Old Discussion Thread for all 3 motion controllers

[dragonelite]

Not really motion sensing games, but I believe educational titles will be one of the key areas to attract casuals:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/majority-of-schools-think-games-consoles-aid-education

On a other forum some post from fall out 3 dev was posted.
And a user suggested that a natal app for google earth would be cool.
Like a real life globe.

 

[Alucardx23]

This could also be a confirmation of Natal support for PC.

Fable 3 Confirmed for PC
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3179428

Molyneux announces Natal support for Fable 3
“Fable 3 will have Natal support. Is that an announcement? #molyneux”
http://www.vg247.com/2009/10/21/molyneux-announces-natal-support-for-fable-3/

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Some Move info in Rob Dyer's interview:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4709/the_sony_situation_sceas_rob_.php

On motion-sensing shovelware...

Are you worried that with Move, games are just going to be ports across all of the 3D motion platforms? The Wii is full of shovelware. We all recognize that.

RD: Yes...but at the same time, we don't have to approve it if we don't want to go down that path.

Like PS1 and 2 were kept clear of shovelware? Maybe off PSN to stop it getting swamped, but I'm sure Sony will let publishers release whatever titles on PS3 as long as they get royalties. Hell, their bank balance needs shovelware!

 

[patsu]

They got the Japanese devs to add more content for PS3 when the developers ported from Xbox 360 (e.g., Ninja Gaiden, Eternal Sonata). I think only developers who couldn't get their specs up (e.g., Bioshock) were spared.

If it's porting from Wii, it is likely that they can enforce the former approach. Sony is interested to get people to upgrade from Wii. At the same time, I suspect Nintendo has some tricks up their sleeves to differentiate more from PS3 + Move.

 

[Crossbar]

Some Move info in Rob Dyer's interview:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4709/the_sony_situation_sceas_rob_.php

Thanks! that was a really interesting interview about a lot of stuff.

Concerning Move I also found this interesting.

You unveiled PlayStation Move during GDC. Clearly, as with anything, that's been in R&D for a long time. When did you start talking to people about it?

RD: We started talking about it Q4 of last year. Calendar Q4. Early calendar Q4. So, October timeframe.

We've seen the Natal. We saw that tech. We passed on it. We knew what we wanted our tech to be once we settled on that. Coming out of summer, going into fall, we said, and once it was finalized, we were able to look at this and say, "Okay. Let's get it out to third parties."

This goes to the essence of my job right now. I am in a battle for resources. My entire job is convincing a third party publisher, EA and Activision, whoever, where you put your resources. Are you putting your resources against a Natal title, a Move title? Are you putting it against PSP? Are you putting it against 3DS? Where are you putting your resources? That's what I spend my time on.

What we used to be able to do at PS2 and say, "Hey, we got this great idea. Support us." Which they did. You can't do that anymore. You have to be able to go in there with a very fleshed out business model, a very fleshed out campaign.

So, when we first started that [process with Move], we didn't have that at that time. Went through, saw what the questions were right after the new year, went out again, revisited the top 15 publishers and some key independent developers, showed them what retail reaction had been.

That presentation you saw at GDC we showed the previous month all the third parties. They saw that. They saw what was happening. They had a chance to witness the games being played. They saw a lot of the same stuff that you guys saw. So it was no more of that, "Okay. It's pie in the sky." It's real.

So, going into GDC, I had a very good sense of who was supporting us, what was going to be there initially. And since then, I've now got a solid 12 month window of who's doing what.

One of the things that's come back is that third parties haven't been talking to retail because they're just now getting to a point where they can show stuff. So, you're going to see stuff at the floor at E3 that hasn't been talked about, that hasn't been announced, that we haven't talked about, that we haven't announced because the third parties haven't.

So, they're going to be there doing this stuff, and they'll be showing it to retailers for the first time because they've just now, they're going to be at that six-month point, and they're going to have something that's going to make a very big impact.

So, I'm walking into Move feeling pretty damn good about it, given how quickly people are [adjusting]. Now, if that tech was harder or if it took longer, I think people might walk away from E3 a little disappointed not being able to see stuff. I'm not going to get that sense.

E3 will be interesting this year for many reasons.

When it comes to Move, it's said to be easy to implement. I've heard this from multiple Sony executives. But getting people to build up ground-up titles isn't so much about tech. It's about inspiration. What is your goal when you talk to third parties? Is it to get them to implement Move into as many of their games as possible? Or is it about getting them to do ground up stuff?

RD: So, I spent some time reading the interview you did with Shu [Yoshida], and I have a very similar mindset that Shu has. There are certain games and certain genres that are great for motion gaming. I think the biggest problem that third parties have had with the Wii is that everybody had to implement everything with the Wii-mote, and a lot of games were never meant to have that kind of physical [interface]. It was supposed to be a D-pad only type of experience.


There are going to be some categories that are going to be absolutely spectacular with the Move. There are going to be some categories that are going to be very good with Natal.

Now, the big difference with the Move and the Natal, if you're going to do it with Natal, you're going to do it exclusive with Microsoft. That's not going to be the case for the Move. You have a code base that works across all three platforms.

How do you build that up and how you implement it into your game? Do I think you're going to see [inappropriate Move implementations]? Absolutely.

Our challenge here is to make sure you're doing it with the right games and the right genres, and that's where we're spending a lot of our time, going back to people and going, "Good idea. Bad idea. Good idea. Yeah, not so good idea."

Those are the types of things that we're trying to at least steer people away so they don't spend millions of dollars, come back to me and go, "Eh... It didn't sell." "Well, okay. You never should have made it. It was never going to work anyway. It didn't work on the Wii for a reason. That category didn't. Why did you think it was going to work on this one as well?"

What we're also trying to do, and again I agree with Shu, is take a hardcore experience like a SOCOM, that if people want to have an online shooter experience, they can go and do that. You and I can just blow our brains out, get our trophies, and have a great time.

But if my 7-year-old son wants to play it -- not suggesting he's going to be playing SOCOM, an M-rated game -- but if he wants to play a style of game like that, he can play at home and at least have a good experience, a much more casual experience, and not worry about having that hardcore experience. I still think that has some value and some relevance to it.

 

[patsu]

Eh... how 'bout a RPG math textbook ?
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/05/23/namco_bandai_textbooks/

Reported today at Asahi, Namco Bandai is working with textbook publisher Gakko Tosho to produce a new type of textbook for elementary schools. Namco Bandai will be contributing a number of unique elements to these textbooks, most notably an RPG-like storyline for the math textbooks.

Each volume of a math textbook will have a problem corner titled "Math Adventure." Students follow an RPG-like storyline as they solve problems. Get the correct answer, and you earn keys. Collect all the keys, and you earn a treasure of some form. This "game" has clearly defined characters -- for example, Yuto, who was born on July 25, is full of energy but is bad at math.

...

(Pictures in the link above)



EDIT:

Thanks! that was a really interesting interview about a lot of stuff.

Concerning Move I also found this interesting.



E3 will be interesting this year for many reasons.

I think post E3 may be more interesting. I reckon Microsoft will spam the world hard on Natal. Basically, everywhere you go, "every" TV channels, highway billboards, web pages and magazine pages you turn to, you will see Natal ads and use cases. They may try to wash everything away like a flash flood.

The tech is interesting, so it should be relatively easy for their PR people to line up free interviews, articles and other exposures on traditional media which are hungry for new stuff.

Meanwhile, Sony may have problem explaining or even just showing 3D games to people on regular TVs. Consumers will still associate Move with Wii due to the similarity -- unless they can show completely unique games/applications that are relevant to the masses.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Eh... how 'bout a RPG math textbook ?
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/05/23/namco_bandai_textbooks/

I'm working on an RPG (now becoming more RTS!) adventure boardgame for teaching maths. DnD dice-rolling is a great structure for exercising quick mental maths, while the adventure game provides a fun structure for questions that's scalable and progressive with subject, with all the appeal of loot an levelling.

Now, the big difference with the Move and the Natal, if you're going to do it with Natal, you're going to do it exclusive with Microsoft. That's not going to be the case for the Move. You have a code base that works across all three platforms.

How do you build that up and how you implement it into your game? Do I think you're going to see (inappropriate Move implementations)? Absolutely.

Hmmm. Code base that works across all three platforms? How do they do point-and-shoot with Natal? Plus, kinda shooting himself in the foot, he's suggesting Natal will have unique experiences and cross-platform ones whereas Move will be a basis for cross-platform titles, so surely with XB360 one gets the best of both worlds?!

 

[patsu]

I'm working on an RPG (now becoming more RTS!) adventure boardgame for teaching maths. DnD dice-rolling is a great structure for exercising quick mental maths, while the adventure game provides a fun structure for questions that's scalable and progressive with subject, with all the appeal of loot an levelling.

Are you hoping to turn this into a business, or is it for fun only ? Board game is tough. Low margin and hard to set up channel. May need to participate in events and win awards.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It just for my own private tuition I give.

 

[obonicus]

Code base that works across all three platforms? How do they do point-and-shoot with Natal?

I think he's referring to using the Move like the right side of a DS3, as we've seen for SOCOM.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Wouldn't that be a design-base, not a code base. By code base I presume he's talking about PhyreEngine, the cross-platform engine Sony offers with its SDK, but that makes little sense too if they don't support Wii.

 

[Squilliam]

It just for my own private tuition I give.

Wait, is this a software game, game or a boardgame, game?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Paper boardgame, but that's getting OT, other than that I'm drawing from game experiences in my design, and it's a '3D Augmented Reality' game using little game pieces.

 

[patsu]

http://www.edge-online.com/news/natal-to-cost-149-–-source

That’s according to a trusted source, who told us that the motion sensing camera will also be bundled with the Xbox 360 Arcade console for $299.

We were informed that prices outside of the US would be determined based on a number of factors, including exchange rates. Based on current rates, the standalone unit would retail for £103 / €121, and the console and Natal bundle for £207 / €243.

 

[Alucardx23]

It has to be something truly revolutionary to be worth that price.

Natal To Cost $149 – Source

That’s according to a trusted source, who told us that the motion sensing camera will also be bundled with the Xbox 360 Arcade console for $299.
We were informed that prices outside of the US would be determined based on a number of factors, including exchange rates. Based on current rates, the standalone unit would retail for £103 / €121, and the console and Natal bundle for £207 / €243.

The figure for the standalone unit is significantly higher than a previous sub-£50 estimate, but less than pricing recently suggested by European retailers. It’s also more expensive than Sony’s Natal rival Move, which will be available later this year with a game for less than $100.
Our source said that the device has been pencilled in for an October 26 worldwide launch, although we were advised that the date could yet shift by a few weeks either way.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/natal-to-cost-149-–-source

 

[thop]

Interesting move by MS to drop out of the motion control race early.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Gosh, $150 after the downgrades too. The prototypes must have looked awfully expensive back then.

 

[obonicus]

Did we ever get a confirmation on what Natal's specs will actually be?

 

[Alkohallick]

Interesting move by MS to drop out of the motion control race early.

While i agree that its priced to high, im not so sure it will matter. All of MS accessories are over priced and they still seem to sell. People will buy this thing up due to the massive amount of advertising MS is going to be doing.

 

[Gradthrawn]

Interesting move by MS to drop out of the motion control race early.

Gosh, $150 after the downgrades too. The prototypes must have looked awfully expensive back then.

Much like Live, and the XBox itself was last generation, and as I suspect Home is, I think Natal and Move are initiatives designed to get their (MS and SCEs) feet in the door and establish a platform. Something to build on for the next generation. Joker's thought on the matter would seem to further support this, in that (Move at least) is a bit of "half hearted/reactionary" (for lack of a better term) effort. Which would make sense if the objective is to simply get established (why spend the resources when you know you're just experimenting).

IMO, they don't necessarily need to obtain Wii level mass-market appeal, so long as they simply expand their current market and establish themselves in the motion sensing game. That can provide invaluable data for the next generation when they will perhaps take an integrated approach.

Maybe these devices will carve out their own niche market, with a group that sits between Wii and PS360 users. People who want the active elements of the Wii, but the graphical fidelity of the PS360. How large that market is, and if that's enough to sustain the cost of this initiative, I don't know. Nor do I know if those same people would not already have purchased one of the aforementioned systems. I guess we'll find out soon enough.