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Natal to have dynamic 'play spaces,' but no patchable support

Kudo Tsunoda says forthcoming motion-sensing technology will use infrared light to custom-size in-game areas--but is too complex to add to existing games via software updates.

At last week's Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft Game Studios' Kudo Tsunoda revealed a few new details about Project Natal. As part of another dodgeball-like "Ricochet" tech demo, the creative director revealed that the Xbox 360 motion-sensing technology's camera sees only the infrared spectrum. That allows Natal to work in all lighting conditions and to adjust the in-game playing area to fit players' game dens.

"We can configure the play space around your living room," explained Tsunoda. "Let's say you had sofas that were squeezing in this way, we can automatically move the walls of the [Ricochet] court in. If you don't have a wall that goes back that far, they can move the wall up. So we can totally customize the play area to the dimensions of your personal play area."

Tsunoda also explained that Natal's multiparty microphone could distinguish individual voices from multiple players in the same room.

Although Natal-ized versions of Burnout Paradise and Beautiful Katamari were on hand at TGS, Tsunoda said existing games couldn't be updated to support the technology. He told game blog Destructoid that the motion-sensing technology would require code changes more extensive than any software patch could provide. Existing 360 titles could conceivably be rereleased with Natal support, much like Nintendo's New Play Control! program rereleased GameCube titles such as Pikmin to work with the Wii's motion controls.

Microsoft pulled out all the stops to promote Project Natal at TGS 2009. Besides Tsunoda's demonstration, the company trotted out three of Japan's most respected game developers to talk about their enthusiasm for Natal: Sega's Toshihiro Nagoshi (Super Monkey Ball), Capcom's Keiji Inafune (Dead Rising 2), and Konami's Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid Rising).

In addition, Microsoft revealed which publishers are "actively working" on games using Project Natal, which will go on sale sometime next year. They include Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, Capcom, Disney, Electronic Arts, Konami, MTV Games, Namco Bandai, Sega, Square Enix, THQ, and Ubisoft.

137 Comments

  • dannelly23

    Posted Oct 13, 2009 5:07 pm GMT

    so there talking about that they couldnt fit into other games like call of duty

  • shawn_mitchel

    Posted Oct 5, 2009 3:37 pm GMT

    Tom Cruise will not be the only one controlling images/infomations on screens with hand gestures as in the movie- Minority Report.

  • okassar

    Posted Oct 5, 2009 2:43 pm GMT

    Kudo Tsunada is such a stud muffin,lol,and Natal looks promising,hope they don't mess it up cuz the Wii took motion sensing into the "gimmick" zone,but that was mostly because almost EVERY game for the Wii revolves around the motion sensing and ends up cheap trash developers hope to make a quick buck off of. we already know that can't happen with Natal,because,of course,the 360 will not REVOLVE around it (motion sensing) like the Wii did and this motion sensing is much much better and can even be used PARTIALLY in "non-motion sensing" games (example:turn on option for ability to turn in head in Gears by turning head irl,bad example but you see what I mean).

  • mark_unix

    Posted Oct 5, 2009 9:14 am GMT

    eyetoy 2.0...

  • WTFitsPauL

    Posted Oct 4, 2009 7:29 pm GMT

    Stop mimicking Wii, Make Better Exclusives!

  • Notebook_holder

    Posted Oct 4, 2009 6:05 pm GMT

    well in theory this could work... not saying that it would be a flop but it really is aiming towards it.... I would rather use the PS3's glow stick that looks fun... This is well a repeat

  • HerioMortis

    Posted Oct 4, 2009 4:15 pm GMT

    I fail to see how this could be implemented well in normal games. It's basically an Eyetoy and we all know the limitations of using your body as the controller.
    And really, tacking on stuff like leaning with the NATAL in FPS/action games is utterly pointless. I mean really, who cares? It doesn't enhance the experience or make the game more fun to play.

    They haven't even shown any proper application of the NATAL, just BS vids like the one with that kid. When will we see functional gameplay vids without guys in orange suits or standing in empty white rooms playing minigames?

  • shawn_mitchel

    Posted Oct 4, 2009 10:07 am GMT

    A new experience,........definitely a new way to play future games.

  • FF_fan2004

    Posted Oct 4, 2009 4:35 am GMT

    After bashing it before in previous boards, I'll just sit back and give Natal a chance. But it doesn't mean I'll buy it though, doesn't take my fancy to be honest. It suits others, that's fine, haters don't have to buy it. End of story.

  • cjasko94

    Posted Oct 3, 2009 4:02 pm GMT

    It's actually looking pretty cool. I prefer just my controller, but hey you can use both at the same time which is awesome.

  • XanderZane

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 11:40 am GMT

    Terrible video. Bad Gamespot.com!! Bad!! Why didn't they should what they were playing. We know it was that breakout ball batting game again. I really want to see some new demos. I'm dying to see a full scale RPG game where you can walk, run, right, and do everything on screen using your body. The technology has a lot of potential. I think some of the games will work with both Natal and a controller individually. While other games will be Natal control only. Voice recognition control will also be nice. "Get Sword", "Open Chest" "Stab Giant", "Run Away". lol!! We'll see what they come up with. People who are bashing it just want to see it fail and are haters.

  • Sammonoske223

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 1:55 am GMT

    "We have seen the technology, we have seen that it works." Um nope. We haven't seen ****. @Googlproxer: Yes, it is too complex. You can't expect games like Halo or Gears of War to work properly with Natal. It is a totally new mechanic and getting everything to work correctly to the players motion in older games is nigh-impossible.

    Take the new Metroid Prime collection on the Wii for example. They had to go back and make brand new games because it requires recoding of the games controls to work for the Wii.

  • googlproxer

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 12:49 am GMT

    fps would be interesting to be used with natal but it would still require a controller of sorts thus defeating the purpose.

    one thing that is a load of **** is that they cant patch existing games due to the tech being "too complex".
    it most likely isn't, microsquish just wants to release it on time and adapting it would just take too long.

  • parrot_of_adun

    Posted Oct 1, 2009 12:26 am GMT

    @edant79

    There's no chance you could build a FPS around natal. At least not what we think of as FPSs.

    It's just going to be a bunch of ****** casual games and racing games.

  • Flat_Line_____

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 7:29 pm GMT

    Omg the guy in the suit was freaking me out lol. And what's up with NO shots of the actual screen they were playing on? Looks like they were all playing the same dodgeball demo they have shown in the past. But man, If there is one thing that you can get too much of, that one thing would be Kudo Tsunoda.....

  • Telekenesis123

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 1:37 pm GMT

    Why couldn't you guys show any of the on screen action in the video :/

  • jamesh-42

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 2:16 am GMT

    Kbs64: different technologies. With the Wii, you've essentially got an IR camera on the front of the controller trying to track the position of the lights on the sensor bar. As the controller gives a moving frame of reference, all heat sources will appear to be moving and it will have to try and guess which one is the sensor bar.

    With the Natal camera, it looks like you've got a stationary IR camera trying to detect a moving human. This would make it much easier to ignore lights and other stationary heat sources.

    You'd probably run into problems if the room temperature was close to human body temperature, which could be a problem in warmer climates.

  • Kbs64

    Posted Sep 30, 2009 1:15 am GMT

    Please don't misunderstand this but if Natal uses infrared light, won't that mess it up? I mean the Wii uses infrared too. So if were around a bunch of bright lights or your house has a sun roof. Thats going to mess it up?