The blog circuit is finally getting some hands-on time with Project Natal, and there’s a lot of excitement about it. The breakout game in particular seems to get people to really appreciate the power of the peripheral, even more so than the Burnout demo we’ve seen so many places. A big part of that is the barely noticeable lag that accompanies the system. Unfortunately, barely is just enough to make for a frustrating game experience.

MTV says the delay is about .1 seconds – just enough that you’ll notice it, especially in games like Burnout where to-the-millisecond response becomes important. That kind of delay is bad enough for finely tuned controls that it could take Natal down to something neat you show your friends once. That is, if fine control were all Microsoft was after.

One really cool feature of Natal is head tracking. It gives the viewer a whole new level of immersion by changing the image on screen based on the position of your eyes relative to that screen. It’s something Johnny Chung Lee demoed using the Wiimote some time ago. It’s just one facet of Natal that will take it beyond a simple control device to creating a new kind of experience with games.

Peter Molyneux is one of the most eccentric personalities in the development community, a fact he hammers home in every interview he gives. His most recent, done with gamekings.tv, had a lot of the typical Molyneux linguistic hyperbole and included what could be considered a confirmation of Natal for use in Fable 3.

When asked about Natal in Lionhead’s RPG franchise, Molyneux said this: “And obviously what would probably happen if I started talking about this is you would see a little red dot appear moving on my forehead. And then as I would start to speak the words then there would be a shotgun fire, and I would be assassinated. Quite clearly, it is that sensitive.” That’s almost as absurd as everything he promised for both Fable games to date. Obviously it’s a bit of a joke, but he goes on to essentially confirm use of the peripheral.

“Do you really think, knowing me, as maybe you do over the years, I wouldn’t want to use something like Natal? I mean, that’s just mad, man.” I would love to say that the rest of the interview is interesting, but I didn’t really think it was. It’s nice to know that Molyneux is investing heavily in Natal – Milo and almost certainly Fable 3 – but he’s still comes off as a deluded individual with an overinflated sense of his contribution to the world at large.

Microsoft’s XBox 360 Corporate VP Shane Kim recently sat down with OXM to talk about Project Natal and the future of the 360 platform. According to Kim, Natal is more than just a cool peripheral, it’s how Microsoft plans to bring “hundreds of millions” of gamers to platform and eventually win this generation.

Kim is aware, as is the rest of the world, that Natal seems on the outside like a response to Nintendo’s Wii, the console that’s actually winning the generation so far. He claims that’s not what Natal’s about, but that’s a hard sell. “This is about unlocking the potential and breaking down all the barriers that remain that prevent people who are intimidated or feel awkward with a controller in their hand – anything that prevents them from jumping in and having a great time with Xbox 360 and Xbox Live,” Kim said.

Kim’s sending a pretty clear message. The “barriers that remain” are obviously the things Nintendo didn’t do, which are the same things Kim thinks will help Natal win. You can read the rest of the interview over at OXM.

Peter Molyneux has been a hot name in gaming since he first turned out a “choice” based game in 1989. That’s been his signature ever since – offering gamers the chance to exercise choice in the worlds Molyneux creates and then forcing players to deal with the consequences of those choices.

The complaints actually came to “such a furor,” that Molyneux and Lionhead Studios released downloadable content to rewrite part of that ending. I realize I’m being a bit vague, but that’s because I actually don’t know the choice in question. I just started playing Fable II and I’m not ready to spoil the ending just yet. I think it would be safe to guess that the choice involves either some resurrection/reincarnation of my in-game sister or something to do with the dog. In either case, I’m curious to see what all the moaning is about.

Though Molyneux reconciled some with the angry gamers, he said Lionhead would not be so forgiving in the future. That’s an interesting position to fall back to after bending over to please your players. What makes choice interesting in games is that you have to choose and also deal with the consequences of that choice. Maybe I don’t get to save everyone and get the girl. Maybe it’s one or the other. Maybe it’s neither. In any case, I think I like what Molyneux is trying to do, I just don’t feel like I can trust him. The gamers who are angry enough to write letters and cause problems are the same ones hyping the new games and standing in midnight release lines. I’ll believe Molyneux is ready to turn his back on that demographic when I see it, and not a moment before.

Source: VG247