Sony didn't want Natal tech

Written by Joe Martin

March 30, 2010 | 10:41

Tags: #natal #playstation-eye #ps3

Companies: #microsoft #sony

Sony's R&D spokesperson Dr Richard Marks has commented that the console maker investigated 3D motion-sensing cameras similar to Microsoft's Natal, but ultimately rejected them.

According to Dr Marks, Sony felt the camera technology was far too unreliable to be worth rolling out, not to mention expensive too.

Going further, Dr Marks said that, while he was personally a fan of the underlying technology, 3D cameras didn't really enable enough unique gameplay to distinguish them from the existing PlayStation Eye camera.

"We tried a lot of different 3D cameras. I love the 3D camera technology; personally, I like the technology part of it," Dr Marks said on The Engadget Show.

"We worked closely with our game teams at what it would enable, and it enabled making the things we already did with EyeToy more robust, but it didn't really enable as many new experiences as what we were hoping it would enable, so it made the things we were already able to do a little bit more robust - which is good - but it adds a lot of cost and it didn't enable some of the other experiences we wanted to achieve."

Instead, Sony elected to develop the PS Move motion controllers instead, the glowing bulbs of which can be easily picked up by the PlayStation Eye to allow similar functionality with greater reliability, especially in low-light conditions.

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