Project Naytal

Yeah, I've been checking out a bunch of videos of Microsoft's new Project Natal accessory. It's really pretty cool. I'm a Nintendo fanboy, but I'm not going to let my loyalties sway me this time. It's what people have dreamed of since the dawn of... well.. maybe a couple of decades. Yeah. It looks incredible.

However, I do have some qualms about it. Well, from the demos so far that people are singing the praises of, it really is just a glorified EyeToy. Well yeah, it's a lot better than the EyeToy, but none more than what should be expected. The EyeToy came out.. what.... 2003? It's been a bit more than six years since then. I'd say that an EyeToy plus six years of development could have handled that little breakout game, or even that racing game. Natal is really exactly what we should have been expecting. The technology isn't really breaking news. Anyways, the EyeToy was a good idea, but it was orphaned long ago. The only difference in what was and what is to come is the investment of time and money, and some really good PR.

Then there's Milo. That little British AI blew my mind when I first set eyes upon the demo. But I realized, it wasn't Natal I was impressed with at the time. It was the incredible depth of character that Milo showed. THAT'S what amazed me. It wasn't really the facial/voice recognition. We have those already. Sure, not in a game. But those technologies aren't really that mind blowing. "Passing" objects through the camera was pretty cool, but it was little more than a gimmick. And certainly, it was NOT the fish minigame that impressed me. The EyeToy was capable of that. So really, Milo is just a really cool piece of software. It wasn't really a Natal demo at all. I guess I just got caught up in the buzz.

Finally, the thing that cooks my grits the most is how all those Microsoft bigwigs have been repeating what Nintendo's been saying since they announced the Wii, and touting it as their own. Throwing out words like "immersion", "interactivity", "accessibility" and things like that. Like come on. Nintendo started that whole craze. Microsoft might be picking up the ball and running a bit faster with it now, but they can't think of themselves as the innovators. That was clearly Nintendo.

Okay I lied. The thing that gets me worked up the most about Natal is its name. Nah-TAHL. Why do they say it like that? Natal is already a word! It's pronounced NAY-tal. At least Nintendo's stupid console names are made up themselves. Wii. It's not already a word. They get to decide how to say it. But natal already exists. Microsoft doesn't get to decide how we say that word!

Blah. And that's all. Anyways, I'm actually really excited to see what people do with this. It's just that I'm not expecting the second coming or anything. And honestly, I think Nintendo's switch to motion control was a bigger "Revolution" than this little gadget is.