Wiimote genius Johnny Chung Lee on Project Natal team

What I get from this article is that the Natal demo that is being shown all over the place is not fit for homes yet, it's either still smoke and mirrors or has a long time of fixing and producing to go. It seems like an interesting idea but I don't yet see that many applications for gaming other than casual games and the illusion of being in the Minority Report movie.

That stuff is so great that it was invented years ago and put on the market. Guess this guy invented a time machine, too, and started a company called NaturalPoint.

That's not the guy from Heros?

That's great and all but since supposedly this things coming out a year from now, I'd like them to work towards getting this thing as close to 1:1 as possible. because i watched late night last night and i think it was Jimmy Fallon that had a tough time hitting the ball.

The issue is that who really wants to PRETEND they have a gun in their hands... and act like they're firing it... immersion fails when you pretend to have a sidearm or rifle and you're actually carrying some organic bee-shooter, or some prey-like weapon, or perhaps a giant plasma cannon that fires strangely and is over the shoulder or mounted... indeed immersion is a big thing in games when you add this.

You'd have to either design a movement for every possible weapon to be used in a particular game, and that is unlikely, and you'd also have to translate that movement to the gamer as well and make sure they don't forget them, so they can't be too complex, despite if the gun would be.

Then you of course have LEANING in games, or crouching and jumping and running, and walking, and going prone, and throwing grenades and changing grenade types and using secondary firing sequences and slashing the sword, or the hammer, or the pickaxe, or the flail, or using magic ability 32 of 79, and the list keeps going on and on and on... even the flashlight is a complex movement that can break or add immersion.

Indeed this has potential but it won't allow for the full-on immersion they want to get this with... core and hard-core games will most likely lack this while casual games can have it for fun and simple things, but the facial recognition, voice recognition and movement recognition is something so subtle and automatic that it will easily be forgotten it's even there...

This has potential yes, but we won't see it for many many many many years...

When I'm put into a 3d world and I don't actually see myself looking at the game, but I actually simply see me as the character without a 4th wall even noticeable... then you can have the full on-immersion as your character does everything in the game, and outside it, but you don't see what you're doing outside of it as you are seeing the INSIDE...

Holographic or 3D Representation and image replacement / modification to make others think they are the character completely... that's the final step to get this into core games...

Now imagine an RPG... oh that brings so many more problems...

Just a question and I really don't want to sound like an ass but where does everyone find all the data about Natal?, I keep reading that it uses this and that it will incorporate technologies that right now cost a pretty penny but right now all I know about it is the "target video" shown at the conference and the demos shown. Can anyone redirect me to the tech of Natal so I can understand it better?

I'm just not a fan of Natal. I can't see it adding anything to any of the games I already play. I want to go the opposite direction of more casual.

I wonder what the details are behind his hiring. Was there a bidding war from the big 3 over him?

That's Hiro's older brother!

Why are you so impressed with him joystiq? Because, you've heard of him? There are surely hundreds of people in the games industry with similar or greater creativity and intelligence. They just haven't uploaded a video of themselves toying with a popular game controller on youtube. Get some perspective. This news says nothing about the potential success of Natal.

Gamer nerds are so hilarious. If you want someone to bitch and moan about something just post it on Joystiq.

Also, I love how so many people already "KNOWS with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY" the price of Natal and that it won't work.

It's totally shameful that he isn't working for Nintendo.

Having 3d boom blox would have been cool with all the 3d movies it could have been big. Way bigger than stupid vitality measure thing.

I'm a nintendo fanboy and i'm very upset to see such a smart guy working for microsoft not nintendo.

With all the demos they're doing for tv (GMA, Jimmy Fallon), does anyone think they might be trying for a release date sooner than we anticipate? They may just be trying to capitalize on the current buzz they have going off of E3, but it sure seems like a lot of promotion if the product doesn't ship for a year or more.
BTW, just saw that "Natal" is Portuguese for "Christmas." Are they trying to tell us something? Christmas '09 perhaps?

i'm not a fanboy of any system, but i am a fanboy of johnny lee. I'm just happy to see someone with his talent and enthusiasm working in the industry. And yes there are tons of other smart, talented people working at all 3 companies, i just haven't seen any of them release any videos that made me wet my pants with joy. when they do, i'll be right there cheering them on as well

I think some people might be forgetting how games will likely be designed around Natal. Since it is an optional add-on peripheral, and an expensive one at that, not everyone will have one. Developers will almost never limit their market base by saying "not compatible with traditional controllers". Think of Natal as a secondary input method, you're sitting on the couch, playing GTA5 or something. Take a hand off the controller momentarily to make a gesture in the air to expand the minimap full screen, and then push and drag the map around like the iPhone touch commands. That would be pretty nice, cause navigating maps and and the like can be somewhat clunky at times. Or imagine the uses as controls in the RTS and even RPG genres? This could be what finally makes RTS games REALLY, truly jive on consoles.

I can't imagine Natal is going to "replace" the traditional controller. After all, no one is going to buy an Xbox360 with JUST Natal, no controllers. But it could be a potentially very powerful interface to supplement traditional controls. Like, when the mouse first came out, it was used in CONJUNCTION with the keyboard, not as a replacement.

The way the games media gushes over this guy in particular is disgusting. There are thousands of equally or more talented technical people in the games industry. Nothing against this guy because he's probably plenty smart, but most of the things he designed weren't that far outside of the box nor were they technically complicated. He wasn't the first to think up the concepts he presented.

TLDR : This guy is the most overrated individual in the entire games industry today.

i cant wait to see videos of drunk people doing this ... omg the parties were going to have are you going to be hilarious ... drunk project natal...

I can see why everyone like natal, but I see it as more of a hinderence during game play having always having to do all the motions.

I can't help but think Natal holds more promise for PC and home entertainment centers then playing video games. Milo would be an amazing personal version of Data from Star Trek, but otherwise it just seems like a more refined version of Sony's EyeToy. That said I honestly believe the vast majority of that demo was scripted, or at least questions limited to those that would receive appropriate responses.

Being able to control game menu's, my music library, control my DVD / Blu-Ray player, would all work beautifully with Natal. But, there are a *lot* of types of games it simply won't work with. In that respect the Wii-mote is actually more versatile (same goes for Sony's product).

The best setup would be a combination of two Motion Plus controllers, a Balance Board, and a camera. So far the Wii has two of those already on the market. With over 2 years of motion game play under their belt it would be interesting to see what would happen if Nintendo shipped the next Wii with HD and a built-in camera.

I'm very interested to see where both MS and Sony take their products. But until I use them in an actual game or live setting I have a hard time believing they can do everything they say they can. Every company hypes their products beyond their abilities, and MS is just about the most notorious offender in that regard.

Ok so now you've googled that for the sake of this discussion, have you done the same for the other researchers you refer to? Again, it's about perspective. I'm not belittling his work but there will lots of PhD's and large game companies will have several working for them. This is only news here because he is a youtube phenomenon. And I don't even mind that, only the senseless gushing and the belief that it makes all the difference.

I figured Natal would tank. Seeing as how Microsoft is so great at working bugs out of stuff before releasing them. Then I read this guy was on the team. I have hope it will become a good system now.

I'm so happy MS snapped this guy up!

I now have faith that Microsoft may get this to work .