Rare: Natal tech can be used in FPS games

Shooters will work with Microsoft‘s new Natal tech. Devs will just have to rethink their approach to the standard shooter control scheme to do it. That’s what Rare design director George Andreas revealed in a recent interview.

Shooters will work with Microsoft‘s new Natal tech. Devs will just have to rethink their approach to the standard shooter control scheme to do it. That’s what Rare design director George Andreas revealed in a recent interview.

Speaking to VideoGamer, Andreas said that while it might not be immediately obvious how a first-person shooter would work with Natal, it is possible. It might not be the exact same experience as playing with a conventional controller, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing.

Shooters work the way they do at the moment because they’re based around the original Xbox 360 controller. You throw that away, you throw that interface away and here’s a completely different interface – now how do we create a shooter for this? Does it mean that you have to run, strafe, turn, throw grenades in the way that you’re used to? Maybe not. Maybe there’s another way of doing shooters.

YouÂ’re probably not going to get exactly the same experience that you do with a conventional controller, but that could also be a very good thing. There may be new avenues there that people havenÂ’t explored yet that might open the product up to an even broader audience. We donÂ’t know.

So, can you do a shooter on Natal? Of course you can. Will it be exactly the same as something youÂ’re used to on a control pad? The answer to that is probably not, but does that mean itÂ’s better or worse? Well weÂ’ll see what we can do.

While the aiming doesn’t present much of a problem, exploration is a bigger issue. Unless it’s an on-rails shooter ala Time Crisis, of course. We’ll find out how Natal affects FPS titles on the Xbox 360 when it launches next year.

• THQ’s Farrell: Natal is launching ‘late next year’
• Tecmo Koei prez ‘concerned’: Natal and PS3 Motion Controller more suited for casual games only
• Bungie: Free exploration in Halo 3: ODST, Natal tech could be used in Halo: Reach

Via VideoGamer