“There is a rumor going around that Project Natal, because of the way it utilizes the ultra violet spectrum, is not completely functional for gamers with darker skin.”
So goes the news report on VGChartz (link removed, see below). I, for one, think this is just a play to the (highly recommended btw) comedy TV Show Better Off Ted whose episode 4 Racial Sensitivity tagline is: “A new motion-sensor system creates racial problems when it proves unable to sense darker skin.”.
Well, well, well. Who is being made a fool of, here? I mean, come on, Microsoft didn’t test this technology with “dark skinned people”? This problem is just cropping to the surface, right now? I, for one, think it’s hilarious, even though it’s not really fresh material seeing that the same kind of joke aired on TV just recently.
UPDATE: VGChartz has removed the article in the meantime, it’s no longer on their website. They explain it on the VGChartz Twitter account on reply to user “litheon” as follows:
“@litheon We do fact check. We are reliable. We reported that story as a rumor. Then decided it shouldn’t even be that and removed it.”
They also said they were one of about 20 sites reporting the rumor. Which, personally, makes me wonder what kind of journalism spreads rumors like these which are – given some form of common sense and an intellectual individual – should at least have a sentence added to it questioning the rumor. A rumor which – given a little bit of school science knowledge – can be easily debunked as highly improbable, to say the least. And common sense would tell you that given that the players aren’t naked but wearing fabrics of varying kind and color, the amount of skin exposed to Project Natal’s camera can be as low as 10-20% (my best guess).
Which isn’t to say that some people wouldn’t be playing with 100% skin exposed, though. You can get the idea from this Penny Arcade comic (look closely): 
I’m curious … why do so many people dismiss Microsoft’s Project Natal as being casual? Of course it’s casual. Remember: we as “hardcore gamers” are an absolute minority. We aren’t even the tip of the iceberg, we are merely the ice cube put on the tip of the iceberg. Plus, we actually happen to enjoy the casual stuff as well – if only we weren’t so dickheaded and would actually admit it. First and foremost to ourselves.
And in this light Penny Arcade’s comic hits it straight on (pun intended):
UPDATE: i find it interesting how many people find my blog and specifically this post in search for the keyphrases Natal sucks. Wow, you just really hate the fact that Microsoft is about to release an additional device for your Xbox360! How about just ignoring Natal if you don’t like it? There’s no need to buy it then, right? It won’t affect your gaming experience. It doesn’t have to if you don’t allow it. It’s completely optional. Or do you hate the thought that suddenly your mom might want to occupy your Xbox360? And did you also search for “pink Xbox 360 controller sucks”? No, according to google you did not.
In a way it reminds me of the all too common criticism against EA’s sports titles. It’s the same every year and costs as much as any other game. I’m not going to buy it. Whine, whine. So, you don’t buy it, maybe only every other year as i did most of the time. Then you get enough fresh new material for your money. In the meantime, shut up. It’s just a business model that works, it doesn’t mean that the millions of players buying the same game every year are the same buyers. There are a lot of them, and if that’s what they do, let them. But there’s also a lot more who don’t buy the same sports game each and every year but when they buy it, they want to buy the current version. Not the one that’s two or three years old.
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