Mon, Jan 04, 2010 | 13:40 GMT
Rumour – Video of Half-Life 2 being played via Natal [Update]
Update: Microsoft’s just given VG247 a no comment on it.
A rep said: “Microsoft does not comment on rumour or speculation.”
Original Story: Take this with enough salt to pay a Roman legion for half a year, but Gossip Gamers has posted a video of what’s purportedly Half-Life 2 being played on Natal.
The video apparently shows Gordon walking about, looking around and interacting with the environment in Dr Kleiner’s lab: all controlled by moving hands and waving arms.
The video is below. Salty enough to pickle. We’ll email Microsoft about this now.
9 
Posted in: Hot, Microsoft, Shooter, Valve, Xbox 360
Tags: half-life 2, project natal
9 comments
#1
Redh3lix
04/01/10, 11:16 am
laaaag :/ NATAL will work for tons of other gaming genres and applications but I cannot see it working for FPS. It’s just tooooo slow. FPS gamers like their Diamondback’s / Logitechs etc. My humble opinion anyhow
#2
NiceFellow
04/01/10, 11:24 am
It’s probably fake, but if not it only confirms what anyone sensible knows – Natal will not naively support FPS as they currently play very well.
Of course, it may also be a tech demo, more to test hooking up to existing engines, etc. like the Burnout Paradise test, rather than intended as proof you’d use Natal to play the game.
#3
Dannybuoy
04/01/10, 11:44 am
I’m not really sure how natal is going to work on a grass roots level… I mean if you hands are always being tracked how do you do simple things like scratch that itch on your nose without the game going ape shit? How do you pause the game, to get up and answer the phone? What if you want to move from laying down to sitting up on the sofa? It’ll take your movements as inputs… the more I think about Natal the more I think FAIL.
#4
Psychotext
04/01/10, 11:52 am
@Redh3lix: You should check the Digital Foundry article on Natal where they indicate lag to be somewhere between what we’d see in Halo 3 and Killzone 2. As I’ve said before, it’s far, far easier to see lag in this situation because you’re actually watching the person’s actions and their effect on the screen.
That aside, as NiceFellow says… this wont be used for FPS, it’s just concept stuff to test the tech.
“How do you pause the game, to get up and answer the phone?”
You’d say pause (it has voice commands)… then it’d probably think you wanted to do something completely different.
#5
Johnny Cullen
04/01/10, 12:08 pm
Updated.
#6
Retroid
04/01/10, 12:15 pm
Why wouldn’t they be using head tracking for the camera?
#7
Dannybuoy
04/01/10, 1:38 pm
because if you look up you cant see the screen anymore?
#8
Whizzo
04/01/10, 2:16 pm
TrackIR manages to work fine.
#9
NoxNoctisUmbra
04/01/10, 2:58 pm
Slow and pointless for FPS.. How the fuck you ganna play for couple of hours without your hands getting numb because they are in the air for so long… Will triger finger always work?
Seems NATAL will be more for CASUAL games rather then HARDCORE games.. SONY and Nintendo are right, you still need to hold something in your hand, and you still need to push buttons.