How Project Natal will change RPGs and Adventure games forever.
By Joseph Tresca
Microsoft introduced project Natal at this years E3 and it has gamers excited about the possibilities for an unprecedented level of interaction. Natal is a piece of hardware that will attach to your Xbox 360 and sit just below your television, which can track your body movement on a 1:1 ratio using two cameras pointed diagonally toward the user. In the world of 3D animation this technique has been used as a cheap form of motion capture, so it is great to see this technology become cheap enough so that the average consumer can experience it in the world of games.
Natal also can record and understand voice commands although the accuracy of this feature has yet to really be determined. It is this voice recognition feature that really has my interest. Imagine if you will a game such as Monkey Island, Space Quest or Kings Quest where you use your voice to ask questions, glean information and solve puzzles. This feature could revitalize the adventure genre if it is all that Microsoft claims it is cracked up to be. In fact the voice features combined with the motion capture could allow for a totally unique adventure game where you physically put the elements together required to solve the puzzle.
What about the RPG genre? With Natal again you could ask non player characters about pertinent information or interact with them to receive quests by simply asking them. When it’s time to battle, can you imagine Natal recognizing certain gestures such as a healing spell or fire ball while also recognizing sword and shield thrusts and parrying?
Natal’s first games should arrive sometime around the holidays in 2010 but until that time, dare to dream about the possibilities.
