Microsoft's Big News for Gamers: Natal to Be Backwards Compatible

This could be very big for game publishers and game players. Shane Kim, Microsoft’s (MSFT) corporate VP of strategy and business development in the games group (he must need oversize business cards!) has said that existing games can be patched for Natal: “You can take an existing game, and make it work”. And he held up Burnout Paradise as a game that Microsoft had done this to: “It’s a great example of just how simple it is to adapt a game”.

Of course game developers and publishers aren’t going to do the work for nothing, so one potential way forward is for Microsoft to sell Natal patches for their existing game catalogue using Xbox Live.

Kim also said that Natal development kits are going out this week, which gives you an idea just how stable and mature the technology is.

Comments

[RattyUK:]

"This could be very big for game publishers and game players."

Yes but not for at least a year, and, er where's the fire button?

Jun 04 02:15 PM

[krenshaw:]

where's the fire button you ask? when you hold out your index finger straight and thump pointing up (mimicking a gun), bend your intex finger like pressing a trigger....and there is your fire button.

this I believe will bring new meaning to 1st person shooters, because now you can actually point your hands in two different directions:
eg: having 2 guns in my hands.....if two enemies comes up on screen, 1 on the left and the other on the right, I don't have to shoot left then right, I can shoot both left and right at the same time.


On Jun 04 02:15 PM RattyUK wrote:

> "This could be very big for game publishers and game players."<br/>
>
> Yes but not for at least a year, and, er where's the fire button?

Jun 04 02:56 PM

[cirej2000:]

Wait, it's still a year out? Cause I want Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 with motion controls..NOW!

Jun 05 11:24 AM

[Barry Blogs:]

Do they mean that the games can be ported over the way the Wii does? Or that the existing games will simply work. That's pretty impressive! They'd make more money porting over but this way would definitely appeal to gamers more.

Jun 14 08:28 AM