The Film Gamer and it’s inevitable tie-in to Microsoft’s Project Natal
One of the big new stories coming out of E3 this year was Microsoft’s announcement of Project Natal; a stereoscopic camera input system for the Xbox 360 that provides gamers complete 1-to-1 full-body control over their in game characters. This past weekend, Lionsgate brought us the Film Gamer; a science fiction film set in a future where a game called Slayers gives it’s players control of another human being in full scale combat. Being that the film version of the game is control through gesticulation, it would be perfect for Project Natal.
If Microsoft hasn’t already scooped up the video game rights to this franchise, they’re missing the boat. A game based off the film Gamer could potentially be the first film-to-video-game adaptation that didn’t suck (you could argue that Enter the Matrix was a faithful adaptation, but the gameplay sucked so lets not go there). The main genius of the Game is that the control system is story based and not a gimmick.
There are two huge problems with the Wii and with motion control systems in general:
1) The control a user has is never truly 1-to-1. Sure, the motion you’re making with the Wii-mote may be completely accurate, but you can just waggle your wrist instead of swinging your whole arm to hit a golf-ball.
2) ALL GAMES ARE MORE RESPONSIVE AND HAVE FINER CONTROL WITH A REGULAR CONTROLLER, WHICH MAKES BEING FORCED TO USE THE MOTION CONTROL SETTINGS FEEL LIKE A GIMMICK!
Because of the technology behind Project Natal, you eliminate the 1-to-1 problem. Additionally, because in the film Simon (the player) controls Kable (his in game-human counterpart) with hand gestures while standing in front of a digital representation of the battlefield, the game has potential to not feel like a complete gimmick.
Would it be a perfect game? Likely not. Does it have huge potential? I believe so. The bottom line is that I have absolutely no interest in the games I already love switching to a Natal control scheme. However, a game set in a universe where Natal is real and not just a game… well, that’s something I might be able to get behind.
My name is Christopher Schnese
and this has been my reel perspective
