Bill Gates reckons Natal should head to PC too
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jul 15th 2009 at 10:00AM } 
Beyond the home media applications, Gates also mentions using it in the office. He doesn't say Office use, but lower case "office." Looks like the era of Minorty Report is upon us. Now all we need are three people who look like shaved cats to lie in tubs of goo all day and we'll be set for the future.
[Via Big Download]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
vidGuy @ Jul 15th 2009 10:06AM
Bill Gates, May 26, 2006: "There's room for innovation here, but moving that controller around -- it's something that's not mainstream for most games," he told the music network. "It's tough because sometimes you move the controller, and you don't [mean] to fly into the ground. You just want to put the controller down," he said. "People aren't that good at totally standing still. Even pilots actually sit in a chair when they do their flying."
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3151063
Neuromancer @ Jul 15th 2009 10:27AM
Nice find although this is a little different.
Cody @ Jul 15th 2009 10:28AM
LOL nice vidGuy!
This will be a success for PC.
This will also be an epic FAIL for 360.
JoeTheBlow @ Jul 15th 2009 10:29AM
Bill Gates, 7 October 1997: “What I am saying is that I’m optimistic enough to believe that within the next decade, we will see progress to a level that for things like dealing with data in a spreadsheet or text in a word processor, or navigating the Internet, you will find the speech interface has enough accuracy that it becomes a primary way of interacting with the machine.”
He's constantly said the same, and more, about voice recognition, that we'd ALL be speaking to our computers by now and keyboards would be a relic from the past.
Um, no, humans are LAZY and moving our fingers about a bit is much less effort.
JXCgunrunna @ Jul 15th 2009 10:34AM
Yea and then Nintendo came along and changed what is considered "Mainstream". Not only that but this could give him a boost to have something over Apple since so many of these people who would use it already have the quadcores and i7s and soon to be i5s. A quadcore should handle the tech to run this with no problem
JXCgunrunna @ Jul 15th 2009 10:37AM
Hey Joystiq, I did not respond to the person you put it under. Just thought I would let you know theres an ongoing problem. still.
PR0F3TA @ Jul 15th 2009 11:44AM
its like a joystiq portal
PR0F3TA @ Jul 15th 2009 11:46AM
its like im going back.... to the future
Pureshooter @ Jul 15th 2009 11:59AM
July 15, 2009
Cop: Mr. Gates, come with us. We're here to arrest you for the future crime of forcing motion controllers on the hardcore gamers. We have you surrounded. There is nowhere to run.
Bill:....Everybody runs. (busts through window)
Nuno Sousa @ Jul 15th 2009 1:17PM
Finally someone makes some sense!
I honestly believe Natal will bring a lot of casual (read: Wii owners) gamers to the Xbox-360. And I guess that's what Microsoft wants.
I really don't see how any core game will use Natal as anything more than a gimmick, you know, the games that actually make people prefer the Xbox instead of the Wii.
For gods sake. They're saying that Halo: Reach might use Natal!
I hope I'm wrong, but all I can see is Natal taking Microsoft away from it's core business - the games, and investing in the casual market, flooding the Xbox scene with hundreds of gimmicky/crappy games.
Jono @ Jul 15th 2009 2:33PM
Xbox 360 doesn't even the Natal as exclusive hardware.
Don't tell me that it is exclusive because it runs on Windows, because 90% of the world runs Windows. How's that exclusive at all?
WINterfang @ Jul 15th 2009 10:06AM
Why?
Kevin @ Jul 15th 2009 10:10AM
Why not?
Jakka (DSG Defence Force!) @ Jul 15th 2009 10:11AM
For teh lulz. Modder/Homebrew community is gonna have a field day with this one.
WINterfang @ Jul 15th 2009 10:16AM
But I don't like to move when I'm in my PC.
David @ Jul 15th 2009 10:31AM
You dont like to move while you're inside your PC? I can understand that...
WINterfang @ Jul 15th 2009 10:49AM
ok the replied system screw up more than usual, replays aren't even on the same order, look at the times.
Jakka (DSG Defence Force!) @ Jul 15th 2009 10:52AM
Somebody hit 88th comment, evidently.
Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 15th 2009 10:07AM
Minority Report?
Sign me up!
Just don't try to tell me I'm about to murder someone.
Jakka (DSG Defence Force!) @ Jul 15th 2009 10:10AM
I'm a (twelve year old) pirate, what is this and where can I find a torrent?
Jerk Face @ Jul 15th 2009 10:19AM
Are you seriously twelve? I guess I never even considered the fact that some of the people I have e-conversations with on a daily basis could be unable to get into PG-13 movies on their own. Not that it matters, I suppose, it just never crossed my mind.
And if you're actually asking, Minority Report is a pretty okay sci-fi movie from the early oughts that has some pretty crazy ideas of what the future could be.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Jul 15th 2009 10:26AM
Jerkface you CANT be TO surprised that their are 12 year olds on this site.....look at most of the commentary....
Hell I was MORE shocked months back when Sony had that Fat Princess contest on facebook.....it was a LOT of old heads that posted pics on there....some of which HAD to be in their 40's or more....I mean it was Silver haired people on there....nothing wrong with that...but just shocking....hell I know I will be 50 playing games still....lol
[tre] @ Jul 15th 2009 10:27AM
I'm 12 and get into PG13 movies scot-free.
The PG13 rating isn't restricted.
Neuromancer @ Jul 15th 2009 10:28AM
I believe Jakka was being facetious
Cody @ Jul 15th 2009 10:31AM
hahaha amen Chris D.
Jakka (DSG Defence Force!) @ Jul 15th 2009 10:36AM
Jerkface, of course I'm a twelve year old pirate - everybody who owns a PC is.
In all seriousness, I was just playing up on the stereotype :P
GordoJones @ Jul 15th 2009 10:37AM
"I'm 12 and get into PG13 movies scot-free.
The PG13 rating isn't restricted."
pwned.
uncle jesse @ Jul 15th 2009 10:46AM
Haha, Gordo, that made me smile.
Take that, ratings!
LaughingTarget @ Jul 15th 2009 10:47AM
Not that movie ratings mean anything in the US. They're recommendations and theaters can admit the under age crowd to any restricted film. There are no laws on the subject. Of course, the public boycott and refusal of the MPAA to sell reels to that theater would bury them, but getting in isn't a major feat.
Bowser Rogozhin: Death of a Ladies Man @ Jul 15th 2009 11:11AM
Someone's not up on there memes, huh? And on the internet of all places? For shame.
Banstyle @ Jul 15th 2009 10:11AM
shaved cats? what? lol
Foetoid @ Jul 15th 2009 8:18PM
He's talking about the 3 half-naked psychic chicks in the movie 'Minority Report'.
Neuromancer @ Jul 15th 2009 10:29AM
http://routingbyrumor.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/agatha-precog-550x250.jpg
uncle jesse @ Jul 15th 2009 10:37AM
It would just be easier if you saw the movie.
It's a good flick that's definitely worth watching.
Banstyle @ Jul 17th 2009 1:16PM
I did see the movie.. I just don't get the shaved cats analogy.
Kevin @ Jul 15th 2009 10:12AM
This only further cements me in my position that I don't actually need a 360. They always end up releasing everything on Windows as well. Well, most things, at least.
Jinsenken @ Jul 15th 2009 10:16AM
If you play with Tom Cruise, Natal will be Fatal.
...Couldn't help it.
uncle jesse @ Jul 15th 2009 10:44AM
I feel the need, the need for speed...
which will be available in 2010 for use with Natal.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Jul 15th 2009 10:22AM
Well Duh....thing is how long will it take for it to become cheaper than CNN's "Magic Wall" Until that day comes its damn near useless to us....
Mr Khan @ Jul 15th 2009 11:14AM
Initial cost estimates have ranged from USA Today's calling for $200 (based i think on a loose estimate of the costs of parts involved), to Pachter's estimate of $50 (though he said this would be at a significant loss for MS, but necessary to make Natal competitive)
ToTheMoon @ Jul 15th 2009 10:29AM
Proper voice commands would be a heck of a better way to control the PC. Minority Report controls may look cool but try doing that kind of stuff for more than 15 minutes and let me know how your arms feel. Now trying doing that for 5 hours. Gimmicky at best I say. They have programs out there now that allow you to move your mouse based on your eye movements and though processes (when you have electrodes attached to your head). Move on this instead of this arm flailing thing for the PC...
I'm guessing Bill has come out of retirement to push on the PC world as they need a win after the HD-DVD/RROD debacle. By making it successful on the PC, they will ensure it's success on the XBox which is a sound strategy. Hopefully the voice commands get more fleshed out for the PC.
Finally, I don't think I want a camera watching me all time time while I'm working in the office. You have to know that there will be a backdoor for the PC version.. Not a fan of this.. okay for a console though as you are only playing games/watching movies.
[tre] @ Jul 15th 2009 10:29AM
Sooooo...
Windows and Xbox get love, but of course, no Mac support for something like this, huh?
Microsoft must hate me since I switched to my Mac last year, for now I miss out on things like Left 4 Dead (2) and now this.
Einhanderkiller @ Jul 15th 2009 10:37AM
Why'd you switch to a Mac? :/
FantomRedux @ Jul 15th 2009 10:43AM
Yes, because Microsoft are going to release a major piece of hardware/software they've developed onto their biggest competitors platform. Smart thinking.
vidGuy @ Jul 15th 2009 10:54AM
"Why'd you switch to a Mac?"
He must have wanted to be one of the 'cool' kids.
The Dark Wayne @ Jul 15th 2009 11:00AM
Releasing Natal would for Mac would be like releasing Halo Reach for PS3. As the great Christian Bale once said "Just think for one fucking second!"
[tre] @ Jul 15th 2009 11:01AM
I happen to be an occasional videoblogger, I make movies and write books. (Yes, 12-year-olds CAN do those things.)
And plus, Windows wasn't cutting it for me and my fam's dinosaur of a Dell refuses to work for me.
Nerdy Desi @ Jul 15th 2009 11:52AM
Why are you complaining? Ever heard of Boot Camp, where you can easily run Windows and other operating systems on Macs with Intel processors?
Str84rumBk (PSN) @ Jul 15th 2009 12:03PM
[tre]
+1 fo switching over to the more supperior machine.
espesially if since you "make movies" and "write books"
also macs are great for music making.
everyone i know has lefted pc and switched to mac since the mac is more user friendly (this is my oppinion), you have control over your computer unlike pc where half the time you have hackers running your pc.
no im not an apple fanboy im still running on windows 7beta (which sucks) and cant wait to convert over to a mac!!
jackal @ Jul 15th 2009 1:04PM
Str84rumbk,
"you have control over your computer unlike pc where half the time you have hackers running your pc". I'll stop you right there. The only time such a situation would arise is if you were so incompetent as to A) not have a firewall, B) not have a decent anti-virus solution, C) visited sites known for compromising the integrity of unprotected systems (say, porn sites that tried automatically running scripts to let someone else into your system), and D) downloaded email attachments from addresses you've never seen before. As a substitute in sex ed once so eloquently said, "If you knowingly sleep around without wearing a rubber, it'd be your own damn fault for getting the clap."
I know Windows is a popular punching bag for its various issues (some quite legitimate) and while Microsoft does try to address them (albeit much later than it should), what the company can't do is protect their operating system from the dumbass sitting behind the keyboard who, by all rights, shouldn't be allowed to touch anything more sophisticated than a light switch. I wonder if Apple's new marketing campaign could be, "Apple computers: protecting idiots from themselves since _____ (either when the company was first founded or when Jobs came back to the helm)".