EndWar dev excited about Natal's RTS possibilities

Speaking with VG247 at the Develop Conference in Brighton, UK, EndWar development boss Michael de Plater said that he thinks Microsoft's Project Natal could reinvigorate the console (and PC?) RTS market. Comparing Natal's potential "power" and "precision" to menu scrolling in the film Minority Report, Plater anticipates Natal's combination of voice and gesture control to potentially be "really powerful and immersive."

During E3 2009, Ubisoft showcased the upcoming RTS RUSE on Microsoft's touch-screen-enhanced Surface table. While Plater knows the $12,000 home furnishing isn't going to be a regular household accessory, Project Natal has the potential to work with software in a similar fashion. "If the technology works -- so you could translate the interface they've already got working really well on RUSE into Natal -- it could work very, very well."

Hopefully Microsoft will reveal when Natal is hitting stores and what the device's final price will be soon and Joystiq won't have to put so much money into developing its own set of drug-addicted "precogs."

Reader Comments (31)

Watch out Milo, Tom Cruise will convert you into Scientology!!!

Awww he only wants a hug. :(

Tom: "Hey Milo, how are you doing today?"

Milo: "Not so good Tom, feeling a bit sick"

Tom: "WELL YOU CAN'T HAVE MEDICATION MWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHH"

Milo just needs an L.Ron Huggard

but what if milo doesn't come out of the closet?

We'll just get R. Kelly to get him out by pulling out his gun.

No no, it was DMX with the gun. R Kelly just gets him out of the closet by pissing all over him.

South Park reference Mystile, if you didn't catch it. :(

Don't remember that episode, could've been one I've missed, though. Oh well either way R. Kelly is a douche.

"Trapped in the Closet"

Watch it!!! Funniest one yet!!

http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103804

It could work, as long as there is a dot on the screen so you know where your cursor is, and like selecting all of 1 type of unit, by holding a fist,and cycling through all the different types by swaying your other hand left or right, sure it would look silly, but it could be cool to do.

Halo Wars 2 with natal control would be amazing.... Even though there is no ensemble anymore I think the first Halo Wars sold enough the remnants will make a second and natal could be the big thing to sell people on a halo wars 2.

Yeah, it really could be sweet. Highlight a platoon, then path their course of attack. Flank with an air attack. Sounds like a lot of fun

I have to admit, an RTS with touch/motion controls would be fuckin sweet.

Try playing one on the PC then.

Rolando 3 + Natal + XBL = $$$$$$$$$$/Win

Now there's a possibility i hadn't thought of. It would really be ideal for some of those larger-scale RTSes. Something like Warcraft, et. al. Better to deliver standing orders and such, with both the voice recognition and the surface-esque screen sliding.

Now for smaller-scale RTSes, something that isn't focused on whole-field commanding, like Pikmin or Overlord, the pointer would be more ideal, where everything you're commanding is on-screen.

Sounds a bit like the ol' touch panel warcraft modification:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O1bTNbbWk4

Though I don't know how comfortable I would be trying to do the orders pointing in air instead of solid material.

Motion and RTS go together hand in hand, motion and analogue have issues.

RUSE was the first thing I thought of when I saw the first Natal demo. I thought "Yeah, that looks cool, but rather than have a bunch of motion-based mini-games, I'd rather have useful voice/gesture integration into a real game." And RTS/strategy games seem to be the most likely candidate for seamless (and CONSTRUCTIVE) integration of Natal. I mean, having the ability to throw grenades in an FPS by making a throwing gesture would be fun the first three times... then get old quickly. RTS games could benefit greatly... If Natal is accurate and responsive enough, you could even bridge the gap between console and PC RTS games by giving console users a mousepad analogue - their hands.

I would love to shoot a newb tube with it :)

Ladies and Gentleman welcome to SL33P4H ISIIKIz Idea
"The Natal Bomb"=Noob tewb

I can tell from your name that I do not like you.

And why would that be?
Mr Anthology!

You know for fact SL33P4H ISIIKIz is pretty sexy name rofl

I will remember your name when the next Call of Duty comes out with the Natal Feature ----------

Anthology yells "Natal bomb, heads up!" *looks left*
PWNED

I can only imagination seeing natal on pc and blizzard making some kind of warcraft game for it. Rage quits would have a whole new funnier look.

How would it work? A transparent representation of your hand on screen that you use to select units?

No, just point at it and make some kind of gesture like a pinch.

I've been saying this since E3 09, the RUSE reference included.

i'll believe it when i see it.

DS and Wii should have more RTS but nobody wants to make games for it.

RTS games will never really expand outside of the PC.

The reason the Wii doesn't have any is it's targeted at casuals and casuals wont get an RTS, DS has very few due to it's hardware limitations. PC fan boys can fantasize all they want but it wont make reality any less real.

Just what the world needs, another crappy RTS with frustratingly loose controllers.

EndWar dev excited about Natal's RTS possibilities

Reader Comments (31)

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