Xboxist

Five Project Natal Games We Want Developers to Make

Microsoft's Project Natal stole the show during the company's press conference at E3 this year. Long rumored to be in development, the motion control add-on for the Xbox 360 actually delivered more than fans expected: fluid motion capture, voice and face recognition, and complete real-time 3D movement, all without the need for a controller. While the stage presentation was quite slick and led many to believe that gameplay demonstrations had been doctored, developers who've already played with Project Natal dev kits assure us that it is very real, and it works. So what kind of new gaming experiences are publishers cooking up for us behind closed doors. We've got no idea - but here are a few game ideas we'd like to see become a reality.

1) Next-next generation lightgun shooter
Crouching behind your sofa, you peer out over the top cushions to get a good look at the battlefield. Bullets ricochet harmlessly off of your decorative pillows as you hit the floor for cover. The warehouse is crawling with Chronotroopers and some of them are already advancing on your position. Pulling the pin on a smoke grenade with your left hand, you pop out of cover briefly to lob it into the midst of the closest enemies. While they fire blindly in your general direction, you spring to action, flipping your Ikea coffee table up on end to provide temporary cover, you start picking off enemies one by one. Unfortunately, your wife and mother-in-law walk through the front door just as you finish off the last soldier with a hail of "duh-duh-duh-duh" voice activated machine-gun fire.

2) Xbox Live Pictionary
Sure, the E3 painting demonstration was cool, and even drew some laughter from the audience as players on stage attempted to create the image of an elephant using their own bodies. However, what would really spruce up this painting program would be the addition of a competitive element. In order for this to work, developers would have to take some inspiration from a low-tech board game. In Xbox Live Pictionary, teams would compete to frantically guess the image drawn by one team member just like in a real life. The voice recognition system would arbitrate when a team correctly guessed the image, and deliver the next phrase to the designated artist on the opposing team.

3) You got Served: The Video Game
In real life, our dancing skills approximate those of a drunken, amorous clown. However, put us behind closed doors and we are convinced that we can throw down like a pop-and-lock champion. While debilitating shyness means that we will probably never win over any crowds at breakdancing competitions, Project Natal could help us live out our fantasies by making our moves look cooler than they really are. A cross between Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero and So You Think You Can Dance, this game would award points based on the flyness of players' dance moves. Whichever company delivers this product to market first will make a billion dollars, and get to make us all look like idiots in the process.

4) Gladiator Arena
Forget the fuzzy puppies and beaches of Wii Sports Resort. What we really want to do is pick up a trident and cautiously circle our opponent, waiting for the proper moment to strike and draw first blood. In Gladiator Arena, mundane household items within arms reach become deadly weapons: that magazine rack just became a shield, those expensive dried plants your wife bought, throwing darts. This would also be the first game in history to actually let players strangle the life out of a foe with their own bare hands as spectators cheer with enthusiasm. Sure, with all the flailing about you might do bodily harm to yourself and others in the real world, but that's what End-User license agreements are for.

5) Naughty Personal Assistant / Cabana Boy
Message to Peter Molyneux: We don't want to talk to a ten-year-old boy, there are enough of them on Xbox Live already. We want to have the daily financial news read to us by Veronica, whose charming witticisms and low-cut blouse constantly interrupt the otherwise tedious flow of information fetched from the MSN news feed. We want to know what she's doing later, and how the photos from her all-girls trip to Ibiza turned out. Sure, this game will probably never get made outside of Japan, and will undoubtedly end up way pervier than the version we've imagined, but still, it will be infinitely better than whatever Peter Molyneux ends up making.