14 DAY TRIAL // At the first few demos of its motion control system, called Project Natal, Microsoft made a big deal out of the fact that current videogames, like Burnout, were completely controllable through the new peripheral.
Players could accelerate, brake and turn without holding any controllers in their hands and the lag was said to be manageable. But now it seems that during the fall of this year, when Project Natal has been confirmed as being released, players will mainly use it to experience new videogaming titles.
Aaron Greenberg, who is the product management director for the Xbox 360 at Microsoft, told Joystiq that “Our focus on most if not all of them will fall into that category of completely unique, brand-new experiences for Natal. We're going to manage the portfolio very carefully and our focus is going to be on bringing completely brand new original experiences to the market when we launch Natal.” He further emphasized that his company was not “looking at just adding little Natal components to games.”
This probably means that Microsoft will not be adding motion tracking capabilities to older titles, even if they would make sense in the context of the game, and that the titles coming out to accompany Project Natal will be completely new, not drawing on the better known franchises, like Gears of War or Halo. The company has less control over what third-party publishers will do in relation to Natal and they might actually choose to retrofit motion control on their titles.
The prevailing sense at the moment is that Project Natal will launch with a host of more easy to pick up and play titles, as it tries to lure away some of the gamers who currently enjoy using the Nintendo Wii. Sony probably has a similar plan for the motion tracking wand that it will launch this spring.