Natal could add "Minority Report-type feeling" to console RTS

Speaking to VG247 at Develop today, Endwar dev boss Michael de Plater has suggested that Natal could breathe new life into the difficult world of console RTS.

"Natal doesn't only have the camera, but the microphone as well," he said. "The combination of voice and gesture could be really powerful and immersive.

"You could definitely drag selection boxes, and you could definitely point with enough precision to tell people where to go."

He added: "You'd absolutely have that Minority Report-type feeling."

The Ubisoft chief - now moved from heading up the company's Shanghai studio to Montpelier in France - cited the appearance of upcoming RTS RUSE working on Microsoft's touch-screen Surface table at E3 this year as an example of how Natal may affect console strategy.

"One of the coolest things I saw at E3 this year was RUSE being played on a Surface table," he said.

"Obviously, not everyone's going to have a Surface table, but on the Surface you're playing with gestures. You're moving your hands to select, and you're pointing. They're really intuitive natural gestures.

"If the technology works, so you could translate the interface they've already got working really well on RUSE into Natal, it could work very, very well."

There's no date on Natal's release as yet.