After hearing about Left 4 Dead 2 yesterday, I ran across several articles describing “Natal” from Microsoft. However, as the article linked to above points out, it’s not a great interface device. The idea of using gestures and commands to do simple navigation and whatnot is a great idea, but Project Natal probably won’t be used for much more than tech demos.

Imagine playing a driving game (as shown in the demo that Microsoft unveiled at E3). How does it know how fast you want to go or when you want to brake? Does it really adequately (and accurately) portray where your feet are? Also, holding your hands up without holding on to something feels really awkward. Sure, Natal would be great for a boxing game, but how would you run around in, say, a basketball game? I’m sure there’s a market for Project Natal-based first person sports games, but most of them would have to eliminate or simplify moving. How would one play a first person shooter? Natal may prove a boon for real time strategy players, however.

So, sure, there are a few types of games that could be worked into a Natal interface, but there are many more that won’t. Gesture-based gaming is fun, sure. And the Wii does it right, mostly. As gamers, we would rather have many gameplay options rather than perfect matching of movement. The Wii nunchuk+remote combo allows for a rather wide variety of games by mixing classic button presses and gestures. Project Natal will find itself much more limited. It’s an ambitious effort to be sure, but that doesn’t mean its better. It’s a different take that either forgot about maximizing gameplay potential or made the explicit decision to go for real movement.