Halo: Reach may employ Natal tech

By Tom Bramwell Published 30 June, 2009

Absolutely could, says Bungie president.

Halo 3: ODST may have nothing to do with Microsoft's Project Natal, but Bungie president Harold Ryan reckons there's scope for overlap in a certain future game.

"I absolutely think Reach could be enabled with it," he told Seattle Times columnist Brier Dudley, although if he went any further than that there's no mention of it.

Bungie was apparently among the studios to receive an early look at Project Natal, which was unveiled at E3 - the point at which Xbox boss Don Mattrick said development kits were starting to roll out to developers.

Speaking at E3, Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer said Epic Games had also been among those given a sneak peak.

Halo: Reach is due out in autumn 2010 for Xbox 360, presumably around a year after Halo 3: ODST, which drops (guffaw!) on 22nd September 2009. We would.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Yossarian #1 3 years ago

    Dear games industry,

    Please keep your grubby motion control out of my first person shooters.

    Your pal,
    Yossarian


    (Well, "could be enabled with it" post-launch is fine, but don't waste any time or effort on it now.)

  • saintedd #2 3 years ago

    +1

  • AphoticCosmos #3 3 years ago

    Include Natal if you will, Bungie, but as an option and not a requirement.

  • mcmonkeyplc #4 3 years ago

    Might work, might not. I trust Bungie.

    /stares intently at Bungie!

  • robg #5 3 years ago

    Why do people who are paid to communicate overuse the word "absolutely" so much?

  • matrim83 #6 3 years ago

    In Bungie we trust.

  • iter #7 3 years ago

    @yossarian - you really don't think point-to-look offered by the Wii remote (especially with WMP) or Sony wand thing is a good thing for FPS? I'm not really that sure about how Natal could offer anything for an FPS though, but I'm sure that Bungie won't ruin Halo just to include it...

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #8 3 years ago

    It's not all about turning your favorite control pad games into some wavey wavey family game. They could use this more subtly as mentioned before and simply add the head tracking element to give fps games that psudo 3D effect from the youtube Wii video, which I'm sure everyone has seen by now.

    That would be great and doesnt effect the existing game one bit.

    At a push they could also convert the shooting from behind cover system in Gow type games to work by ever so gently poking your head over. ;) Can still be played sitting down and could easily be turned off in the options screen.

    I would buy Natal at around £70 just for that and NXE integration.

    Edit: Why do I always miss the r off of your. :(
    Edited by 2 at 30/06/09 @ 09:37

  • DrDamn #9 3 years ago

    Hopefully this is pad and head tracking they are thinking of.

    Vid demonstrating similar use on a PC ... link ... FPS demo is a little ways in.

  • DrRobotnik #10 3 years ago

    If the motion control allows me to immitate the physical snapping of an elite's neck with Master Chief's uber strength, then I'm all game for Natal :-)

    Seriously though, I don't want to be throwing grenades by waving my arm around - I look stupid enough as it is when my face is glued to the screen.

  • BabyJesus #11 3 years ago

    Some sort of head tracking as mentioned above, would probably be good for First Person Shooters, but the pad would have to be included and ofcourse it depends on how well it is implemented.

    Keep the full body tracking for games that make sense to have them, fitness games and the like.

  • StueyBoy16 #12 3 years ago

    I'm hoping that Halo Reach is going to be the game i've wanted for years where you play as one of a group of Spartans, during their early missions, as a squad leader. So hand commands or voice recognition would greatly help in issuing orders to your squadmates.

    I have faith in Bungie.

  • Rubarack #13 3 years ago

    Head tracking please. That would be a guaranteed purchase of this and Natal from me.

  • APHIZM #14 3 years ago

    Not sure what the point of head tracking is. If I look up in my living room, I see the ceiling. If I have to keep my eyes on the screen whilst 'looking' with my head... well, it just doesn't make any practical sense.

  • altitude2k #15 3 years ago

    Surely that virtual 3D stuff that uses head-tracking would be the best implementation. MS did hire the guy that invented that homebrew Wii headtracking thing:

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

    If you kept your aim left to your controller, and just used Natal to explore a wider field of vision, and to also give you some psuedo 3D then I can see this being incredible.
    Edited by 1 at 30/06/09 @ 14:30

  • smelly #16 3 years ago

    "Absolutely could, says Bungie president."
    "Almost definately wont, says smelly (and probably every programmer/designer on the team)"

  • smelly #17 3 years ago

    @Crofto: "Metroid Prime 3 benefited infinitely with Wii-controls"

    Erm.. yes.. but it mainly benefited from you being able to point the wiimote at the screen.

    I fail to see how natal will benefit in the same way? Now sony's thing.. maybe...