Written by Original Source | Posted in Games

Microsoft’s Project Natal is a new technology that has a few bugs that need to be worked out. The Project Natal is an accessory for the Xbox 360 that has an unusual complaint. It is alleged to be racist. On top of that, it is not appealing to hardcore gamers who consider it to be a copy of the PS3’s EyeToy.

Some of these issues may or may not be true, for example, is Project Natal racist?  This complaint stems from the first showing of the game at the E3 2009 conference held in June. Lighter-skinned people were able to use the game just fine but a darker-skinner reporter tried and it did not work for him. This led to the speculation that the infrared cameras did not respond to dark skin. Of course this led people to start talking racism. Microsoft rebuked these claims by saying that that version was an early test version and had not been calibrated properly. Video was taken of black celebrities playing the game to disprove this claim.  Even some random black players at the conference were able to play the game just fine.

Another issue is simply that hardcore gamers just do not like it. Then again, the hardcore shoot-em-up gamers do not like the Wii either. These types of peripherals are designed to appeal to a different type of gamer. Players that enjoy movement and participating in the game’s actions will enjoy the Project Natal accessory. Gestures, objects and even spoken commands expand the gaming experience.

Project Natal will open up new possibilities in hardcore games. Although it may not be appropriate to use it the whole time, it would provide an interesting experience in certain scenarios. There will always be controversy and bugs with new technology. Microsoft is aware of this and are dealing with the bad publicity the best they can while at the same time working out the bugs that will make the games for Project Natal a pleasure to play.

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