Better? Infinitely better! I don't use google maps anymore, they suck ass when compared.Ignorance, you still have the choice.

Just tried Bing maps and WOW i'm never going back to google maps again!!

I dunno...this hasn't really been my experience with MS at all to be honest.

I still use google for searching, but maps in google are a joke when compared. Seriously, I've used them over the past month a lot, and I will never go back to google maps (unless they turn 180).

In Bing, I was able to do a simple "x town in Mexico to y town in the US", and I get directions. The cool thing about it is that "x town" is so small you can go through in about 4 minutes. I've also done several searches of cities here in the US, and google maps just goes "what?" while Bing just knows what I'm talking about.

Natal does seem to be a beta produce as someone else mentioned on the other page, by the time the Xbox720 is here maybe they will have something worth showing.

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

Check out this vid. Natal may have more potential than some are thinking. Supposedly Microsoft has also moved the processing requirements for Natal on over to the Xbox 360's CPU, which apparently takes up about 10 to 15% of the CPU's power?

The problem is that there seems to be quite a bit of input lag when doing full body recognition.And google isn't? ;)

I'm not talking from a technical point of view, not entirely. The point is: Everything started off sounding rather ambitious at the last E3. They treat it like a new system launch they said. Now the more information surfaces the more I get the feeling that it is indeed a beta of some sort.

Some question are begging to be asked: Why are they limiting the devs' resource budged? Why are they cutting costs (dramatically!)? Why don't they launch it on a new platform, where it's more likely to succeed? The answer to every question is the same: It benefits MS in a multitude of ways. The way I see it is that it also scales back the commitment MS is ready to put behind this project.

In the end there are just consequences.
They are giving away some of the responsibility to the devs. They have to decide whenever it's worth it to put the extra effort into developing a Natal enabled title. In the case of high profile 3rd party titles (THE reason why the box is a success) with limited Natal use the answer is a simple 'no'.
They are splitting the risks between the consumer and 3rd party devs, making an exit out of this a hell of a lot easier. This is also a reason to not launch it with a new system. We roughly know the price of Natal. MS already said they'll sell it at a competitive price, something around the mark of €/$50-60 is very likely. We also know that the components are rather cheap. Without the custom chip built in it'll sell at a gain.

I'm not saying that Natal is doomed to fail, the chances are just very high. Lets put it this way: IMO, the chances of Natal to carry over to a new generation of consoles is very slim. When it doesn't meet their expectations it will get discontinued in the lifecycle of the 360 because MS virtually made no investment into this tech (or it'll carry over to the PC). History repeats itself and we've seen it a lot. Compare this to the original Xbox: MS made a huge investment to enter the console market and only because they committed themselfs to it it turned out to be a huge success.

Second that.

Sounds pretty clear how serious there taking this to me.http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?i...

They said that half a year ago. I gave my reasons as to why I don't believe that. A console launch involves risks, it's a do or die situation. That's why it's complete bullshit to talk about it in that fashion. There's a lot of smoke and mirrors involved in PR talk, and all we got since E3 was just that.

Nice, this is really what I look forward to. I've always hated using the lean/tilt move in Fps( it's always awkward, IMO), and putting these things into games can free up buttons for more complex actions while not forcing your hands into contorting positions. Not to mention having the 3D effect( for the player at least). I think this could really up the immersion.

Keeping the processing on the 360 is a mixed bag, though. Hopefully the computations won't eat into performance of games too badly. The good sides being that they can be updated, and the Natal can( hopefully) be used with the next iteration of the Xbox. I'd bet my lunch that the Natal will be an integral part of their next platform, so buying one( and assuming it stays compatible) could be an investment that will last beyond the life of the 360...

This is where the Natal differentiates itself from the Wii-mote in functionality. The subtle use of the device in conjunction with the controller could make a huge difference in how we play, and immerse ourselves in, the games we play in the future. And this is all without thinking about the 3d body tracking it's capable of.

I for one will get it just for that( and because it won't be very expensive makes it an easy decision) and the cool change in interface functionality. Sorry for the long post...

And as for MS not being "honest"... It's a company, and every other company (yes, all of the companies you love too) do what they do to make a buck. Sony and Nintendo( or anyone else) is only sittin' around to make up stuff you want so they can get your dollar( and because they like to do it, of course, but without the dollar they can't keep doing it). I love it, because this awesome technology didn't come from some coddly, corrupt, control driven government office, but from a free enterprise company that innovates because they want to create the next big thing to get at your dollars...

The processing being handled on the 360 also ensures it will be a much more affordable product than would be the case otherwise had Natal kept it's own type of processing unit.

Yeah, I don't see how cost savings can be seen as sinister, it just may result in slightly less visually appealing games( or not)...

Well i'll take there word over yours, bring on the Holiday season and lets see what type of launch we get.

No it wouldn't. Just like a Wii it's not necessarily cheaper just because the sum of its parts are. Sure the cost of making a unit does have an impact on the final price point, but it's far less of an obstacle as people think it is. It's a complex process that involves a lot of research and a lot of maths (I'm studying that stuff right now, a reason why I can't stand GAF anymore is because of all the back-seat economists).

At the end of this process however, it's a decision you make depending on your goal. If MS wants Natal to be what they are making it out to be, they have to have a high market penetration, thus they'll have to sell Natal at a low price, there is no way around it. Be it with a custom CPU or without. They made the decision that it's much smarter to let the consumer pay for their experiment rather than for them to take the risk. From a corporate viewpoint that makes sense at first glance, because it maximizes your gain, but only on a short term basis. Everything beyond that is up to the goodwill of 3rd parties and the unpredictability of the market.

You always have to remember that at this stage these decisions aren't made by enthusiasts but by the bean counters at MS who are out to maximize their gain for the next quarter (that's basically all there is behind the financial crisis). It wasn't fair of me to speak lowly of the whole MS, their research division is doing an awesome job. There are lots of positive examples of other companies that handle these situations much better so don't blame it on capitalism, it's not evil and it's not good either. There are just different way to make money.

Sorry to bore you with this, but I'm off uni and the exams are about to strike next month. I can't think of anything other than that so I waste my time with nothing other than it. :)

I'm not sure it's fair to say they don't care about anything but gains. I'm sure they are very enthusiastic about their creations, but at the end of the day, cost and benefit is always an important issue. NO one can or does anything JUST because they love it( well, unless they want to go out of buisness, anyway). So, in short, we agree, and this post was unnecessary :D ...

It did it because they love it we would have Shenmue 3 :(

Good post Viginti_Tres

Plus there is so little solid info out there, that all these doom and gloom assumptions make me laugh!