http://www.computerandvideogames.com/ar ... ?id=234031

I doubt it somehow

I wonder how many mouse clicks I've made while playing Populous? Molyneux is certainly comeone who can make use of new tech.

I've got to say... if Molyneux says it's good I feel like i'm going to be thoroughly disappointed now.

Indeed. Moly is a brilliant games designer, but he has a long record of saying things about forthcoming products that turn out to be utter cobblers.

Jon

I'm disappointed by your reactions.

I think you have to look at Natal not as a gaming interface but as a technology in general.

According to the E3 show last year this thing can see where you are in the room, who you are, what you are doing, react to your emotional state, etc...

For the show this was applied to an character that was able to interact with a user.

Imagine though having a computer system in your house that would be able to do this. "See" who you are and adjust the music (or whatever) depending on which room you are in. Adjust the lighting depending to your mood. Imagine "SARAH" from Eureka.

Or how about a character able to interact directly with kids teaching them to read, count, etc...

I think the possibilities of exploiting the tech outside of the realm of the XBox is where this tech could provide greater benefits.

There is a lot of talk about the tech branching out, but I sometimes think companies say that to justify it to themselves

My gut reaction is it'll never go much further than the 360, and even then it'll just be niche, though I'd be happy to be proved wrong

No it can't

I can see it managing to be even less useful than a wiimote, and that is saying something. There's only so many uses for making vague gestures at your tv.

Sadly, it also turned out that quite a lot of it was being 'run' by a human operator and it was also operating on more powerful hardware than an Xbox 360.

I'm not down on NATAL per se, I just haven't seen anything yet to suggest it will live up to the promises some people are making for it. When they can demonstrate the actual technology running on an actual Xbox 360, then I'll make an assessment of it.I suspect that will be at this year's E3, when we'll also find out when it's due, what it will cost and what games will be available to go with it. But forming your expectations on the pronouncements of men like Molyneux, who has a long history of promising things his software then completely fails to deliver, is setting yourself up for a fall.

Jon