No Halo Natal "until it makes sense" - Microsoft

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo, Microsoft Game Studios head Phil Spencer revealed that the developers of the Xbox 360's biggest shooters--Epic Games (Gears of War) and Bungie (Halo 3)--were already experimenting with Project Natal. Now, another MGS employee is warning the public not to expect the latter franchise to immediately incorporate the camera-based motion-sensing technology when it launches next year.

"A lot of people are interested in what Natal's presence in Halo's going to be," Halo 3: ODST producer Alex Cutting told Videogamer.com. "We are committing to only doing it when it makes sense. We are not going to produce a gimmicky feature that just takes advantage of motion controls when it doesn't feel right."

However, sticking to the Microsoft company line, Cutting also said that Natal could be used for virtually every game genre. "I think FPS, there's a lot to be said for dual stick control," he elaborated. "But, you know, before dual sticks came around and before Halo: Combat Evolved established it on a console, people were pretty doubtful about that, that it could ever move from keyboard and mouse. So we've seen it already form one control scheme to another. I'm not going to bet against Natal. It's a powerful technology."

Cutting's comments are similar to those made in July by Epic design director Cliff Bleszinski. Speaking with British magazine Develop, the industry wunderkind said that "it's likely that the classic control interface is what Epic will be working on in the foreseeable future." He went on to say that a hybrid of camera-based motion-sensing and traditional controls could be compelling. Ironically, Microsoft rival Sony is preparing to launch such a system next spring that combines the PlayStation Eye camera and controls with light-emitting diodes.