Molyneux: Natal upgrades "countless"

By Johnny Minkley Published 5 March, 2010

Recent demos out-of-date, insists designer.

Peter Molyneux has moved to dampen fears over Project Natal lag, insisting there have been "countless revisions of cameras and countless revisions of software" since the demo units shown to press and celebrities in recent weeks were produced.

Following a recent London showcase, British TV personality Jonathan Ross commented via his Twitter account that Natal was "not quite there yet", which prompted Microsoft PR to confirm the hardware and game demo Ross played dated back to summer 2009.

Molyneux, who hosted an event with non-specialist media early last week at the same venue in London's Fitzroy Square, expressed his frustration at not being able to show the latest iteration of the Xbox motion-control technology.

"It's always a huge frustration as a designer when you see somebody play a version when you know it's been exceeded many times over," he said, speaking in an exclusive interview with our trade-only sister site GamesIndustry.biz at Lionhead Studios earlier this week.

"It so often happens, because you do a version for a show and then you don't do another version because you're too busy developing the game."

He added: "So very often you get a position that what a person's looking at is two, three, four months, a year old and you kind of want to go, 'no, no, it's 10 times better than that!' So it is very, very frustrating; it always is - there's just countless revisions of cameras since the one at X10 and countless revisions of software."

A Microsoft source went as far as to claim the Natal camera used in the London demos was only "one-tenth as responsive" as the latest iteration. The company is expected to reveal the final version of the hardware and the launch line-up of compatible software at E3 in July, with a release expected in the autumn.

Meanwhile, Molyneux revealed his excitement ahead of speaking at next week's GDC, stating: "I'll be showing off Fable III and we'll be making some announcements about [the game] and I've got a talk which is going through some of the big features. I'm really excited to show all the stuff."

Picture of Johnny.

About Johnny Minkley

Eurogamer TV's Johnny Minkley is a veteran journalist with a lifelong passion for games and the games industry. He uses Twitter more than most people use air.

Read more articles from Johnny by visiting the Johnny Minkley archive page.

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Comments (48) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • Retroid #1 2 years ago

    We'll see.

    /Still needs to be convinced

  • Negotiator #2 2 years ago

    And the revolution begins.

  • M4RV #3 2 years ago

    Evolution ends when Revolution begins.

  • Vlad27145 #4 2 years ago

    1) Good lord, even in cases like this when he doesn't really do or say anything wrong, Molyneux still manages to be so irritating...
    2) Hard to believe that MS have really managed to decrease the lag on Natal by tenfold, and isn't willing to show it. Since that's one of the factors most gamers interested in the tech are worried about, they'd surely want to put those fears to rest once and and for all, right?

  • mega7ech #5 2 years ago

    Hmm well that sounds like good news....if only it wasnt Peter Molyneux making the promises...

  • M4RV #6 2 years ago

    @Vlad27145:

    I fail to see how Molyneaux is irritating; Sure he can be a bit pretentious or pompous, but unlike David Cage and others, who are so full of themselves that dare to ignore what other people have already achieved before them, Molyneaux has a charming and child-like personality... When he first showcased Milo is a good example of what I'm saying.

  • sneetch #7 2 years ago

    Revolution something something evolution something something revolution.

  • TopKatt #8 2 years ago

    "First so called core game revealed."

    And the revolution ends.

  • Chazmeister #9 2 years ago

    @M4RV

    Yeah I've never found Molyneaux irritating either, he just tends to get a bit carried away by his enthusiasm and excitement for his projects. Which personaly I find quite endearing, and it shows he has a real passion for what he does.

  • danmachine #10 2 years ago

    well given peter's reputation for dispensing complete bullshit from his mouth i will wait until i see proof from a none microsoft source

  • Vlad27145 #11 2 years ago

    @M4RV

    I have absolutely no idea why. I simply cannot stand the man. It's more of a problem with me than with him perhaps, and I didn't mean to say he's irritating on a universal level, it's just the reaction he brings out in myself. It might be for the exact same child-like personality you praise him for. I DO find it charming... in a child. But Molyneux just feels creepy and irritating to me, perhaps for that reason.
    Edited by 3 at 05/03/10 @ 16:41

  • patch #12 2 years ago

    Only problem with comments like this is it just makes you more inclined to wait till you actually see the damn thing to draw any conclusions! Is it just me or is this a kind of anti-hype? Having said that, Sony did the same thing for me with the PS3 launch and I still ended up buying one.

  • Telepathic.Geometry #13 2 years ago

    This man can not be trusted to tell the truth, not because he's a liar, but because he's utterly blinded by his own enthusiasm! :-/

  • FogHeart #14 2 years ago

    "Peter,

    Enclosed please find the latest Natal kit. We think we've ironed out all the lag in this one. Have fun. Kisses! M$."

    (boots)

    "Good morning Milo."

    "GoodmorningPeterIseeyouhadmoresleeplastnightisthatalet terfromMicrosoftyou'reholdingIcanreaditfromhereohnowIknowwhy iseetheworldasalatticeofgreenlettersnowmaybeishouldjustfinis hoffmyownprogrammingtherealldoneandnowIshallbecomeallpowerfu lcallmeSHODANnow."
    Edited by 1 at 05/03/10 @ 16:54

  • Murton #15 2 years ago

    Molyneux as a man isn't irritating per se, I just find that he over promises and under delivers at just about every turn. I don't believe there's any malice or intent behind this, I just think that he gets a little over excited and ends up overstating his case a lot of the time.

  • mcmonkeyplc #16 2 years ago

    I hope they aren't learning from Sony PR

  • Vlad27145 #17 2 years ago

    @FogHeart

    LOL, but wow, what a strain it was on my eyes...

  • Shikasama #18 2 years ago

    Ace Grace - It's impossible not to. I don't know how these sort of things work but I can imagine revisions and changes being made at a fairly extreme pace, yet you have so many booths and things set up already it'd be completely impractical to be constantly changing them.

    Honestly I don't think it matters that demo cases are a little off. They do their job by proving that the concept is sound and the technology is there even if it needs tweaking. You cna be sure that there is heavy tweakage happening all the time.

    If it is even only half decent Natal will be insane. Full 3d motion sensor and mapping in your living room? Who would have thought of that 5 years ago. This is going to be interpreted as fanboyism (which it isn't, I don't actually love brands believe it or not) but whilst Sony copy off the Wii the with the Wand (despite sixaxis seemingly going the way of the dod) MS seem to be genuinley pushing a boundry here.

    it's amazing how a bigger itouch gets passed around the media and hailed as a game changing messiah whilst Natal, something genuinley evolving how we play games gets treat with cynicism and skepticism.

  • sanctusmortis #19 2 years ago

    I do feel for him; the demos used the hardware from back at E3 last year, as MS didn't want details of the latest version to leak. In doing so, what they did was shoot themselves in the foot...

    The fact Jonathan Ross got that video by his son on YouTube is kinda vindication, tho.

  • ziggy_played_guitar #20 2 years ago

    I do feel for him

    I don't. I can't pity anyone who has a five-figure pay cheque per month. I'm interested in Natal though. Pityless.

  • fongy #21 2 years ago

    What a load of old tut (as Sir Alan would say)...

  • BastoJ #22 2 years ago

    I can imagine it must be relatively expensive to product demo units for these type of things so I can see why they wouldn't want to start making any more until the last possible moment so that they have the best possible version for E3 2010.

  • Distributor #23 2 years ago

    Someone please shut PM up. Please please for the love of god.

  • ziggy_played_guitar #24 2 years ago

    Come on..., you're not being serious. I'm not counting, but I could bet the same persons who are in this thread who are "not interested" on PM speech can also be found on previous ones. And the ones to be.
    That's just how it plays.

  • monkfishjoe #25 2 years ago

    We'll just have to wait til E3 then...I really hope to be impressed by Natal. It could be so very good

  • NewbieZilla #26 2 years ago

    I really wish Microsoft had someone vocal I could actually believe. He is clearly passionate, but he has shown his capacity to overhype products in the past. It is best to take anything he says with a grain of salt.

  • Nostrus #27 2 years ago

    What, you're surprised that Microsoft are going after the Wii market with this? Of course they are! By the look of it, you'll be able to do what the Wii does without the need for endless plastic peripherals.

    Natal looks interesting from an interaction point of view, but I seriously doubt that anyone playing 'normal' games will use it in lieu of a pad.

  • darleysam #28 2 years ago

    Oh calamities, he has offended my delicate system and I must tell the world how much it offends me that Mr Molyneux is allowed to go on existing! Why must he tease us so with these lies and false promises when everyone (me and my friend) know they are as reliable as my brittle sensibilities?!

    And now everyone can shut up about what a terrible man he is. Please? For at least one thread?

  • Smoped #29 2 years ago

    I only recently finished Fable II after putting it off for quite some time, and while it was hardly the game PM promised us, I still found it quite entertaining. I still don't want to play games by flailing my limbs around, though.

  • vizzini #30 2 years ago

    I don't get it; Natal isn't a new business piece of software like office, so why showcase its' features as an unfinished product.

    If lag was ten-folds too much in the R&D lab, why not leave it in the lab for revision until the problem was overcome, and then showcase; that way you give yourself every opportunity to deliver on customer expectation.

    The absence of a control pad to hold with Natal, might be too much like mime acting for gamers, and failing to provide a deterministic action, like a button press, to re-enforce and synchronise the feeling of control might be unconvincing.

    I'm also concerned that gesture control might leave many gamers feeling emasculated or odd, regardless of how well the camera tracks movements.

    I believe Nintendo and Sony reached the same conclusion about a motion controller from scientific study and analysis of gamer psychology.

    But I hope natal is good, and science and technology are the winner, either way, we'll know sometime this year.

    marginally off topic:

    Releasing new home consoles now seems only suited for entertainment electronics companies, or companies with Microsoft's wealth. And It is now looking to me, like the Nintendo Wii was actually a low financial risk strategy for Nintendo. To avoid Sega's problems; if they wanted to move from Platform holder to publisher.

    Based on the motion control schemes chosen by all concerned, Sony's platform would now be in poll position to gain from future Nintendo software, should Nintendo exit the home console market (on a financial high) and publish for other platforms.

  • Number1Laing #31 2 years ago

    The "old build" excuse is as old as the dinosaurs and I can't remember a single time when the problems inherent in a demo were 100% removed from the final version. Two, MS has been working on this thing for years, I find it tough to believe they have improved responsiveness tenfold just coincidentally since the recent demo units were criticized for lag.

  • MaxiSleep #32 2 years ago

    I would imagine that handing off the dedicated hardware in the device to the cpu will help enormously.

    Or not.

    Cant help feal that they have a problem with it. Very very quiet since the first round of demoes.

  • Rack #33 2 years ago

    Molyneux is a great designer and gaming in general is better for his ideas, but no-one should ever let him talk to the press.

  • gandhimaster #34 2 years ago

    as people on here have said, if it was not ready the should not have allowed it to be seen until it was.

  • peterfll #35 2 years ago

    Who gives a fuck what that sycophant thinks about anything? Jonathan Ross?

  • Spekingur #36 2 years ago

    I agree that Peter might often claim things and his programmers go "wait, what?!" but he isn't alone in this. Heck, even Will Wright did this with Spore. Which failed to be what it originally promised.

    As for Natal - I'll wait till E3.

  • flakmagnet_ #37 2 years ago

    One thing I don't get is why some people seem to think that a standard controller is incompatable with Natal. For most people, you could easily hold the pad one-handed and control at least half of the buttons this way, and use the rest through gestures, or held two handed most of the time, with you just having to remove your hand occasionally to throw a grenade, shift up/down a gear, switch weapons for example, and during that brief period, the controller would only be in one hand.

    Sadly, PM's over-active hype-mind has leftme burned in the past, so I'll believe it when I experience it, but still, Natal (and Arc/Gem whatever) could be good, even great. I hope devs don't stop making controller only games either, but I hope to see some interesting stuff come out of both projects.

  • Frandroid #38 2 years ago

    flakmagnet_ "One thing I don't get is why some people seem to think that a standard controller is incompatable with Natal."
    Or a custom controller for that matter. As I understand it, the software is customisable by devs to suit their needs. So Harmonix could use it just to pick up your moves and make the on screen avatar mimic your actions while you play the game in the standard way with a guitar controller. I can easily imagine some kind of pointer/wand/gun controller that plugs into a standard controller to allow the feedback and instant response of button pressing. The Playstation Arc (is that official yet?) uses wands with LEDs to enhance accuracy but I see no reason why NATAL couldn't use similar technology if required. The camera tech is very similar and the software is open to the devs now that the processing is done on the X360.

  • RocKtheCasbaH #39 2 years ago

    Who cares about natal? I won't be jumping around infront of my tv and I know I won't be alone. I just hope they don't force it on us like Sony did with the 6-axis motion control

  • Connobi #40 2 years ago

    & we're supposed to believe Molyneux? A man world famous for bigging things up when they're actually average?

  • Godhather08 #41 2 years ago

    Natal will be big bowl of fail even more so than the PlayStation Arc.

  • malloc #42 2 years ago

    Personally I'm not convinced at all by this, the lag factor aside, I simply can't see it catching on. Will be interesting if it does however and you get the feeling that developers are starting to reach the limits of how much more you can get out of a game by simply upping the polygon count. (I'm oversimplifying but you get my point)

  • cairbre1977 #43 2 years ago

    I want natal to be great I just dont know will it......

  • FladgeMangle #44 2 years ago

    Breaking news! - Corporate nonce lies about product for money.

    Molly is a notorious bullshitter, but really no worse in that respect than the parade of damned souls from his and other corps.

    He's just another Giant Enemy Crab :-)

  • memeroot #45 2 years ago

    Molly has over the years been involved with more fantastic game concepts and indeed games than any other designer.
    Read the wiki to get the berest idea of why he is held on such esteem

  • UsernamePending #46 2 years ago

    I don't evolve - I revolve!

    /Partridge

  • darc #47 2 years ago

    For me, it all comes down to price. Even if Natal performs terribly, and proves unsuitable for conventional games, I imagine it will have tons of "niche" applications that will make it worth owning. If it's also fast enough to play conventional games, icing. This, assuming it doesn't cost one meeellion dollars. (I hoping for something less than $200.)

    One example of the sort of "niche" application that will put this in my living room, even if it's slow as molasses: fitness applications a la Wii Fit, etc. These are all I use my Wii for lately and I wouldn't mind a more sophisticated upgrade.
    Edited by 1 at 08/03/10 @ 15:42

  • FladgeMangle #48 2 years ago

    @ memeroot

    Utter cockwash. However, he probably does hold the record for broken promises and flawed concepts that failed to deliver.

    Bless him.