Have you seen Microsoft’s show yet? While a lot of people are talking about how Natal will compete with the Wii, I think the whole thing was disingenuous, cliched, and nonsensical.
Disingenuous because the video they hacked together showed Natal doing things that are either impractical, like voice recognition of proper names, or impossible, like scanning the parts of a skateboard that are covered up.
Cliched because the video strayed into the Jetsons type of hyperbole where suddenly out of nowhere futuristic technology becomes commonplace. I am impressed that someone actually made that clip of the girl trying on a dress. I wouldn’t have been able to stop laughing long enough to take any part in it.
And finally nonsensical because they showcased the new Tony Hawk game which needs an expensive skateboard controller to play, but then implied that it would be obsolete in a year by showing off how a similar game could work using Natal. Really, do they even talk to each other at Microsoft?
Of course all these things come down to Microsoft not being integrated like Nintendo. That Tony Hawk game is being made by a third party, so maybe they really didn’t talk to each other. And Microsoft will probably look at it as advantageous that having Natal will make it cheaper to develop a similar game, since it won’t require and hardware R&D, leading to competition, which will hurt Activision, but open up avenues for developers who don’t have the money for something like that.
Of course all of this raises the question of where all the content is coming from. Because that demo video obviously showed off mock-ups of games and software that are hypothetical and not actually under development by anyone. I’m curious what clothing labels they have lined up to digitize their entire line and develop cloth simulation software.
Man, I know I already know I’m going to have to listen to people talking about how Microsoft “won” E3 after seeing that even though they’re press conference was completely demented and demonstrated a level of amnesia that should anger any intelligent human being.
What you said in bold is one of the reasons illustrating that the Microsoft Phantom has no plans to be released if at all. Why? There are no third parties on board this thing. None! Even when Iwata held up the Wii-Mote prototype at TGS 2005, there were quotes after quotes of developers talking about how wonderful it is. Of course, that was marketing but the point is that Nintendo was talking with third parties about the thing even before it was announced. Microsoft doesn’t seem interested in third party support or expressing it before showing off their Phantom. There will be some token support from thirdparties but you will not see anything major come from it. If the Microsoft Phantom is supposed to revolutionize gaming, I think you might need more than Molneaux’s digital boy and an elephant game to do it.
When Nintendo unveiled the Wii at E3 2006, it was not only playable to everyone (the long line is proof that it was there), it had a variety of software for it. It had Nintendo’s flagship games from Mario to Zelda. It had racing games such as Excite Truck. For a launch, it was a pretty good selection of games.
The lack of software for the Microsoft Phantom, aside from the digital boy and paint games which cost very little to make, is more evidence that it is illusionary. No one is investing money in this thing. If the Microsoft Phantom was going to revolutionize everything, I would think game companies would jump over each other to invest money into it by creating a game. This is not happening. You will *hear* they are doing it, but on their financial statements there will be a different story. The question is not whether third parties are interested in Microsoft Phantom or whether they have ‘plans’ or are making games on it. The only question is whether they are investing money on it. They can lie on everything except the last. Even Wii Balance Board had other companies invest money to making games for it.
Like you, I couldn’t stop laughing at the thing. And like you, I am annoyed of various people who are, very loudly, proclaiming gaming has been revolutionized and Wii is dead. These people are most likely marketers. I’ve found information which is depressing since it shows how many viral marketers there are out there. The Internet is crawling with them. Microsoft, being an extremely wealthy company, will obviously put many out there especially after a critical time such as their E3 press conference.
You know what I find very delicious? It is how I am constantly referenced, rarely by name, through various forums. Usually when someone mentions ‘disruption’, it is clear where that came from. What is annoying is how ‘disruption’ keeps being used to mean whatever people want it to mean. It has a set definition that is not defined by me, by Nintendo, but by Harvard Business School professor Christenson. And he does not deviate from it. For example, the Wii is disruptive but the DS is not. The DS definitely had an impact on the market as well, so why isn’t it disruptive while Wii is? There are definitions as to why. I noticed one guy responding to Microsoft Phantom and said how if those people who were hailing motion controls before should be hailing it now or they will reveal their ‘true colors’. These ‘true colors’ is that people like myself are a super secret spy from Nintendo whose mission is to spread malicious Nintendo talking points everywhere. They still haven’t understood why people like myself, and yourself, are interested in the Wii and the console industry in general. It is also clear they haven’t thought much about Microsoft Phantom.
I wrote my post on the conference immediately afterward and then I browsed the forums to correct some mistakes I made on the games that were mentioned (I’ve been awake for 48 hours, I missed some of the game details). When the Microsoft Phantom was shown, there was massive laughter by everyone. Of course, this means the marketers have their work cut out for them. Instantly, we are getting slammed with pages and pages of “Microsoft Phantom is SO amazing! OMG! Best. Press. Conference. Ever!!!” (Actually, the conference wasn’t that good, but shhhh…).
Here is what a real Microsoft counterattack would be. It would not be a $200 gadgetry that could only come out a year later. It would be much cheaper. It would also be merging landmark franchise games over to the new motion controls. For example, the FPS games would have them. The reason is so Microsoft escapes the box from the Core Market.
The way how disruption works is that unless companies like Microsoft eventually merges their best games, such as FPS games, onto motion controls, they will eventually all become motion controlled by Nintendo anyway.
Microsoft responded to the Netbook disruption by slashing its Windows XP price and putting them on as many Net Books as possible. Microsoft was preventing the aim of all Netbooks becoming Linux.
If Microsoft wanted to counterattack the Wii, it would be focused on motion controlling the best selling games on their platform (for fear that Wii would eventually take them one day). What Microsoft is doing instead is not even connected to their best games and is literally keeping their best libraries out of the way. This shows me that not even Microsoft believes in their Phantom.