Andre Yoskowitz
27 Jan 2010 21:57
According to CVG, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was given the opportunity to sign up as part of the device that we now know as Project Natal, but declined because he felt they could not launch it at mass-market price.
The technology was demoed by Israel-based 3DV Systems in 2007, but Iwata and other executives declined to accept it as a Wii peripheral.
"Iwata-san only ever invests in something he can guarantee will work for a Nintendo audience," says an unnamed "top" executive, via CVG. "3DV showed off a camera that detected motion in 3D, and had voice recognition - but Iwata-San was unconvinced he could sell it at a Nintendo price point. He also had some worries around latency during gameplay."
Despite agreeing that Microsoft has improved on some aspects of the technology since it purchased 3DV last year, the exec adds: "What we witnessed at E3 was smaller and the facial [reading] stuff had improved, but it's the same technology. We remain unconvinced Natal will deliver on the more sophisticated elements of what Microsoft is promising at the price they're aiming for."