.

PUBLISHER SUPPORT

We all know in order for a new peripheral to succeed it needs support from various publishers and developers. When Project Natal is released (if it is released) it will more than likely be introduced with a few in-house titles from Rare or Lionhead Studios.  Now it’s up to Rare or Lionhead to make or break Project Natal. Both of these studios are trusted by gamers and if anyone can do it, Rare and Lionhead can. If either developer can somehow create a game that gets our attention, Natal could be a success. If so other publishers will see what Natal can do and then EA, THQ, Activison, Take Two and many other 3^rd party developers might jump the ship and start making games for it. This means developers will need to invest more money for new software, hire more talent and spend more time developing for Natal. There are a lot of things that go into new technology; and it’s not cheap by any means. If Project Natal doesn’t come through and sell well, then we might as well say goodbye to it, just like the Vision Cam. No publisher is willing to invest millions of dollars into something that might not profit them, and there for it will be a forgotten technology. My take on it is if Rare and Lionhead can make a game and make it work with Natal, we might just see it last for the next 10 years. Let’s hope it works out.

CAPTURING THE CASUAL MARKET

We all know that Microsoft developed Project Natal with casual gaming in mind. Microsoft is trying to capture some of the casual market from Nintendo, after all the casual market is very profitable. This meant that Microsoft had to come up with something to grab the attention of parents. If parents can play a game with their kids and keep healthy while doing it then of course it’s going to appeal more to them. Project Natal is out to accomplish something that no other gaming technology has, which is go controller(less). The presentation at E3 proved promising for the system, showing families playing racing games and a boy getting his daily Kung-Fu lesson. It all seemed great and promising, but how much of it was actual gameplay? How much of the conference footage actually works? It’s still in the beta stages and this must be presenting a problem for Microsoft if it is to be released soon. My take on it is if Microsoft can make it work with smaller titles it would be a good start to get into the casual market and make an impression. A game like Buzz, the drawing game like the one shown at the E3 Presentation or even a game like Rampage where you tear down buildings could further cement Natal as a serious contender in the casual market. However the question must be asked; is the average family willing to pay $300-400 for a new console, if they already own a Wii? Only time will tell.

GAMES IT COULD WORK WITH:

Here at the office we came up with a few franchises that Natal could work with. Imagine Elder Scrolls or the Fallout series with full Natal support. These two games are as simple as it gets for gamers, all you’d need is two hands and you’re set. Blocking, attacking and casting spells are all that is required of the gamer. It would be awesome to play with only your hand gestures. We think it would make a great game for Natal and a brilliant way to make the technology standout. All sports games would greatly work with this sort of technology; anything from basketball, baseball to football and even golf, would suit Natal perfectly. Just think about how fun it would be to take three steps back and throw a perfect pass to Larry Fitzgerald, or hand it off to LT. Even Real Time Strategy games, which have been a challenge on consoles, could work on Natal. Imagine using your hands to add and move units, carry out your attacks and even use voice to control the game. Natal could finally make RTS’s fun on the console. We know this would work well since Ubisoft has already done the voice commands with End War on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

THE CONCLUSION