Rumor: Natal part of new Xbox console, due Fall 2010

by Christopher Grant { Jun 13th 2009 at 8:59AM }

Remember when Shane Kim acknowledged that the Project Natal launch would be more like a console launch than a simple peripheral launch, saying, "Conceptually, the launch of Natal will be like the launch of Xbox 360"? Well, 1UP is reporting that, if its sources are correct, the Natal launch will be a new console launch! "Microsoft will not only release Natal as an add-on for the Xbox 360, it will come standard with the next Xbox console," 1UP writes. "Yes, there will be a new Xbox console next fall."

Lest you think this is going to be a simple bundle, Natal camera included, 1UP "heard it will be considered a new platform and carry a new name (Xbox Natal?)." Suddenly, we're reminded of the rumored Valhalla chipset, which would combine the 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU into one superchip, with reduced cooling and power demands. With that, Microsoft could make a smaller – more Wii-esque if you will – Xbox console, perfect for the mainstream consumer.

Incidentally, that chipset is expected sometime around 2010 which is precisely when 1UP pegs the new console's launch: "sources point to next year's Game Developer's Conference as the target for its unveiling and Fall 2010 as the target for release." So, a slightly upgraded Xbox 360 coupled with the Natal camera, targeted towards your parents? Just because we're leaving the speculation there, doesn't mean you have to. Sound off in the comments!

Gallery: Project Natal

Tags: Project-Natal, Rumor, Xbox-Natal

Related From Joystiq

Report: Console life cycles grow as big three share the market
28 days ago
Project Natal focus on 'brand-new experiences' not 'little Natal components'
29 days ago
Greenberg: 'millions of Natals in consumer's homes this holiday'
29 days ago

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

kingheff1 @ Jun 13th 2009 9:02AM

A Wii60? Might be interesting.

Spartan @ Jun 13th 2009 9:28AM

By your powers combined...

THA1icarus @ Jun 13th 2009 9:48AM

xbox360 slim....

Ejab @ Jun 13th 2009 10:21AM

THA1icarus is right, its not going to be a "new console" its going to be the same 360 with a redesign and maybe a name change, Like the ds -> ds lite.

1up is full of idiots just trying to get hits on their garbage website.

Mic2000 @ Jun 13th 2009 10:40AM

Time for some new 3D Next-Gen Xbox renders!

Dummy00001 @ Jun 13th 2009 11:25AM

@Ejab: "Like the ds -> ds lite."

Or "DS -> DSi". DSi included new features. Nothing precludes MS to make a new console with new features, 100% BC with Xbox360.

First wave of Natal games would surely be "ports" of Wii mini game collections which are well suited for DD. The new console from MS, along with Natal, might finally include HDD by default, making it non-optional.

Badboy1979 @ Jun 13th 2009 11:44AM

If I had to guess, this will just be a new SKU launch... in 2010 you'll probably be able to pick from:

1) Xbox 360 Arcade - Hard drive included this time around tho smaller than what's in the Pro version being sold.

2) Xbox 360 Pro - same as today with maybe a 120GB HD since right now its seems like the Elite is being phased out and only being sold with new bundles (ex. GOTY Bundle)

3) Xbox 360 Natal - comes with the new chipset to reduce heat and some sort of harddrive. When it comes out it'll be the first SKU you can get with the new chipset (kinda how they did when they introduce the new Arcade and Pro SKUs) and eventually that smaller chipset will be included in all future 360s SKUs to reduce errors across the board.

The Natal SKU will have the camera bundled in as some sort of attachement ... I don't think it will be built into the 360 since, as others have pointed out, that would mean you'd have to position the whole console so that you're visible to the camera.

It'll probably coincide with the launch of the NXE 2.0 which take advantage of gesture and voice controls and a new video connectivity app that combines what Natal can do with the strength of Xbox Live.

That's what my sources (aka the bottom of that bottle last night) tell me! :)

Clutch_beast @ Jun 13th 2009 11:53AM

I heard they're reducing the size and weight by 40%, but they're taking out the GBA slot and UMD drive.

whookid @ Jun 13th 2009 12:10PM

Sounds like microsofts oppurtunity to maybe stick some bluray in there as well. Probably wont though...

Wii60 @ Jun 13th 2009 1:06PM

What do you mean "might" be interesting?

I think I'm downright fascinating.

MrKlorox @ Jun 13th 2009 11:27PM

@Badboy1979:

Was that bottle a bottle of Robitussin? Alcohol certainly doesn't let one project that clearly. I would agree with this post.

Wes @ Jun 14th 2009 5:01PM

I like the thinking of a xbox 360 slim model. I'd just hope the hard drive it comes with would be an SSD hard drive that way they can reasonably justify the hd prices like $100.00(on sale) for 60GB. Just imagine how fast games loading from the hard drive would go if you had a nice SSD with say 300MB/sec read/write speeds versus conventional hard drives 30ish MB to 50ish MB.

Dash board to mass effect loading time cut down to 1/10th? Elevator rides 10x faster than they already are with hdd installation? That would be sweet.

douglas.otoni @ Jun 13th 2009 9:04AM

maybe without RROD ?

The Baron @ Jun 13th 2009 9:38AM

If the new hardware rumour is to be believed then that sounds likely. Plus, I doubt they'd launch a new one without rigorously making sure something like the RRoD debacle isn't going to happen again.

Bahamett @ Jun 13th 2009 9:50AM

Yeah instead of RROD it will be BROD (Blu-Ray of Death)

It literaly scratches the shit out of your $60 disc and renders it unusable.

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Jun 13th 2009 10:22AM

no no no...the NEXT Xbox IS going to SO much like a PC it will have Windows on it and in turn get BSoD(Blue Screen of Death)

The Baron @ Jun 13th 2009 11:09AM

That would actually be quite a coup for microsoft. If they made it basically a PC with Windows (but with the whole console mass-produced nature making it cheap, and with a choice of controller or keyboard/mouse input). Then they could launch games that would be both PC and compatible/optimised for Xbox.

Thereby solving the problem of whether to focus on their Games for Windows or Xbox platforms.

Jomolungma @ Jun 13th 2009 11:27AM

Given their experience with the 360, I can't see MSFT ever producing another piece of hardware that has any red rings on it, anywhere.

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Jun 13th 2009 11:30AM

Baron they would have to make it so the games played as SOON as you put them in tho and not have to be installed like PC games....

Roto13 @ Jun 13th 2009 1:26PM

"Yeah instead of RROD it will be BROD (Blu-Ray of Death)

It literaly scratches the shit out of your $60 disc and renders it unusable."

That's already a feature in some 360s.

The Baron @ Jun 13th 2009 2:01PM

They could easily do that for the Xbox and give you an optional install on regular PC's for better graphics.

MrKlorox @ Jun 14th 2009 4:14AM

My friend's Jasper unit RROD'd last month. Neither of mine has yet to, although my first one's disc drive tends to get so hot it stops responding -- luckily full game DL's are in the near future but unluckily that the drive failure anomaly isn't common enough to be covered by the extended warranty.

Courtney @ Jun 14th 2009 11:32AM

The N-DOD? The Natal Dance of Death, if you move in just the right way with Natal, it causes the entire console to burst into flames.

ToTheMoon @ Jun 14th 2009 1:58PM

>>Given their experience with the 360, I can't see MSFT ever producing another piece of >>hardware that has any red rings on it, anywhere.

Yeah, that's right - given their experience with Windows 98 ME, I can't see MSFT ever producing another piece of crap OS... oh wait... Vista. ;)

Cj @ Jun 13th 2009 9:05AM

A new SKU, ok. I was afraid that the 720 was already coming. A slim Natal 360 would be pretty nice.

Cj @ Jun 13th 2009 9:19AM

But now I think about the HDD. The current HDD is as wide as the 360. So if a slim 360 were to come out, how would the HDD fit?

Spartan @ Jun 13th 2009 9:29AM

It wouldn't, you'd be forced to buy a new one.

glitched @ Jun 13th 2009 10:07AM

my sources say the slim natal 360 will also have a blu ray player built in.

Cal @ Jun 13th 2009 10:28AM

They could always make it so that rather than clipping onto the console, old HDDs can be connected via some kind of adapter or cable, while the new 360s have upgradeable 2.5" or 3.5" HDDs... We can dream....

MystileArmor @ Jun 13th 2009 11:16AM

@ Glitched

By sources.. you mean... your ass? Right?

PSN: John-Paul-Jones @ Jun 13th 2009 12:14PM

A lot of the current 360s can't even handle the heat inside (RRoD) so I find a slim 360 hard to believe, but obviously with technological adcancements I don't see why Microsoft can't create one. Let's just hope this is the real deal for a more future proof RRoD

NoughtSoClever @ Jun 13th 2009 12:35PM

I can image a small, disc-less system with a sizable hard drive built in. Gamer are download only casual titles at first. Single chip gpu/cpu. Might not even come with any controllers, just the camera. Not here to replace the 360, just instead to accompany it. It will be aimed at the casual market. It will be cheap in an attempt to 'dethrone' the Wii. Just a guess

Alex @ Jun 13th 2009 12:57PM

It could go on top, and just click in the same way. i.e., if the 360 is on it's side, the would be in line with the Wireless Adapter holder-thing.

Nebenator @ Jun 13th 2009 2:04PM

Or maybe an adapter bundles in for "old" hard drives

Omega2k3 @ Jun 13th 2009 7:01PM

If they make a slim 360, the hard drive would need to attach to the top, eliminating the stupid hardware design that makes either your disc drive or your hard drive sideways. I would cheer loudly at an announcement of that calibur.

Because I'm just that picky about my tech design.

Dadidito @ Jun 13th 2009 9:08AM

Good, Ill definately buy one just so I can stop this RROD nonsense. Still waiting for my new boxless sticker to arrive so I can get my 360 to work. Im having withdrawal symptoms. :) Hope they also put in a real hard drive in the thing too. Still don't understand the lack of fairly priced hard drive options.

Dummy00001 @ Jun 13th 2009 11:31AM

> Good, Ill definately buy one just so I can stop this RROD nonsense.

But in mean time you might also want to buy a spellchecker.

HeyTone @ Jun 13th 2009 9:10AM

Couldn't this just mean there will be a new sku that includes the Natal? That's how I originally interpreted the press conference - he said it would be bundled with future consoles.

I think at this point the 360 is already established itself as a recognizable brand/console. I hope if they do change the form factor, it isn't too drastically unrecognizable as what we know an xbox 360 to be.

Christopher Grant @ Jun 13th 2009 9:10AM

Right, it COULD mean that but 1UP is reporting something slightly different.

HeyTone @ Jun 13th 2009 9:12AM

Or, even better, the same sku's with a newly included Natal?

At the same price point? I can dream.

JoeTheBlow @ Jun 13th 2009 10:13AM

Trouble is that these days MS is run by the marketing dept, who are retarded fuckwits who have done disaster after disaster since Bill stepped down.

Now the subject of their meetings is not how to take down Sony anymore, its all about the Wii and how to grab some of that lovely Family/Casual pie.
They know they have NO chance of doing this with the 360, no matter how many versions of Lips or Movies they put out, so them being desperate enough to try this doesn't surprise me.

Way to fracture an already heavily splintered userbase, fuckwits!

Alistair Azimuth PSN: johnnynumber5 @ Jun 13th 2009 3:50PM

It's going to be a redesigned 360 bundled with "Natal". Nothing more and nothing less. It's pretty much past time that they did a redesign to eliminate all the cooling issues the 360 has had since it launched. I've been waiting for a redesign before buying another one and if it's priced right and has the same functionality I'll pick one up. Again, it's going to have to be priced where the Arcade is (or lower) to merit a purchase and I would imagine many feel the same way. New form factor is great but I don't really care about natal ... so let's hope if it is redesigned they sell it without Natal or just take the Natal price hit themselves to get the product in peoples hands.