Peter Molyneux, the designer of Fable, said that Microsoft’s Project Natal could be as game-changing as the introduction of the mouse to the PC.
Peter Molyneux is nothing but opinionated and he offers his assessment of the new motion control system for the Xbox 360, which is due out this fall. He likens Natal to another revolutionary human interface device, the mouse, and said that Natal could offer just as dramatic a shift in how we communicate with our computing devices. As the head of Lionhead Games (owned by Microsoft) and the Creative Director of Microsoft Game Studios, Molyneux’s views on the subject of Project Natal have to be taken with a wheelbarrow of salt.
“I’m enthusiastic about the change that Natal gives,” Molyneux said. “If you’re thinking that Natal is going to give you another version of an FPS, you’re just not thinking broadly enough.” He went on:
After all, it was the invention of the mouse that gave us computing as it is today – not the invention of the microprocessor.
The mouse was the real revolution of the PC – not the Intel processor. And who’s to say Natal couldn’t end up creating something you and I can’t even imagine now. It forces us to approach technology in a completely different way. Before the mouse, we only had the keyboard.
And things like Natal can be a bigger change.
Molyneux doesn’t just blow sunshine regarding Natal. He cautions that designers may not be ready for its greatness at first, and that it may take time to shift to the new paradigm.
“The first wave of titles that come out will be really good and really polished and great, but they’ll be kind of the obvious stuff,” he said. “Even when a new console comes out it takes us a while to get used to it and get our heads around it. I think when something like Natal comes out it really takes a while.”
Source: Videogamer
Published: Feb 8, 2010 05:35 pm