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Concerns rise over Natal lag

[Wrote this for TVGB today. Posting it here too because it covers more ground than the coverage elsewhere. TVGB Original.]

BBC presenter Jonathan Ross has joined MTV’s Multiplayer blog and Kotaku in highlighting lag issues with Project Natal.

Ross playtested Natal yesterday with his family at a special demo arranged by Microsoft, later tweeting his thoughts. “Natal on Xbox impressive,” said the UK TV and radio star. “Not quite there yet, I think, but they have until October and if they get it right… sky’s the limit.”

Ross’ son recorded part of the session, later posting it on YouTube. The video shows Ross flailing around, playing the ball game featured in last year’s E3 demo. You can watch it here.

“Not quite there yet” would seem to be a reference to Natal’s lag. There’s a note in the video saying that the Ross family were told by Microsoft that response times would be “nearly instant” by launch, but it’s clearly an issue.

The extent of the problem has been quantified by the MTV’s Multiplayer blog. In an article published yesterday, Russ Frushtick measured the lag precisely, during a prolonged session with the device.

“I had a pretty large sample size,” said Frushtick, “sitting through 5 demos, capturing about 40 different movements from a variety of journalists. Across those 40 movements, the fastest life-to-screen transition was .08 seconds, while the slowest was .12 seconds. A tenth of a second was the consistent average, though.”

“What that means is that, in its current state, Natal is not instant, one-to-one motion capture,” said Frushtick. Though he notes, “Even high-end Hollywood studio motion capture devices have a slight delay, and a camera sitting in front of your TV doesn’t come close to the fidelity of 30 cameras in a massive studio.”

Meanwhile Kotaku’s Brian Crecente has pitched in on the issue too, employing the term “uncanny disconnect” to describe the lag. The opinion piece isn’t as forgiving as MTV’s, suggesting that it could even lead to the failure of the entire concept.

“I realized, as I played around with the Project Natal prototype… that I was spending more time examining the game’s reaction to my motions than I was having fun,” said Crecente. “Until motion control is perfected, I realized, the pursuit to make it more precise in video games will result in titles that are less fun to play, not more.”

He continued, “The biggest risk motion control faces is that the paradoxical nature of that uncanny disconnect may lead gamers and developers to believe that the basic concept is flawed. In other words, if game developers get it wrong enough, people won’t want it anymore, no matter how good it eventually gets.”

Last year, Traveler’s Tales boss Jon Burton revealed his own concerns over Natal lag. He suggested that it will greatly reduce the types of games that can be developed for the platform.

Microsoft have until December to resolve the remaining issues. Despite Ross’ suggestion that Natal would launch in October, the official word is that Microsoft are currently sticking with a Christmas release.

Things that should be read…

These are all recent things that should be read. For the good of your eyes and your brain.

AN ENGLISHMAN IN NEO TOKYO

Simon Parkin’s look at the state of the Japanese game industry, featuring people that know about that kind of thing. Long. Good.

WEREWOLF: HOW A PARLOUR GAME BECAME A TECH PHENOMENON

A fascinating piece about something I had no idea about, nor knew I would have any interest in. That it wrapped me in its world within two paragraphs is testament to the quality of the writing.

INDIE GAMES DON’T HAVE TO ACT LIKE INDIE GAMES

OPINION: IN-DEFENSE OF THAT RECENT ANTI-INDIE COLUMN

That piece by Jim Sterling and a level-headed critique of it. I begrudgingly admire what Sterling is doing. There is a market for provocative, tabloid columnist-eque pieces. Especially at Destructoid. I don’t like it, but the reactions they inspire are interesting.

21ST CENTURY SHOOTERS ARE NO PLACE FOR OLD MEN

Not especially new, but especially good. As good a review of MAG as you’ll read, I imagine. Though it isn’t a review.