Microsoft: Core games 'sell themselves,' Project Natal will broaden audience

Microsoft's taken steps to appeal to the casual crowd, sure. The first was NXE, which brought us all things like Avatars and Netflix, with subsequent updates adding Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm. These are experiences meant to broaden the appeal of the Xbox 360 to casual gamers, a group that Microsoft spokesperson David Dennis told GI.biz is pretty tricky to hook.

Project Natal will play a big part in Microsoft's continuing goal to interest more casual players, Dennis said. He compared the interactive, controller-less experience to having the broad appeal of a title like Wii Fit -- something Dennis calls "an experience done right" that goes beyond the core yet still manages to "capture the imagination of the core." It's this dual-catering that Dennis thinks Natal excel at, as he predicts the hardware will enable experiences that the core will look forward to, as well as "casual game experiences that are easy to jump in and play."

In the interim, we offer Microsoft this ProTip for appealing to more casual players: Make more games with "Party" in the title. Who doesn't like a party?

Reader Comments (70)

Every single negative review/opinion I saw on the game mentioned how it wasn't a platformer anymore and that apparently ruined the series and oh god my childhood. Much like you're doing.

So yup you're an idiot. Sorry you're afraid of new things!

New things? There's nothing new in Nuts and Bolts. It's practically another GTA clone, with the gimmick of customizing your cars. For the last time, I don't care that it's called Banjo Kazooie, and I don't think it "ruined the series" I'm just not interested in vehicle games. How hard is that to wrap your head around?

@ Filthy Assistant

I think you missed Caramel's point. There was no reason for them to use the Banjo Universe other then saving the time of creating a new one and having a known name behind it to gain more attention. To me that's a cop out. Look at a game like Halo Wars or World of Warcraft on the other hand and you'll see they were able to use the universe well to make a new game in a different genre. I don't think that was the case with N&B, even if it was or wasn't a good game at it's core.

As for your comments on the criticism of it, you've really taken this whole thing out of hand. You say they mentioned the genre change like it was the only criticism or comment. I have doubts you even actually read any of these reviews when you say that. Ruined the series? Oh my god my childhood? Since when do a group of raving fanboys mirror the critical reception of a game, or the reception by level headed gamers like ourselves?

As for there being another Banjo platformer, I'd welcome the idea of it. If they wanna do small scale, make it a $20 XBLA game with an art style that allows for some decent graphics, make it shorter, but give it a lot of replay value. Call it Banjo 3, make it a platformer, and people will buy it. Hell, if it's good, I'd even buy it.

So, core games are prostitutes?

Yeah, and MW2 is the biggest one of them all.

It's "1337".

/facepalm

Don't forget Halo.

Natal and Wii won't be for competitive people. People "pwn" and "733T" because they, deep down, want to be the best. This type of gaming requires millisecond response time and the people who are smart enough to make Xbox, PS3 and Wii are smart enough to understand motion controls don't satisfy that requirement.

Don't fall off the deep end people - THINK.

At the end of the day, all voting can be done with money. Spend it wisely.

It's written "1337".

/facepalm

lewl he said teet.

@D dogg

Those who want to be the best understand that a gamepad does not satisfy this requirement. Keyboard and mouse forever.

im still lookin forward to natal or whatever theyre gonna call but its no surprise that so called 'core gamers' havent embraced the idea yet.

the whole point of the article was that mainstream, non-core gamers are the target audience for natal. not core gamers.

its much easier to be skeptical that optimistic about changes on the horizon and jumping on the bandwagon late doesnt cost extra either..

if natal is great, it wont adversely affect core games that dont use the tech. if its terrible, it wont affect core games that dont use the tech. heres to hoping it works.
flawlessly.

They're partly right. This is why you don't see Nintendo pitch their top-tier core titles as much, or as broadly in the mainstream space. We know about Mario, Smash Bros, and Metroid, we know about Halo, Gears, and Fable, Metal Gear, God of War, Ratchet and Clank, etc.

Selling to us isn't hard, as we're generally sold on ideas that we're familiar with, or with new ideas if they pack enough awesome in.

The problem has been reaching out. Their reasoning is sound, except that the expanded audience isn't really interested in hardware, they need something compelling in the software department, and that's what we need to see before we can judge whether Natal will succeed in its mission or not.

Haha, nice. I screwed up a screwed up word - oh the irony.

@Marshal - You're absolutely correct, I could never imagine playing counerstrike on anything other than keyboard & mouse.

Project "Actually having to move your lazy ass" sounds much better to me.

(not that i will be one of those people to move)

Stop screaming.

Is MS implying that the Wii has core appeal, because that would be incorrect.

Sales of a lot of games would disagree with you. Monster Hunter III being the latest.

I'm definitely getting natal, but that's only because my wife said so. She want this thing badly

Personally, I'm looking forward to:

Halo Party 5: The Natal Enhanced Edition (normal Halo is too hard for me)
Bii Fit HD
My Gears of War: Now use your avatar!
and especially Super Banjo Kazoe Brawl HD

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Microsoft: Core games 'sell themselves,' Project Natal will broaden audience

Reader Comments (70)

Posted: Dec 17th 2009 4:48AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 17th 2009 4:55AM CaramelZappa said

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