All Future Epic Games Will Support Natal

09 Oct 2009 at 11:07:58 by Tim McDonald

Mark Rein, VP of Gears of War developer Epic Games, has stated that all of the company's future games will support Natal.

"We're just sitting down with [Natal] in the next two weeks I think, to bring our studio guys in to have a look," said Rein, chatting to OXM. "I have no idea what we're going to do from a game standpoint, but I think any future Xbox games we make will have some Natal support. We always want to have something that exploits the capabilities of the platform."

Rein believes that Microsoft's controller-less control system can work well with hardcore titles, you see. "I can totally see myself sitting in front of my TV with Natal to play games like Gears of War, Call of Duty, or whatever first-person shooter with my buddies. I want to do a hand signal that says 'Go over there.' Instead of even saying it on Live, I just want to motion 'Go over there.' Or if I want to throw a grenade, I just lift my right hand off the controller, throw the grenade then put my hands back on the controller."

However, the hardcore shouldn't be too terrified that Natal implementation might ruin their favourite games. "You wouldn't change Halo," Rein explained, "but you could, if you had Natal, at least to simplify some of the controls. [...] It's really easy to remember throwing a grenade when it's really throwing. I can see that working in multiplayer games, then get your hand right back on the controller and keep playing, stuff like that, maybe a wave, maybe a taunt."

"But I don't think that's necessary," he adds. "I don't think that's their goal, I don't think you need Natal for that kind of game."

So future titles from Epic will include some manner of Natal implementation, but we're unlikely to see the company create a hardcore game entirely driven by it - just the little things, it seems.

Epic isn't the only big company checking out Natal, though, and the list of publishers that has pledged to support Microsoft's control system is pretty impressive.

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