Microsoft Natal Update: New Games
What if you can now play your favourite games without a controller? Microsoft this week is planning to launch a set of video games that will not require people to steer their way around a complex controller! Well I guess after the enormous success of Nintendo’s Wii, Microsoft again plans to bag some fame.
Microsoft’s new technology, code-named Project Natal, claims to ditch the controller completely. As a substitute, the games will depend on a device the size of a stapler that settle on the top of a living room TV to recognize faces, obey voice commands and track body movements. So no more getting lost and puzzled in 14 different buttons in an endless labyrinthine sequences!
However, Microsoft have not made any declaration on which games will it launch the feature, but according to rumours the line-up would include:
- River Rush: What Shaun White would want in real-life river rafting, players instead can treat in the sensational delight on their living room rug. Routing an effective raft past waterfalls, rocks and other obstacles requires lots of jumping and leaning. The graphics are alike to what you’d find in snowboarding games, with giant visual cues telling players where they can go so they won’t get misplaced. The mini-game is designed to hearten anyone to jump in and play without having to read a manual.
- Ricochet: Get ready to break a sweat. Players use their arms, legs, feet and head to block a frantic salvo of soccer-sized balls. Microsoft showed an early version of this game during last year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. The latest iteration lets two people play concurrently. Using facial acknowledgment software, the camera checks that is playing and pulls up their personal avatars on the screen. The feature would, for example, let parents control which games their kids can play. If the console sees that the person playing is connected with a profile with parental controls, it will restrict the types of games that can be played.
- Living Statue: One small step for Xbox, one giant leap for Microsoft’s social media scheme. This game lets players record their avatars dancing and singing karaoke-style, then e-mail the video masterpiece to their friends. The company has long nurtured its ambitions for its Xbox Live online game service, which has 23 million active users, to become a virtual watering hole for people who play video games. Living Statue is the latest attempt to encourage its players to check into Xbox Live and make friends.
- Obstacle Course: This imaginatively named title is exactly what it proposes. Players pull, dodge and jump their way through a series of levels like what you would find at summer camp, lacking the mosquitoes.
In addition, there will be about a dozen more Natal-licensed titles from other game developers unveiled Monday and Tuesday, but Microsoft has prohibited the publishers from uttering a word about them until after its own news conference Monday morning. Stay tuned for updates.