The importance of Cliff Bleszinski’s Natal comment
Cliff talked about a whole range of stuff in his recent interview with Develop – so if you’re like me and think the guy knows a thing or two about the industry and where it’s going, then it’s a great read.
Like most of the industry, I’m excited but skeptical on Microsoft’s ambitious Natal project. But I differ from the rest of the pack in that I’m not too concerned about the capabilities of the hardware – I’m more anxious about what developers and publishers are going to do with it. It’s a risky endeavor for everyone – perhaps most of all for us, the hardcore players, with the possibility of Wii-like gaming experiences clogging up the 360 pipeline. Needless to say, there’s a lot on the table.
A few chips seem to have just fallen off the table though. In the Develop interview, Cliff talked a little about Natal. Primarily, he said this:
“As game creators, anytime we see new tech like that the ideas always come out. I can’t go into the ones I’ve had because, obviously, someone else might do it. Y’know, we’ll take a look at Natal – no promises – but it’s likely that the classic control interface is what Epic will be working on in the foreseeable future. But I think there’s ways that you could merge the two interfaces and supplement a classic game with Natal controls to make something compelling.”
Essentially, what he seems to be saying is that Epic is folding this round. They’re playing it safe. It basically assures us that Gears of War 3 will use the gamepad, and at most use Natal for supplementary facial recognition stuff for minor player customizations and the like. So if you were like me and hoping Cliff would be pioneering a Natal control solution for 3rd-person action titles, it doesn’t look like it will be happening – at least not yet. On the other hand, if you’re gripping onto your gamepad and never wanting to let go, give yourself one point. I think you’re in the lead.
It’s not really surprising though – Epic and Cliffy are conservative and business-like when it comes to making games. They’re very much about doing what they’re good at and what has worked and catering to those 15-year-olds Cliffy talks about in the interview.
So why’s Cliff’s comment important? He’s a leading participant in the industry, and it’s likely that his feelings reflect closely what other go-big developers are thinking. Cliff doesn’t think his audience is ready to put down their gamepads anytime soon, which means it’s reasonable to predict that similar developers making similarly expensive action titles – houses like Bungie, Ubisoft Montreal, Infinity Ward, 2K Martin, Rockstar – have similar feelings.
There is one thing we shouldn’t forget though – Microsoft’s extreme persistence. They get what they want, and they seem to want everyone to jump aboard the Natal float as soon as possible – even developers like Epic. We may get another heated back-and-forth between Cliff and Microsoft again, not unlike their Gears of War DLC argument back in 2007 (Epic didn’t want to charge for maps and Microsoft did). I’m predicting no Natal-heavy projects from Epic until 2011 at the very earliest. What do you guys think?
