Ploddish said:
Okay.. as the gaming press is too stupid to point this all out.
Sony's device worked, and it worked real time without any screw ups. Microsofts one didnt.
With regards to natal :
1. do you really need a 3d camera to navigate a 2d dashboard? Whats wrong with using the dpad exactly?
2. How does the depth sensing work if part of your body is obscured by a table (for example)? - most people dont have large empty living rooms.
3. will the "face recognition" stuff recognise you if you have a different hair cut? (for example)
4. will the depth sensing work if you're stood side on? For example if you wanted to simulate a bow and arrow?
5. lack of resistance when doing stuff. For example, on wii when you're pushing/pulling stuff it never "feels" right as there is no resistance.
6. The painting app showed just how "wooly" the motion sensing was. Compare that to sony's "handwriting" demo - something the wii couldnt do either. In fact there was NOTHING in the "painting" demo that couldnt have been done on the eye toy.
Most of what microsoft demoed REAL TIME (i.e. the non made up stuff) and the stuff which actually worked - is stuff which has been possible for YEARS with the eyetoy.
But as furie pointed out.. these things wont be huge successes.. they're fun add-ons.. which are coming VERY LATE in both of the consoles lifetimes... If you do genuinely feel that natal will be huge - take a look at how succesful the eyetoy was.
The eyetoy was great fun, i bought one... But ultimately it was just doomed to mini game hell.
The sony system on the other hand works, and COULD have REAL WORLD gaming implications (outside of mini game fests)... But I feel too late in the ps3's lifespan to be worthwhile - maybe the ps4 will come bundled with it?