Kinect (Natal), headed in the right direction. (Gaming scenarios interview)

[grasp]

i'm just waiting for them to create the thing where i can just think what i need to do, screw jumping around like an idiot

THE FUTURE IS NOW!

[crazzeto]

Quite an impressive technology really, as much as people want to hate it but whatever Predictive motion algorytms sound really cool, a neat little short cut in order to ensure QoS in game. I also particularly like the effort they put into presenting this to game developers as just another controller. That kind of abstraction should help adoption greatly, more over as a software developer I greatly appriciate it when effort is taken to taking the pain out of performing a funciton. All too often in the software development world we run into crappy minimalist libraries that tediously make you do almost everything manually abstacting very little, these kinds of efforts are gold to software developers.

[Wulf]

Alright Cap. fair enough and I edited my post to that fact. I still think MS will let developers state no hardware hits if it's true. This device isn't just a simple camera its got some hardware/processor inside and the statement may be true. Cost is another story that's the part I'm more afraid of than the experience of play.

[capnmonkey]

Quite an impressive technology really, as much as people want to hate it but whatever Predictive motion algorytms sound really cool, a neat little short cut in order to ensure QoS in game. I also particularly like the effort they put into presenting this to game developers as just another controller. That kind of abstraction should help adoption greatly, more over as a software developer I greatly appriciate it when effort is taken to taking the pain out of performing a funciton. All too often in the software development world we run into crappy minimalist libraries that tediously make you do almost everything manually abstacting very little, these kinds of efforts are gold to software developers.

Would you categorize this technology as "revolutionary"?

[Wulf]

Quite an impressive technology really, as much as people want to hate it but whatever Predictive motion algorytms sound really cool, a neat little short cut in order to ensure QoS in game. I also particularly like the effort they put into presenting this to game developers as just another controller. That kind of abstraction should help adoption greatly, more over as a software developer I greatly appriciate it when effort is taken to taking the pain out of performing a funciton. All too often in the software development world we run into crappy minimalist libraries that tediously make you do almost everything manually abstacting very little, these kinds of efforts are gold to software developers.

Thank you for your response Crazzeto, sounds like your atleast impressed with the tech. Also, if you are a developer your opinion has more weight than others here. Well, atleast that's the case for me because you create the games we play. Another words you lead the way!

[RedRedSuit]

Thank you for your response Crazzeto, sounds like your atleast impressed with the tech. Also, if you are a developer your opinion has more weight than others here. Well, atleast that's the case for me because you create the games we play. Another words you lead the way!

- He didn't say he's a game developer. He said software developer. There's a few of those around here, me included.
- You have to be careful with these things... it's the Internet.

[Wulf]

Ok Red, are you impressed with the tech? Software is a big deal, have you seen the tech yet? I was on the sales/marketing side ten years ago so, I don't have developmemt (hardware/software) lingo down that's used in today's world.

[RedRedSuit]

Ok Red, are you impressed with the tech?

I said I was very impressed with the tech immediately as it was demoed, in the MS E3 press conference thread. I've been saying it repeatedly since then.

[crazzeto]

Would you categorize this technology as "revolutionary"?

Honestly I don't know how it compares to what's previously been implemented. Obviously this technology has been around for a long time, invented I beleive in the late 90s by either intel or ibm.. I'd certainly say it's cool as hell, at least from where I sit.

Thank you for your response Crazzeto, sounds like your atleast impressed with the tech. Also, if you are a developer your opinion has more weight than others here. Well, atleast that's the case for me because you create the games we play. Another words you lead the way!

- He didn't say he's a game developer. He said software developer. There's a few of those around here, me included.
- You have to be careful with these things... it's the Internet.

Exactly, I actually work on medical software. I really can't offer any great depth of knowlege on the subject other than it's cool as hell and the fact that they spent a great deal of time properly packaging it is a great thing. That last bit is important, IMHO it's what seperates good developers/software companies (and hardware in this case) from poorer ones. You can make a device or library that does something very cool and novel from an end user perspective, but if it's a PITA to program for people will hate you and will jump at the first oppertunity to abandon ship. Microsoft understands this very well, clearly, with their years in the industry.

[Wulf]

I said I was very impressed with the tech immediately as it was demoed, in the MS E3 press conference thread. I've been saying it repeatedly since then.

What impress's you two the most, is it the:

software performance
mix of all the tech used or a individual ability?(voice dectection from multiple sources, scanning abilities, heat signature or imaging)

Do you think MS can provide this without a hardware hit?

We'll leave it at those two since, I'm putting you on the spot.

[Shoeless]

i'm just waiting for them to create the thing where i can just think what i need to do, screw jumping around like an idiot

You need to read some William Gibson.

[crazzeto]

What really ended up selling me is the ability to recognize (in Milo) that the user was going to "hand" a peice of paper to the game character. It saw the sheet comeing towards camera, obviously activated a scan mode and was able to capture the image and bring it into the game.

All while tracking where on screen the peice of paper could be, so when Milo grabbed it, it was properly sized and positioned when the transfer finally happend. That was pretty nifty. Facial recongnition has been around for a long time, but I admit it's novel seeing it used in this way. Being able to do all that with minimal to no performance hit on the system is pretty cool.

[RedRedSuit]

What impress's you two the most, is it the:

software performance
mix of all the tech used or a individual ability?(voice dectection from multiple sources, scanning abilities, heat signature or imaging)

What impresses me the most is that it can smoothly tell exactly what's going on in the room, with multiple sources, without anyone using any individual hardware. It means even if it's expensive (like $100), at least you don't have to keep buying more stuff for multiplayer games. I think it will be great for kids software (a-la that painting thing) and could really help even in hardcore games with ancillary things (such as the "peeking around corners" thing that's always used as an example). For example, Sixaxis motion detection is sometimes used to try to make stuff a little more immersive (throwing grenades, turning valves, etc.), but it's not very precise, and it doesn't feel real. On the other hand, if you're just using a normal controller but it tracks your head motion, you can extend your control scheme even in hardcore games in powerful and intuitive ways.

Do you think MS can provide this without a hardware hit?

What does that mean?

[Wulf]

What impresses me the most is that it can smoothly tell exactly what's going on in the room, with multiple sources, without anyone using any individual hardware. It means even if it's expensive (like $100), at least you don't have to keep buying more stuff for multiplayer games. I think it will be great for kids software (a-la that painting thing) and could really help even in hardcore games with ancillary things (such as the "peeking around corners" thing that's always used as an example). For example, Sixaxis motion detection is sometimes used to try to make stuff a little more immersive (throwing grenades, turning valves, etc.), but it's not very precise, and it doesn't feel real. On the other hand, if you're just using a normal controller but it tracks your head motion, you can extend your control scheme even in hardcore games in powerful and intuitive ways.



What does that mean?

It's means do you think Microsoft can provide this tech and all the work done/created in Natal (the device) without affecting any system resources on the 360 itself? Another words it wouldn't make the hardware more limited by using Natal Vs not using Natal. This seems to be a big debate around here, some can beleive Microsoft's statement of "no hardware hits". Afterall, limiting hardware resources is something no one wants including developers and software programmers alike.

[MA16v3]

Impressed? Yes. But the fact is, these demos were done in very controlled environments. That Cnet article grasp put up is very telling as to how far into development the tech actually is. Wulf is making it out like its ready for market now, and it isn't even close. Show me some real-time, unscripted exchanges with Milo and produce similar results, that's when I get really impressed with it.

I think at best, it should work as a secondary tool for the standard controller, not replace it entirely. We've seen what happens to games when motion control is forced on the player for no good reason on Wii games and it won't end any prettier on 360 or PS3.