In speaking with gaming blog Kotaku earlier this week, Microsoft’s Shane Kim, Corporate Vice President of Business and Strategy, stated that the launch of Project Natal would be as big as the launch of a new console. That’s because, according to gaming website 1up.com, it will be a new console.
While a Project Natal add-on will be released for existing Xbox 360 consoles when it launches next Fall, a new console is said to be released that will feature the new motion-control technology built directly into the hardware. But that’s not all, the new console – rumoured to be called the Xbox Natal – will also feature more powerful hardware components to give it some extra muscle. Current Xbox 360 games would be playable on the console and would apparently experience a leap in graphical fidelity and performance.
A rumour has been floating around for quite some time that Nintendo has been considering a similar strategy, developing a console that journalists have called the Wii HD. With the reveal of Project Natal at this year’s E3, and the rumours of an aggressive Fall 2010 launch, it’s likely that Microsoft will beat them to the punch.
Could this be new the evolution of console gaming? Previous hardware generations have lasted an average of five years, with new significantly improved hardware being released with each successive generation. While the release of Xbox Natal would mark the fifth year anniversary of the Xbox 360, the technology found within, motion-control notwithstanding, would be no more than an upgrade of the current Xbox 360 architecture.
A new generation? Not in the way that we’ve come to know them. A new gaming experience? Definitely.
Source: 1up.com
Richard Mitchell is a video game addict living in Toronto. He has been gaming for more than two decades, and despite multiple interventions, continues to game today. He has an Xbox 360, a PS3, a Wii, a Nintendo DS, a gaming PC, and a life, and does his best to juggle them all.