E3: Microsoft's Kim: Games Can Update to Use Natal

Author: by Brandon Sheffield, Kris Graft

As part of Project Natal’s E3 debut, Microsoft is showcasing a version of Burnout Paradise which uses the new motion-tracking camera. Players hold their hands up as though they were gripping a steering wheel, and make motions as though they were in a car. In an interview with Shane Kim, Microsoft’s corporate VP of strategy and business development in the games group, Gamasutra inquired whether it would be possible for third party publishers to patch their existing games to work with Natal. “Yeah, all those details will come out,” Kim hinted, “but our goal again is to make this compatible with existing Xbox 360s.” Microsoft not only sees this as a possibility, Kim encourages publishers to do just that, going forward. “Hopefully publishers will look at it and decide they want to do that,” he said. “Whether they’ll enhance existing games or use them in games going forward.” Kim also used the Burnout Paradise compatibility as an example of ease of integrating the technology into games – development kits for which are going out this week. “It’s a great example of just how simple it is to adapt a game,” Kim said. “It’s not like we went into the source code (of Burnout Paradise). You can take an existing game, and make it work.”