If Project Natal will be able to maintain its promises (and premises) could be a really interesting platform to work with and get creative. I’m still doubtful, though, if the lack of a physical controller will really improve the experience of the games we know today. More probably, we will see the birth of new genres and new ideas. This is of course developers’ responsibility, and given how risk-averse the industry currently is, Microsoft should look at indies and try to sustain it. I don’t want to see another Wii-like panorama, where the great controller idea is mostly wasted by lazy majors. Oh, and it seems to be a lag problem, which could sensibly limit gameplay.
Today, in Italy, Microsoft is hosting a closed event to present Natal to a selected group of people. As a game designer and as a guy interested in game studies I tried to be a part of it: aside from this blog Invaders’ Den and Flow are both great places to share some deeper thoughts about the project. Unfortunately, people at Microsoft Italia have decided that my presence was not of their interest. Nor it was the presence of other game bloggers. Pity. Obviously at Microsoft they can choose to invite who they want. But it’s strange, at best, seeing that the invited people are not interested in games. Of course, they have high-traffic blogs, no matter the topic. Quality here loses against quantity. Bad move.
I understand how you feel. It’s very stupid on their part.
Really bad (I was invited, but I didn’t go there because they told me that I can’t take pictures or shot movies of Natal).
Really, really bad: they invite people and they don’t want them to talk about what they are going to see…
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