Devs divided on Natals prospects

This week’s Develop Jury Service has seen conflicting views from the development community, with both praise and concerns expressed on the potential of Natal.

And while the praise was glowing, with some developers claiming that Natal will create new genres, others remain confused on what to expect from the motion- and voice-tracking peripheral.

If I’m honest, Microsoft have confused me a little with Natal,” said Proper Games’ Andrew Smith.

Microsoft is looking to hop on the Wii bandwagon with what they think is the next step in easily-accessed games bringing simple, fun, arcadey titles to a new audience.

While this is laudable, I’m just not convinced that people can enjoy the same range and fidelity of games as they do on the Wii without at least some physical connection to the experience.”

Smith added that Natal provides a risky opportunity for developers on a machine that’s actually pretty expensive to develop for”, claiming that studios will have little choice but make games exclusively for Microsoft’s device – possibly another risk in an age of multiplatform releases.

Go here to read this week’s Develop Jury