more
June 8, 2009 by RawmeatCowboy
Filed Under: Wii, Nintendo in general
Here's a simple question for you. If Nintendo hadn't made the Wii, which became a huge success, would Microsoft and Sony have gone the route they did at this E3? I really don't think we would see that. Both companies have seen the blue ocean right now, and they want a part of it. If these two new motion control setups are successful, these blue waters could quickly become blood red.
Story Feedback
@Wiggymaster
What's so original about Natal? It's an Eye Toy rip off (better technology no doubt), which is the one thing Sony didn't actually copy from Nintendo.
I'm definitely skeptical about the tech demo they showed too, I mean, did we even see the fish she gave Milo?
Anyways, it's not like it's going to take away the "casuals" from buying a Wii, they simply don't have the software. Features don't sell consoles, software does.
What's so original about Natal? It's an Eye Toy rip off (better technology no doubt), which is the one thing Sony didn't actually copy from Nintendo.
I'm definitely skeptical about the tech demo they showed too, I mean, did we even see the fish she gave Milo?
Anyways, it's not like it's going to take away the "casuals" from buying a Wii, they simply don't have the software. Features don't sell consoles, software does.
well they can't even make the 2006wiimotepointer
natal : paint with no precision
sonymote :i39.tinypic.com/2ep3tll.gif
it doesn't translate wrist inclination ,only the point directly in front
seems to be a basic 2dplane detection.The trick is in the round light ,always in front of the camera
doesn't use ultrasound: audioboo.fm/boos/27700-e3-final-day
that and none of the demo were close to wiisports resort , see skydiving for fullwiimoteplus integration a full3d object 1:1
wii.com/jp/articles/wii-sports-resort/crv/vol/flvplayer_page.html?mv=cv_wsr_09&tt=23.06&width=320&height=280&id=cv_wsr_09
natal : paint with no precision
sonymote :i39.tinypic.com/2ep3tll.gif
it doesn't translate wrist inclination ,only the point directly in front
seems to be a basic 2dplane detection.The trick is in the round light ,always in front of the camera
doesn't use ultrasound: audioboo.fm/boos/27700-e3-final-day
that and none of the demo were close to wiisports resort , see skydiving for fullwiimoteplus integration a full3d object 1:1
wii.com/jp/articles/wii-sports-resort/crv/vol/flvplayer_page.html?mv=cv_wsr_09&tt=23.06&width=320&height=280&id=cv_wsr_09
I always forget about EyeToy.
The question is not really about who came first in developing motion controls (universities probably did it), but rather who really took the risk and fully adopted it.
Nintendo is the only company I know of that really put motion controls on the mainstream. The Wii is still the only console that fully relies on it, while the other companies are just considering motion as an add-on, no matter how cool project Natal look on the marketing campaign videos.
Now that the risks have been taken and the market has been evaluated, is quite a lot easier to come up with a motion control of their own, so no, I don't think MS and Sony would ever taken the same risk as Nintendo did in turning this thing mainstream.
Nintendo is the only company I know of that really put motion controls on the mainstream. The Wii is still the only console that fully relies on it, while the other companies are just considering motion as an add-on, no matter how cool project Natal look on the marketing campaign videos.
Now that the risks have been taken and the market has been evaluated, is quite a lot easier to come up with a motion control of their own, so no, I don't think MS and Sony would ever taken the same risk as Nintendo did in turning this thing mainstream.
you know what? when this becomes red ocean, nintendo will find the blue ocean for their next system. again, it will be something out of left field that no one has thought of. they bring something new to e3 every year for the past 4 years. don't underestimate what they have in store for next gen. and these guys will follow. nintendo is the trailblazer for video game trends. anyone that denies that, either hasn't been around very long with video games, or is in complete denial. they won't admit it. in fact they always downplay it, but nintendo is the innovation of this industry.
oh and the answer to that question is no. sony and MS would never had brought these new control methods for this generation. they may have gotten there eventually, but not for a couple of generations. if anything, i think the one console future would have come more quickly. it probably would have been here by next gen. i think if nintendo wasn't around, this generation of consoles would have adopted keyboard and mouse as the primary control method instead of the introduction of motion controllers. and eventually, sony and MS would just be generic hardware makers the following generation, that made exclusive games on one medium. eventually i think PC and console games would have merged. with an add on drive for the PC that played the same games as the consoles. when the tech gets closer to virtual reality (when rectangular shaped TV's become obsolete), then we would start seeing a push for innovation in video games. there is no doubt nintendo pushed the industry forward.
@Wiggymaster
This is exactly what I thought when I saw the Project Natal. I actually laughed at it, and now everyone makes a huge deal of it, is mind boggling to me. Yes it looks like they have advanced some from the time of the eyeToy and they've added a Microphone, but you know it should advance! I don't know how much it actually advanced though so I don't know if I should be amazed by it or not, they just showed a tech demo and that doesn't show anything.
The end result is that neither Microsoft nor Sony showed games off for either of their toys. Or allowed people to actually use them and test them out. Nintendo's real-time sensor is coming out this year, and will be packed into 3 games (a really great strategy; a Core, Casual and sports game to get all 3 demographics). Do you think either Microsoft OR Sony will pack theirs into 3 games? Or let third-parties pack it into their games instead of first-party games? Doubt it on both accounts. I'm actually surprised Nintendo let third-parties pack it in, so goes the theory that Nintendo doesn't show love to third-parties.
This is exactly what I thought when I saw the Project Natal. I actually laughed at it, and now everyone makes a huge deal of it, is mind boggling to me. Yes it looks like they have advanced some from the time of the eyeToy and they've added a Microphone, but you know it should advance! I don't know how much it actually advanced though so I don't know if I should be amazed by it or not, they just showed a tech demo and that doesn't show anything.
The end result is that neither Microsoft nor Sony showed games off for either of their toys. Or allowed people to actually use them and test them out. Nintendo's real-time sensor is coming out this year, and will be packed into 3 games (a really great strategy; a Core, Casual and sports game to get all 3 demographics). Do you think either Microsoft OR Sony will pack theirs into 3 games? Or let third-parties pack it into their games instead of first-party games? Doubt it on both accounts. I'm actually surprised Nintendo let third-parties pack it in, so goes the theory that Nintendo doesn't show love to third-parties.
I saw a demo of Natal in one of the early shows this morning and my impression - it's a stinking eye toy! And it looked totally dumb.
One good thing that I heard was that in can go into any Xbox console and automatically be usable but geez, in the end, it's still a glorified eye toy. :\
One good thing that I heard was that in can go into any Xbox console and automatically be usable but geez, in the end, it's still a glorified eye toy. :\
i'm sure that all 3 company's have looked into the idea, they probably wouldn't have done it in such a huge way, though, and i'm not sure i'm all that interested in it myself.
on some level for some things, it's very cool, on others, where i want more of a traditional game, i don't really want motion controls.
it's like using the touch screen/stylus to control a zelda game, it's nice, but just because you can, doesn't mean you should. i personally can't stand that control set up and in all honesty annoys me.
there are some practical apps where it looks very cool, like moving from on window to the next, simply by moving your hand one way or the other, that is pretty cool, but other than simple mini games, it's hard to see it work in real games. if they can make a gears of war/halo 3 using it...just not sure it would work all that well.
what could be awesome would be to combine the controller with some of that hand motion stuff, so that you could get a halo 3 style game to work with it. any FPS you'll want to have some type of gun/trigger to pull, you want that feeling, you need that feeling, anything less wouldn't work. expand on how samus opens things up in metroid prime 3, something along those lines could work. keep the basic gameplay intact but add in some real world environmental issues to deal with.
on some level for some things, it's very cool, on others, where i want more of a traditional game, i don't really want motion controls.
it's like using the touch screen/stylus to control a zelda game, it's nice, but just because you can, doesn't mean you should. i personally can't stand that control set up and in all honesty annoys me.
there are some practical apps where it looks very cool, like moving from on window to the next, simply by moving your hand one way or the other, that is pretty cool, but other than simple mini games, it's hard to see it work in real games. if they can make a gears of war/halo 3 using it...just not sure it would work all that well.
what could be awesome would be to combine the controller with some of that hand motion stuff, so that you could get a halo 3 style game to work with it. any FPS you'll want to have some type of gun/trigger to pull, you want that feeling, you need that feeling, anything less wouldn't work. expand on how samus opens things up in metroid prime 3, something along those lines could work. keep the basic gameplay intact but add in some real world environmental issues to deal with.
Please log in using your message board account to post feeback.
Don't have an account? Click here to register!
Don't have an account? Click here to register!
Honestly, I don't care whether or not the competition does what Nintendo's done - they've been doing that for years. Microsoft's solution is a little more original, so they definitely get more respect from me than Sony, which has essentially rebranded every idea Nintendo has been part of since the Super NES.
Either way, the problem with *both* of their solutions comes down to jerry-rigging - not all of the games on their systems can or will support their new controllers. Wii was built from the ground up around the idea of their controller, and every single piece of software on the system (with the exception of Brawl) was made to utilize the controller. The other factor is price. How much are these solutions going to cost, on top of the already expensive systems?
All of these issues are hurdles in the way of making this whole thing a success. And truth be told, despite the gaming press going apesh¡t over these announcements, they're not all that impressive. Sony essentially showed the same thing we saw last year with WiiMotion Plus in tech demo form. Microsoft showed something I am (and apparently a few others are) a tad skeptical about. Will any of it surpass WiiMotion Plus? I highly doubt it.