Natal Technology a Gift To the Disabled, Amputees

SlappingOysters writes "Natal could be capable of a lot more than was originally thought. Gameplayer has some information about how the technology will function in multiplayer, and goes on to reveal how it is intelligent enough to give full-bodied virtual movement to disabled gamers. The site had previously revealed that the Natal dev kits have been with developers for a couple of months, suggesting that the device may not be as far off as has been suggested by some media outlets."

Comments

Re:I'll believe it when I see it

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Amputees develop coping mechanisms anyway; they do things in a different way, that's all. It's especially true with congenital amputees because they have never known the use of the body parts they miss, so they really aren't disabled at all. Most of them end up ditching whatever prosthetics their parents try to get them fitted with and do just fine without. See this for example. It's trickier for people who become amputees later in life though.

Amputees have been playing video games for as long as video games have existed, and quite frankly, I think that Microsoft effort is a just a feel-good, look-how-caring-we-are marketing stunt.

Re:Possibly, but unlikely

[MrMista_B]

"But color blindness is hardly disabling, it's merely an inconvenience."

You're not color blind, are you?

Yeah, thought not. I guess calling someone a hypocritical asshole is hardly insulting, it's merely an inconvenience. You hypocritical asshole.

Smiley face! :)

Re:Possibly, but unlikely

[CyprusBlue113]

Tell that to the guy who has to interpret two different display colors at 2am on a generator status panel that appear to be the same temper of gray to him. (Real situation, fixed by some 2 cent cellophane)

My boss is partially color blind, and it's been an experience trying to rework monitoring systems / internal UI's so he can gain the same meaning from a display that everyone else can. You just don't think about things like that when it doesn't affect you

MS's Exit From The Console Market

[Path3]

Microsoft appears to be taking this path for exiting the console market:

1. Close down existing first party studios

2. Stop putting any but the minimum resources into the existing 360

3. Retarget Rare and Lionhead into Wii/casual focused developers

4. Use existing 360 online and other fees to pay for the relauch of the same 360 hardware with motion controls add on

5. Hype the motion control like mad until late 2010 since they really have almost nothing coming out on the 360

Microsoft isn't Nintendo anymore than Apple. There just isn't the culture and people there to create a wildly popular device and ecosystem like the iPod and Wii. But going up against Sony has been a costly many billion dollar disaster for Microsoft. Even something as basic as deciding the next gen movie format couldn't be won with the Xbox 360 as when Sony whiped Toshiba and Microsoft's HD-DVD right out of the market. So much for 'owning the living room'.

The execs up in Redmond must have looked back and billions in losses over the last eight years and said "Enough." Time to move on. Leave the console market to Sony. Losing to Nintendo is much cheaper than losing to Sony.

Nintendo -> Apple
Wii -> iPod
Xbox 360 with motion controls -> Zune

Re:Possibly, but unlikely

[Zeussy]

I am very extremely inclined to agree with you, my brother is partially color blind (I am not sure to what extent as it has never been bad enough to ask about) and he is a qualified electrician and for him its just a mild inconvenience. My mum had a stroke about 15 years ago and lost all control and sensation of her right arm, and a significant amount from her right leg, but has enough control to still walk with a stick.
Now my brother lives a normal life, living a normal job, with 2 kids, 2 cars, a wife and a house. Who occasionally has difficulty telling the difference between 2 different coloured wires. My mum has had to change the way she does things for every part of her life, from getting out of bed, having a shower, to cooking and eating her meals, to driving a car. So to all the parents of this post who say some lame shit like "Tell that to my boss who is colour blind" well I will fucking tell him! It is pale in comparison to what my mum has to deal with, which is a mild disability to a lot of other disabled people.

Re:Possibly, but unlikely

[drinkypoo]

I agree that, for instance, a ramp should be mandatory when staircases are present to access a building, because in that case, wheelchair-bound people just cannot access the building on their own.

Wrong. Wheelchair-bound people unwilling to sacrifice a small part of their dignity cannot access the building on their own. It is totally possible for most of them to scoot up and down steps on their arse. We have decided that is below their dignity, and therefore we should force owners of small shops to put in ramps for their benefit, even those shop owners don't give one tenth of one shit about serving them and have the legal right to refuse to do business with them for any reason.

Mandating wheelchair ramps on public businesses and for access to public utilities is reasonable; hell, even mandating them on monopolies would be okay. Requiring them across the board is fucking ridiculous, but even that is not as stupid as complaining that a particular video game system might not be as usable if you're missing limbs.

If we choose to live in a capitalist society, we must accept that markets only get served when there's money to be made.