Troy Benedict, Senior Writer

Nervous About Natal

Microsoft is scheduled to unveil the new controller-less camera device for the Xbox 360—codenamed Project Natal—this holiday season. Despite all of the marketing buzz and the mainstream newspaper headlines, the tech enthusiast inside me is nervous about what the final product could hold.

I'm nervous because I look at the Wii, and the motion-sensitive controls that it uses, and the vast library of games available for the Wii, and only a handful of games really push the technology behind having a motion-sensitive controller. Most of those games happen to be first-party Nintendo games like Wii Sports and Wii Sports: Resort.

Just because I can hold the Wii remote like a golf club, doesn't necessarily mean that I want to play an entire game of virtual golf that way. I still prefer my game controllers with knobs, buttons, and triggers. I'm all for a simple control scheme, like a contextual button press that performs a different act depending on the particular situation, but the less functions I have on a controller the more I feel like I'm being guided, and less I feel that I'm actually in control.

From the product demonstration videos I've seen of Project Natal, the human body is the controller. Whether you're playing goalie and blocking balls with your hands and feet, painting on a virtual canvas using your voice to change colors and arm gestures to paint, or driving a car with your arms stretched forward, holding an imaginary steering wheel like you did when you were a kid, the primary objective with Natal is to take the physical gaming controller out of the equation.

Why am I skeptical? Because I still don't think the technology is where it needs to be. I look at last generation's Eye Toy games on the PlayStation 2, and none of them were actually that great. They were novel in their approach and even more-so in their execution—interesting uses of technology, but easily forgettable. The calibration of these games also greatly relied on so many environmental factors for everything to work the way it was advertised— proper lighting and optimal camera placement— for example.

Even PlayStation 3's PlayStation Eye software titles on PSN are considered "interactive art" and are almost overpriced at $2 apiece. The controls for these programs are simple, move your arms around to interact with the actions on the screen. I downloaded a few of these over the holiday break, and after a couple of minutes I couldn't help but feel that I had just wasted my money. If this is what I am to expect from Project Natal (or even PlayStation's upcoming PlayStation Eye-compatible motion controllers), then I am going to be extremely disappointed.

PlayStation 3's The Eye of Judgment game was probably the most ambitious use of a camera interface, superimposing virtual 3D models atop of a real, physical deck of cards by scanning a code on the card's surface. It was a really cool idea—when it worked. Again, the camera had to be at the proper angle, and the cards and playing field had to be properly lit. More often than not, I found myself battling technology rather than battling my opponent. It was obvious that people weren't ready for even something like The Eye of Judgment as combo packages containing the game and the PlayStation Eye hardware were quickly discounted for clearance, as were the extra decks of cards that could be purchased to unlock new characters.

The Xbox 360 has had some camera-based games, too, and they're even more forgettable than the PS3's. The game You're in the Movies was an interesting twist on some of the PlayStation 2's Eye Toy games. It had the user play through a variety of different mini games, and then use that recorded footage to compile a visual Mad-Libs-like movie trailer. The end result, when properly executed, was hilarious! People I know who have tried it, said the experience was fun for a little while—when it worked— but the experience often ran its course after a few sessions. Like other camera games, this You're in the Movies required you to have a blank backdrop that you can perform in front of. This was required to differentiate the actor and their movements in these mini games, from the background and surrounding objects, to then superimpose them over pre-rendered backgrounds. All the while, the user had to see the TV from their angle make it all work. Knowing the setups I've had in the entertainment room, I would have had to rearrange the entire room just to play this game correctly. I don't think my house is the only entertainment room in existence without a suitable wall directly across from the television.

Yes, Natal's technology seems impressive, will it correct the issues of previous camera-based video games? Apparently, the software behind the camera can detect the difference between multiple objects, as well as perceive depth, but how well will it operate under low-light? Natal is also supposed to detect images that you hold up to the camera, scan them, and then use them in game. This sort of technology always requires the object to be placed at a proper distance and at a proper angle. Talk to the people who tried to import Pinata pets into their game of Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise by holding a tagged card in front of the 360's camera device - apparently the "card-reading" interface was broken and required more effort than it was really worth. I cannot imagine how ineffective this hand-held image sharing technique would work with Natal, considering it takes high-end office printers/scanners several seconds to scan in a high resolution black and white image.

Natal also uses voice recognition software as another form of interface. Voice recognition software has come a long way since it's inception, but even today's best transcription software, like Google's Voice service and Windows 7's speech recognition is still highly inaccurate. Proper recognition depends on several things: the noise level in the room, how articulate a person is, the speed of their delivery, and how good the software is in recognizing words pronounced with slight variations or accents.

Devices like the iPhone, the forthcoming iPad, and tablet/slate computers, are trying to push users into a different way of interfacing with their computers and cell phones. To me, the easiest way to get data into a computer is with a good old mouse and keyboard. Same way a game controller interfaces with the video game console.

Have you ever tried to do any word processing on an iPhone? The learning curve is steep, and it's very similar to touch-typing at a keyboard. It's slow and painful, and for most normal people, it's not the optimal way to compose any kind of lengthy document. In a casual/mobile environment using a mobile device like an iPhone or a tablet computer is acceptable, but devices like these should be used in tandem with more advanced computers instead of trying to outright replace them. When you need to manage spreadsheets and multitasking several programs at once, you'll quickly realize the limit of the devices.

One of the most significant leaps in technology from last-generation to this generation of "next-gen" consoles was wireless controllers. You weren't limited with the distance from your gaming console to your couch. But taking away the controller altogether, with a device like Natal, seems a bit too early—and I don't think people are ready for it.

Maybe I'll be eating crow, once Microsoft starts unveiling more details of the Project Natal holiday lineup, and the cool things that developers have done. In fact, I HOPE that I'm wrong with my assumptions. I love it when technology comes out swinging and literally knocks one out of of the park. I like being impressed. But based on previous camera-based gaming software and hardware, I'm not expecting much more than what we've already seen.

I'm nervous that Microsoft is using the Natal concept to generate interest with the casual gaming audience, by using big technology buzzwords and showing off tech demos that won't deliver in the end. Where us, the user, will be doing the same thing we did before: spending too much time trying to get it work and little to no time actually playing and enjoying it.

I hope I'm wrong, but if the history of similar products says anything, Microsoft is really going to need to deliver us some ground-breaking technology, or we might see Project Natal cameras and software in our favorite store's bargain bin in Spring of 2011.