Natal These Now!

Six franchises that would rock your controller-free life…and one that wouldn’t

If the Nintendo Wii has proven anything, it’s that you can’t just bolt on motion controls to a game not intended to have them and expect it to be any good. So we’ve mind-melded and thought outside the box, using what we know about Microsoft’s upcoming Project Natal to select a handful of top titles that would be enhanced with smart Natal support. Plus, we suggest five better names for this stunning new tech. Heck, our suggestions can’t be any worse than “Project Natal”!

WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw

What We Want to See: Signature moves are all the rage in the WWE, so why not use Natal to invent your own and use them on real athletes in the game? Ohhhh yeeeaaaaah!

Why It’d Be Cool: Pro wrestling is all about cheesy, staged fun. And what would be funnier than muscleless, skeletal nerds (like Ryan) doing flex poses in their living rooms after winning their matches? Or blocky, pale ones (like Corey), for that matter? Of course, parents and downstairs neighbors would likely go mental from gamers stomping the floor for their power moves, but series publisher THQ would laugh all the way to the bank.

Odds of Happening: 1:3 by WWE SvR 2011, 1:2 by WWE SvR 2012

Fable

What We Want to See: Pelvic thrusts! Farting! Flipping the bird! The heroes of Albion aren’t known for being chatterboxes, and communication in this fantasy action-adventure has always been expressed in the form of D-pad–driven gestures. Natal would be perfect for replicating these or creating your own.

Why It’d Be Cool: If you can’t have fun dancing, juggling, and flipping off your TV and being applauded by the onscreen characters for doing so, then you should probably try another entertainment medium, because videogaming clearly isn’t for you.

Odds of Happening: 2:1 for Fable III — Peter Molyneux is one of Natal’s biggest champions. It’s inevitable.

Sam & Max

What We Want to See: Using your hand/finger as a mouse cursor, picking up objects in the environment, and making a pistol with your thumb and forefinger to fire Sam’s hand cannon — all using Natal, while listening to the inane comedic ramblings of the wisecracking freelance police duo.

Why It’d Be Cool: “Finally, a way to instruct a character to pick his nose that makes the player feel as ashamed as the character does!” joked Telltale creative director Dave Grossman about our Natal idea. ”It’s a great leap forward for immersion gaming. Though I can’t quite figure out how we’ll get it to emulate Sam and Max’s famous no-hands driving style…” Added Sam & Max lead designer Brendan Ferguson: “Now when you throttle a punk, you really throttle a punk. (Free punk included with every Sam & Max purchase.)”

Odds of Happening: 1:1 for Sam & Max Season 4

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