DigitalBattle.com

MIcrosoft is gearing up for a big push when they release Project Natal, their own motion-sensing offering. Minor peripherals or controller upgrades aren’t usually big affairs, but this is the Xbox’s foray into a new direction, what many say might be the next evolution of video games. Many alternate control peripherals fail due to inadequate support. You pick up the game that came with it, play it til you’re tired of it and then hunt through the shelves for something else to use with it, only to find there isn’t anything else. Sales of the peripheral slump and developers don’t even bother consider creating games for the device.

That’s why Microsoft isn’t planning on releasing the new controller until they think its ready and has a good lineup of launch titles to get people using it. They’ve got Rare working on games for the device, though fans are concerned given some of the unimpressive 360 launch titles the developer put out in the past.

Microsoft claims they’re not going after the casual gaming market or any other existing market segment with the Natal. They’re aiming to get people who still aren’t gaming into the mix, claiming that for many the controller is a barrier which they hope to eliminate by making all the controls dependent upon simple body motion. At this point it seems unlikely that they’ll get too many more people involved. There’s still a big portion of the populace who consider video games and anti-social waste of time.