E3 2009 - MS Press Briefing - What Did You Think?

Natal is certainly interesting. After dismissing the Wiimote as silly and finding it quite fun after using it I'm willing to give Natal a shot. At this point it appears to be a matter of implementing the system into a game well, which is still the achilles heel for many Wii games.
 
I'm interested what the exact issue was. Did the studio lights use the same spectrum as the special part of Natal, was there too much light, were they worried that dark suits on a black background wouldn't provide appropriate contrast...
 
I watched that Jimmy Falon thing and it was the first time I saw Burnout Paradise demoed, the game seemed to work pretty flawlessly. I'm excited to see if they will incorporate it into FPS's like Halo 3 or even something like Gears of War 2. It would add a whole new level of replayability. Kinda like what the Wii is doing with RE4, Mario Tennis, Pikmin, etc. I can't even imagine how fun it would be taking cover and popping out to shoot. I think this might be the next step in gaming. Reminds me of that police game in the arcades were you have to crouch and move on the little mat.
 
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[quote name='Nealocus123']I watched that Jimmy Falon thing and it was the first time I saw Burnout Paradise demoed, the game seemed to work pretty flawlessly. I'm excited to see if they will incorporate it into FPS's like Halo 3 or even something like Gears of War 2. It would and a whole new level of replayabilty. Kinda like what the Wii is doing with RE4, Mario Tennis, Pikmin, etc. I can't even imagine how fun it would be taking cover and popping out to shoot. I think this might be the next step in gaming. Reminds me of that police game in the arcades were you have to crouch and move on the little mat.[/QUOTE]

To be honest, I'd be surprised if they were able to create a fully-featured, competitive, multi-player FPS using this. I don't see them being able to get the level of accuracy and precision needed to aim and fire without some form of automation.

Natal won't act as some magical panacea for gaming, making every game instantly accessible to everyone. As with any method of controller, it'll have it's pros and cons. It'll have its niche. Just like you want a tournament controller for playing fighting games, Natal will be awesome for Natal games.

Though, I'd love to do a user-interface based study on this. Something simple...have a grid of squares, see how long it takes a person using Natal to "click" on a glowing square, vs the person using a controller, vs a person on keyboard + mouse.
 
[quote name='Salamando3000']I'm interested what the exact issue was. Did the studio lights use the same spectrum as the special part of Natal, was there too much light, were they worried that dark suits on a black background wouldn't provide appropriate contrast...[/QUOTE]

[quote name='Engadget']Update: We just hit up Fallon's producer, who told us the suits were just for fun, so that's that. Also, anyone notice Fallon asking Kudo if this would ship in 2010 and Kudo declining to answer during some crosstalk? Good times.[/QUOTE]
So thats that
 
Found this on another forum (gamesradar) and found it to be hi-Larious.
"When game consultant and former Newsweek writer N'Gai Croal gave Paradise a test drive, however, the game had trouble reading his steering actions. The footwork (gas and brakes) worked fine, but Croal couldn't steer his car at all."
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Haha people on that site are saying its because of all the stuff he said about RE5. hehe

Hmm this seems to be a rumor,
apparently who ever posted this was full of shit and this isn't at all true.
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Update: Looks like Project Natal just got some more cred:
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/11/wiimote-genius-johnny-chung-lee-on-project-natal-team/
 
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Why the fuck do people think that Johnny Chung Lee is a "genius"?

He literally took an idea that has been commercially available on PC since at least 2001 (look up TrackIR and Freetrack), used a Wiimote instead of an IR webcam (and considering that the Wiimote is basically an IR camera, even that is the same, technologically; hell, Freetrack even has Wiimote support now!), made a Youtube video of it, and somehow became a videogame technology superstar.

And now, despite the fact that he never invented anything or did anything innovative at all, he's got a hot-shot job with Microsoft.

What the fuck, man. Hey, thanks for propagating this no-talent fuck's ill-founded reputation, Joystiq! fucking idiots.
 
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[quote name='Spybreak8']Lol is someone jealous they didn't think of it before he did, hmmm?[/QUOTE]


Uh, no, that is exactly NOT it. You completely ignored the concept of what I was expressing.

What pisses me off, is that someone who literally did something over five years AFTER it was already commercially available as a packaged product, got an absolutely enormous amount of recognition and acclaim, which endures to this day. He gets called the "Wiimote hacker," when he literally did nothing (in technological regards to the Wiimote itself) except use the Wiimote for what it's already used for (aka IR tracking). He did nothing to "hack" or modify the Wiimote; all he did was use it in tandem with some demo software that he wrote, that apes an idea that was commercially introduced back in 2001.

And yes, I blame him, not the uninformed people who were, due to their ignorance of TrackIR, impressed by his non-invention; he never did ANYTHING to indicate that his demonstration was not a new concept, or based on existing ideas.

How the fuck you read that as me being jealous that I didn't think up perspective-correcting motion tracking a decade ago (as, make no mistake, the concept has been around even longer than that) is beyond me.

Johnny Chung Lee is a hack, and gets heaps of praise and credit for the most ridiculously no-brainer shit imaginable. He honestly thinks that attaching some weights to a piece of pipe to make a homemade Steadicam is an invention worthy of a top-level domain. Ugh.
 
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[quote name='CoffeeEdge']Uh, no, that is exactly NOT it. You completely ignored the concept of what I was expressing.

What pisses me off, is that someone who literally did something over five years AFTER it was already commercially available as a packaged product, got an absolutely enormous amount of recognition and acclaim, which endures to this day. He gets called the "Wiimote hacker," when he literally did nothing (in technological regards to the Wiimote itself) except use the Wiimote for what it's already used for (aka IR tracking). He did nothing to "hack" or modify the Wiimote; all he did was use it in tandem with some demo software that he wrote, that apes an idea that was commercially introduced back in 2001.

And yes, I blame him, not the uninformed people who were, due to their ignorance of TrackIR, impressed by his non-invention; he never did ANYTHING to indicate that his demonstration was not a new concept, or based on existing ideas.

How the fuck you read that as me being jealous that I didn't think up perspective-correcting motion tracking a decade ago (as, make no mistake, the concept has been around even longer than that) is beyond me.

Johnny Chung Lee is a hack, and gets heaps of praise and credit for the most ridiculously no-brainer shit imaginable. He honestly thinks that attaching some weights to a piece of pipe to make a homemade Steadicam is an invention worthy of a top-level domain. Ugh.[/QUOTE]

He got his name out there which is a good thing. Obviously, he can do his job or he wouldn't still be working for microsoft. He didn't do anything wrong, he got his foot in the door. No big deal.
 
[quote name='ilivas']He got his name out there which is a good thing. Obviously, he can do his job or he wouldn't still be working for microsoft. He didn't do anything wrong, he got his foot in the door. No big deal.[/QUOTE]


He "got his name out there," and built his popular reputation, by acting like he invented an idea that had been on the market for years before he made his video. He didn't even improve on the idea; he just demonstrated it. Whether or not his internet reputation actually got MS' attention, it's still unfair that he got so much popular credit, for an idea that he did nothing but demonstrate, years after it was introduced to the market.

If someone today made a video of themselves demonstrating and playing a game on a touchscreen video table and presented it as a new idea, people would point out that it's nothing we hadn't seen on Microsoft Surface. But somehow, people just weren't aware of TrackIR, and actually believed that Lee was a genius "Wiimote hacker" tech-wizard future game god.

So, if you think it's cool that people can build their names and reputations on demonstrating other people's inventions, without giving any indication that it wasn't actually something they came up with (and before anyone even tries it: no, TV salesmen don't count; their position as salesmen is clear), then, fine. But I think that's bullshit.
 
[quote name='CoffeeEdge']
So, if you think it's cool that people can build their names and reputations on demonstrating other people's inventions, without giving any indication that it wasn't actually something they came up with (and before anyone even tries it: no, TV salesmen don't count; their position as salesmen is clear), then, fine. But I think that's bullshit.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I'm sure they hate that sort of thing at Microsoft.
 
[quote name='CoffeeEdge']He "got his name out there," and built his popular reputation, by acting like he invented an idea that had been on the market for years before he made his video. He didn't even improve on the idea; he just demonstrated it. Whether or not his internet reputation actually got MS' attention, it's still unfair that he got so much popular credit, for an idea that he did nothing but demonstrate, years after it was introduced to the market.

If someone today made a video of themselves demonstrating and playing a game on a touchscreen video table and presented it as a new idea, people would point out that it's nothing we hadn't seen on Microsoft Surface. But somehow, people just weren't aware of TrackIR, and actually believed that Lee was a genius "Wiimote hacker" tech-wizard future game god.

So, if you think it's cool that people can build their names and reputations on demonstrating other people's inventions, without giving any indication that it wasn't actually something they came up with (and before anyone even tries it: no, TV salesmen don't count; their position as salesmen is clear), then, fine. But I think that's bullshit.[/QUOTE]

That's the way things happen sometimes in the corporate world. It's not always fair. He was lucky. It happens, I'm sure tons of people, would love to get a job from making a crappy little youtube video. Less deserving people get better jobs all the time. At least he's able to do his job which is better than many. Why would you hate on him for that. Are you mad that you didn't make the video first?

I own a company myself.... Do you know why? My father is the one who founded it. I'm less deserving than him since I didn't have to do anything at all. This is true for the owners of almost every company. That's the way the world works sometimes. I'm not going to hate on him because he landed a good job though, he didn't do anything wrong/illegal.
 
[quote name='ilivas']That's the way things happen sometimes in the corporate world. It's not always fair. He was lucky. It happens, I'm sure tons of people, would love to get a job from making a crappy little youtube video. Less deserving people get better jobs all the time. At least he's able to do his job which is better than many.[/quote]
In case you didn't notice, I was primarily annoyed about how so many millions of regular people seem to think that he's a genius "Wiimote hacker" and technology wizard who invented a clever and innovative new idea.

I'm not just talking about him working at MS now. That was just a little footnote, really. Honestly, I doubt that his youtube notoriety had much to do with him getting the job.

Are you mad that you didn't make the video first?
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Jesus fucking Christ, you really can't read, can you?
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5965995#post5965995

I'm not going to hate on him because he landed a good job though, he didn't do anything wrong/illegal.
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Again, I was disgusted with his undeserved popular reputation from day one; long before this Microsoft employment business.
 
To be honest, the general public is fairly ignorant of most of the advances in HCI, until it's been done in a consumer product they can use. A lot of people are amazed at how Natal allows for a gesture based interface, not recognizing that people have been using webcams to read in gestures since the 90's. Ten minutes of digging and I can find a paper from 1998 of a study whose system reads in 40-words of Sign Language with 92% accuracy using a desk-mounted webcam and unadourned hands.
 
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