Halo: Reach Forum
This topic has moved here: Subject: Xbox Natal is Microsoft's Next Console and it comes out Fall 2010?
  • Subject: Xbox Natal is Microsoft's Next Console and it comes out Fall 2010?
Subject: Xbox Natal is Microsoft's Next Console and it comes out Fall 2010?
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

I am 1337

Earlier this week gaming blog Kotaku quoted Microsoft's Shane Kim as saying that the launch of Natal, Microsoft's new controller-free motion control technology, would be as big as the launch of a console. Not surprising. That's because Natal is going to be a new console.

On this week's Listen Up podcast we discussed Natal, and David Ellis and I talked about what we've been hearing regarding the new technology -- and how it's actually the cornerstone of Microsoft's next evolution of the Xbox. Microsoft will not only release Natal as an add-on for the Xbox 360, it will come standard with the next Xbox console.

Yes, there will be a new Xbox console next fall.

However, the new console won't just be an Xbox 360 with a camera, though -- we've heard it will be considered a new platform and carry a new name (Xbox Natal?). It's not clear what sort of upgrades we might see, but some have suggested it will be an slight upgrade of the current Xbox 360 technology. Current Xbox 360 games would be playable on it, but future games would be able to take advantage of the added muscle. Similar to what we see in the PC space, games played on the more advanced Xbox would look or perform better, but publishers will still be able to support owners of both systems. Some developers have complained that they've already maxed out the Xbox 360; perhaps this will give them room to expand.

Make no mistake, we wouldn't be talking about the sort of hardware leap we've seen with Xbox (or most other) platforms in the past, and we're not talking about Microsoft ending one console cycle and starting another. We're talking about an evolution of the Xbox 360; similar hardware but upgraded, repackaged, and rebranded. It's actually not that unlike what Nintendo did with the Wii, where it essentially took the GameCube hardware, stuck in motion controls, and successfully relaunched it. The new Xbox console is said to be aimed directly at a mainstream audience -- and will launch before Nintendo is able to release its Wii HD.

What's interesting is that Nintendo and Microsoft are on a course to deliver very similar products yet are coming at them from opposite directions. Microsoft currently has the HD hardware and will in the future introduce motion controls, while Nintendo has motion controls and will in the future introduce HD hardware. Sony's PS3 will also be providing motion controls next year, though as a peripheral for its EyeToy camera.

As John Davison pointed out on the podcast, the Wii was the first console to do this, but it's likely that all future hardware will be more iterative than substantive. The distinction between new consoles will become far less marked -- similar to what we've seen in the handheld space, such as with the transitions from the Game Boy to the Game Boy Advance, the DS to the DSi, or the PSP to the PSP Go.

So when would we first hear about this new Xbox console? Our sources point to next year's Game Developer's Conference as the target for its unveiling and Fall 2010 as the target for release.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3174762

My hopes and dreams died for this game already because they both come out on the same time.

  • 06.13.2009 8:12 AM PDT

Join the SIP now! were a fun and active community that play games the way theyre meant to be played. make friends, have fun and be part of something special! The Spartan I Project

natal is a console?
no no no my friend, project natal is camera system that readds your movement and places it in game, similar to the wii, i believe it has an acompanying AI as well, its not a console

  • 06.13.2009 8:15 AM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

Sorry. But unless you can tell me what this has to do with Halo Reach, I'm gonna lock this because it's off topic and really just a blog post.

  • 06.13.2009 8:18 AM PDT

Posted by: odmichael
Sorry. But unless you can tell me what this has to do with Halo Reach, I'm gonna lock this because it's off topic and really just a blog post.
Isn't it obvious? We're going to throw paint on the Covenant! Perfect idea. This is made of win.

  • 06.13.2009 8:21 AM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

I am 1337

Oh you can lock I was connecting Reach with Natal because they both come out the same time and Natal will come out as a console. Theres alot of people saying Halo Reach and natal are connected,

  • 06.13.2009 8:22 AM PDT
  •  | 
  • Exalted Member
  • gamertag: Kurx
  • user homepage:

When microsoft said thae xbox 360 was going to have a life cycle of 10 years ie till 2015. I thought "great im not going to have to buy another console for another 6 years, and am still going to have a cutting edge machine"

But this is going to be just like the DSlite and the DSi, eventually games companies arent going to make games for the origianl because it dosn't have as much power as the newer one.

When Halo Reach comes out iI dont want to have choose between playing it on my Xbox 360 or buying Xbox Nathal so I play it with the better graphics/gameplay etc

  • 06.13.2009 8:27 AM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

So for the multiplayer beta they're gonna send out free cameras as well then.

Hm...

  • 06.13.2009 8:27 AM PDT