Hmm, looks like MTV Games isn’t the only studio thinking about the uses of Microsoft’s Project Natal in a music game. Speaking to Digital Spy, Kai Huang, president and co-founder of Guitar Hero creator RedOctane, said he considered it “likely” that future Guitar Hero games may use the full-body motion-capture system.
From the article:
“I think the technology is very exciting,” he added. “We’re evaluating it, and I think it’s likely that sometime in the future we’ll have those technologies integrated into our games.”
Personally, I feel like this is one of those ideas that seems great on paper but not so great in practice. The instrument controllers aren’t a barrier to playing music games and having fun with them — they’re an integral part of the experience. Or is that just me?
I find it really unlikely that the motion capture will actually replace the current interface. There’s nothing I’ve seen of Natal or the Sony stuff that makes me think it could handle the speed or intricacies of guitar or drums. At most, you might see your avatar move like you do (which for most people I’ve seen, isn’t much) or like the Sony demo, a picture of you with the plastic guitar replaced by an in-game guitar.
There is an opportunity here for ambient integration, like mapping your body gestures to the in game avatars, but that’s about it. Maybe have gestures you make with your body activate special show-off moves or something cosmetic.
Frankly I’m with you that for every 1001 ideas for using Natal with a music game, maybe one will be tolerable.
If both companies follow their trends, GH will have overblown implementation a full generation before RB and be less for it (but get sales for “leading edge innovation”) and RB will do a much more well thought out and integral, yet less obtrusive implementation the following generation.
I generalize of course, GH5 Party mode was well executed, but the lack of recursive music libraries really hampers it.
Update: Consider the Wii, a lot of first attempts in genres to use the controls in a new way were tragic failures. There are a measurable number of truly good uses for the Wii interface and Project Natal will find it’s own niche, but jumping on early can be fatal to a games sales if implementation is a hindrance.
With the Wii having already ‘tapped’ this novel interface ‘space’ I doubt Natal will fly off shelves unless they make it a good value by bundling a great game and keep costs to similar to a game release.
Microsoft has to be seeing this as a way to elongate the life and appeal of the console and tap the Wii’s in-roads to certain demographics, not as a money maker itself as a “peripheral”.