Friday, November 27, 2009

Project Natal

The new Microsoft project, Project Natal (pronounced Nah-tall) is one that is promising to be more groundbreaking then Nintendo's Wii. The most unique and intriguing feature, which the project is based off of is the fact that the person playing IS the controller. The youtube video below is a good preview of what Microsoft intends to accomplish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM&feature=related

Now as interesting and as futuristic as this seems, a few different issues come into my mind. This is a system where one can do almost anything very realistically from the comfort of their own couch. From playing simple exercises to action games to just meeting virtual characters and seeing their world, it seems that users will be creating a virtual life.


My main concern is that with all of these virtual opportunities, how addicted are players going to get? With the lives you can live through video games being so interesting and exciting I feel as if players will become attached to this system. Why wouldn't you want to live a life full of adventure vicariously through a t.v. screen? I'm definitely not against this new idea, for I would probably be one of those to get addicted. Yet I can't help but wonder what the repercussions will be in the long run.

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