Materialistic Pleasures........

When I was on my first international trip to Singapore last year, I thought that life couldn't get better than this. I had just bought a new Nintendo Wii gaming console and that,I guess,was the peak of all my materialistic pleasures.


While I still lived in this world of self-imposed happiness.In came Microsoft,to destroy what had been,until then,a wonderful dream.


They had to do it.They had to come out with something better than the Wii and remove the smug smiles from all those who owned it.We 'Wii-Faithfulls' had to suffer for all those funny faces we pulled at the initially over-priced Xbox (Where the Wii outsold the same by a ratio of 3:1*)


In comes the Xbox Natal which gives the term 'next generation'  a whole new meaning.Remember those days when you'd dream of gaming consoles where-in you could play like Jhonny Quest ?


Well,if you did, then Natal has just made your dream come true.


With it's non-imaginatively named 'Free-body Motion'  technology, the Natal apes the movements of the gamer into the console and hence the game,which when explained in a simpler manner means.........You no longer need controllers to play on an Xbox !


When I first watched the Natal's concept video on youtube, I liked what I saw.But,then I thought "Nah. It's just a concept video. Nothing too exciting"


But,there it was,that sneaky little 'recommended videos' tab on the right which proudly claimed
'Watch the Live Demo of the Xbox Natal'. Ofcourse,it was too tempting to pretend that it didn't exist so I clicked it.


That's when it began.......The journey to that place which often makes us marvel at what we humans are capable of creating, if we set our minds to it. But,in this case it was a journey to sadness too. 


"Those were the good old days,eh,Wii"


* Info from http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1050029/wii-outsells-xbox


P.S:- Here are the links to the concept and live demo videos.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SP2glzpUc0


P.S 2:- I hear that that microsoft bought the company (3DV) which created the 'Free Body Motion Technology" .Follow this link for more.


http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/nintendo-rejected-natal-technology-666311


P.S 3:- The people at Sony too have a new device to try and beat the Wii-Remote. It's apparently called the Sony-Wand. For more visit:-


http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/02/sony-announces-new-ps3-motion-controller/


Not researched it myself, so can't comment much.But, on first impression it does look like a.........Nope I'll leave that to your imagination.