Microsoft: Natal Does Work in Small Living Rooms
No need to move the coffee table, couch, television and potted plants back against the walls.
Microsoft has responded to earlier reports that suggested the Xbox 360's motion sensing peripheral would require 13 feet, or four meters of living room real estate.
Earlier this week, the folks at TechFlash attended a media briefing at Microsoft's Redmond campus and got the chance to ask the Natal team all about the device's sensors for measuring the depth of the room, capturing the gamer's movement and ensuring adequate light. While TF did not include a direct quote, they reported users would "want to clear an area extending at least 4 meters (a little more than 13 feet) away from the television."
Microsoft has responded to this and according to Kotaku, while it was perceived that you would need at least 13 feet of space to play, this is incorrect.
"The comments recently about the play space for 'Project Natal' were misinterpreted," Microsoft told Kotaku. "It is true that the 'Project Natal' sensor reads the configuration of your room and adjusts play space, as appropriate. We know that living rooms come in all shapes and sizes, and have conducted numerous play tests to ensure everyone will be able to jump off the couch and into the fun when 'Project Natal' launches globally this holiday."
So the Irish, British, Japanese, college kids in dorm rooms and folks living in apartments will be able to play. What a relief!
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Still gonna play it out in the rain.
If you are too close to the camera, then just like the picture showed, the camera can only capture a small part of your body (like the hands).
So if a game (such as a fighting game) that tries to capture your whole body movement, then you do need a rather big space. Taller people needs to stand further than smaller people too.
This article was unneeded. Everybody figured out that this damn contraption needed a bunch of space yesterday.
I think what they're trying to say is... "You don't actually need 4 meters of space to play, but anything else that moves within 4 meters in front of the device is going to be perceived as a player." At least, that's what I hope they're saying.
Cool, now I don't need to move my yacht out of the garage.
I think they are saying that any nonplayer in the 13' range needs to keep a close watch on the player's flailing hands.
That's what she said.
As cool and technologically advanced as Natal and PS3 Move are, I can't help but think that these are just going to be gimmicky sideline items that don't really move product out the door.
At the end of the day I usually just want to sit down on the couch and pick up a controller to start playing. Exaggerated motions for the sake of "high tech" game control seems very inefficient when the old tried and true controller method is more precise and easier to work with.
So the Irish, British, Japanese, college kids in dorm rooms and folks living in apartments will be able to play. What a relief!
What evidence is there that we British (and Irish, for that matter) have smaller living spaces than Americans? *confused*
What evidence is there that we British (and Irish, for that matter) have smaller living spaces than Americans? *confused*
Read the for rent or for sale adds in US cities of all sizes and UK cities, do the metric and British Pound conversions and you'll how little your money gets you real estate wise in the UK or Japan or wherever else.
ZZZZZzzzzz, still runs on a Crapbox 360
Read the for rent or for sale adds in US cities of all sizes and UK cities, do the metric and British Pound conversions and you'll how little your money gets you real estate wise in the UK or Japan or wherever else.
Perhaps, but everyone in my family (myself included) plus all my friends live somewhere easily big enough to take advantage of Natal. We don't all live in shoeboxes.
I seriously cant wait for this thing. Cause if they even show any demos etc in this coming E3 on Natal ill be even more hyped and i know ill have to have this piece of hardware. I mean even if it wouldnt last in time till the next Natal is out there like already mentioned from MS themselves, i'll have to experience some new kind of stuff with this thing just for the f*** of it even
Ofc that's just me. Eitherway from the sounds of it so far it will be cheaper for a whole 4 users than Move-pack(basic part of the Move+cam etc) for half user on my PS3. So Natal will be my first purchase for sure. If i couldn't wait for somethign as simple as Move i wouldnt wait for that on my PS3 and id have already a Wii which costs almost as much as Move here in Greece lol
Perhaps, but everyone in my family (myself included) plus all my friends live somewhere easily big enough to take advantage of Natal. We don't all live in shoeboxes.
The flip side to this is that I'm a US citizen, don't live in a city, and yet have myself, my son, and my wife crammed into a duplex. Of course, it could be because ALL properties near where I work are rip-offs.
I've never lived anywhere particularly affluent or expensive, so space is much cheaper as a result.
Anyway... I don't even own a 360, PS3 or Wii, so I'm unlikely to encounter any issues with using motion controllers.
"...jump off the couch and into the fun..."
What evidence is there that we British (and Irish, for that matter) have smaller living spaces than Americans? *confused*
Read the previous article on this topic and that comment will make more sense.
What evidence is there that we British (and Irish, for that matter) have smaller living spaces than Americans? *confused*
It was something we were discussing in yesterday's article. Typically, houses in North America are a lot roomier. From my own experience (have lived in Ireland, the UK, and Canada and spent time in the US also), living rooms in the US are just plain bigger.
To be honest, it's all relative. You could have a big room, yet have a hefty sofa right in the way.
I occasionally play games at a friend's house; they use an HD projector, and the room's layout should make using Natal effortless assuming they wanted to. Plenty of room for four player Wii madness.
It was something we were discussing in yesterday's article. Typically, houses in North America are a lot roomier. From my own experience (have lived in Ireland, the UK, and Canada and spent time in the US also), living rooms in the US are just plain bigger.
Must sound like I'm arguing the toss on the subject; my bad.
Luckily for MS, they've not designed it just for the larger person, erm, I mean living space.
This is exactly what I (and a couple of others) stated in response the first news article on this. People were confusing the maximum range of detection with the minimum. The source quote was fairly clear to me, it's just that some journalist misinterpreted it. An objective reader could have deduced this just by reading the quote. If people cannot see through such an obvious misinterpretation like this, then what hope is there for us?
(I'll admit right now that I didn't read the original article, only the follow-up)
Meh, I don't plan on buying this. I don't feel like running around in my living room like a crazy person. I want to sit in my chair in my room, pick up my controller, and scream like a crazy person. Screw this running stuff, lol. I mean, there's a reason they haven't shown FPS examples of this, because it's very likely not going to be able to used on almost any decent FPS. (Teabagging would just get too real man, 'nough said.)
The source quote was fairly clear to me, it's just that some journalist misinterpreted it.
But that's what makes news interesting! Well, sometimes...
An objective reader could have deduced this just by reading the quote. If people cannot see through such an obvious misinterpretation like this, then what hope is there for us?
Who said the intarweb was a land of hope?
It only really bugs me when there's no correction posted. Thankfully Tom's Guide usually posts retractions. Jane certainly seems to have that part down solid, plus she's NOT an egotrip censormonger. Also she doesn't seem to have a strong bias in her writing. Basically she's OK in my book, and this article was both necessary and reassuring.
Oh, and obviously she reads and cares about what we post.
I'm too old to be jumping off the couch. Can I play sitting down?