Rumor: Project Natal launch details leaked

by JC Fletcher on Nov 11th 2009 9:40AM

MCV reports that Microsoft has been showing Project Natal off to UK publishers this week, and filling them in on the launch plan. According to the site's unnamed sources, Microsoft plans to release the peripheral in November 2010, at a sub-£50 ($84) price point that could go as low as £30 ($50) when sold by itself. That price happens to match the price predicted by Michael Pachter last month.

MCV's sources say that Microsoft will have 5 million cameras ready for launch, with a "great launch line-up" of 14 games. While a November launch of a major video game item seems plausible even in a year overloaded with spring releases, this information remains unverified and, therefore, suspect. And we're tempted to say that the price is too good to be true. If it does turn out to be $50, our expression of delight may be the first thing the fancy camera sees.

Source

Tags: microsoft, project-natal, rumor, uk, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (80)

Hmm, Microsoft selling an accessory at a reasonable price? I'm skeptical.

Especially considering that's what Patcher predicted, too.

Yea.. this would be cheaper than their wi-fi adapter? That makes no sense...

Yeah, $50 is WAY too low to for me to believe.

I try to ignore anything analysts say, they're sort of like statistical buckshot. Sure they're mostly wrong, but they're bound to occasionally get something right so they still get to eat/get paid.

Besides any pricing information a year out is just pure speculation since Natal pricing will likely depend on the Sony motion controller pricing and success.

its just a camera guys. probably a shitty ass camera with some killer motion tracking software built in.

We can all change!
Leave Microsoft Alone!
She's a HUMAN!!!!!!

Although....maybe it's a bait and switch...like they want to get it into your house and then you'll feel like you need to buy hundreds of shovelware games to justify your purchase...

those scheming dirty bastards!

Why is it so hard to believe? Microsoft needs the price as low as possible to maximise sales. It's the same principle as a console launch, take a hit on the hardware to build an install base and recoup on the software.

This does not apply to wi-fi adapters, controllers, proprietary HDMI cables etc. because there is no residual income from them, Microsoft doesn't really give a shit if you want to use a wireless connection but if you do they want a tidy little profit from you. Microsoft does give a shit about getting 10 million Natal units sold as quickly as they can so they will sell it at a loss if need be.

You guys seem to be forgetting that Microsoft is treating Natal as a "console launch". They are probably willing to sell these at a loss to get them into as many homes as possible. If nobody buys them, then the entire thing is a failure. So I actually thing $50 is plausible.

1 wireless-N adapter: $100

1 Natal w/14 games: $80

This is a combination of MS selling something at a loss to gain traction and screwing us.

At $80, this well might net them the traction they need.

I still dont get who this is targeting, the 360 user base is not going to support this and the Wii's non-gaming owners already have a system. The camera doesn't do anything to make the console more impressive, heck we dont even know if it actually works outside of MS test booths. I have had a 360 since launch and if this doesn't appeal to me then exactly who are you selling this to? I realize MS wants to cash in on the new to gaming people out there but the 360 is not a console that can do that, it just doesnt have the right image from a marketing standpoint, and I hope MS doesnt plan on changing the consoles image because I would hate to see the 360 turn into the Wii.

It's a way to move 360s, as someone pointed out earlier. I'm skeptical, but if I see something looks cool, I'm willing to try it.

"I have had a 360 since launch and if this doesn't appeal to me then exactly who are you selling this to?"

Hey, Redmond! Did ya hear? This one guy says you ain't impressing him, so you might as well shutter the damn thing. Last one to leave please turn off the lights.

"I can see someone like CliffyB getting
annoyed by something like this to the point where he jumps back into
PC development."

That I'd like to see! : D

In this case, Microsoft has more clearly drawn the line, explicitly tying their motion device in with the blue-ocean gaming image, to the point where it's mostly inapplicable towards anything else

Natal could improve, of course, like all technology. But i don't think Microsoft will have a real winner on their hands unless they can smoothly integrate the Natal experience with everything else they've got going. When you try to clearly split your market thus, you really don't get anywhere

Unless they relaunch the whole thing with Natal there from day one.

I find this price estimate dubious, unless Microsoft is specifically trying a rather severe razor/blade thing, underprice the tech and hope to make it back up on the software

Well Microsoft did say they're looking at Natal as another console launch. Perhaps they're willing take the hit and hope that we'll all buy the 14 games to make up the price cut!

woa. u mean they actually perfected those humongous set ups in to those teeny weeny bar cameras? If u ask me i'm a little skeptical about this. And if this turns out to be true, I hope it's not gonna be a repeat where they rushed this out and it dies within a year (RROD....*shivers*) or worse still, it performs POORLY DD=, not in sales mind u but performance

I am a gamer and I am looking forward to this unit. A mutual friend of mine is on the team and he says it will be q4 2010. Just in time for the holidays. There is more than just game you can do with it.

I agree. I'm a gamer too and it has great potential to be something really neat for the living room, aside from just games (however this during parties sounds like a match made in heaven! Drunk people playing fun casual games with no controller!)

The price doesn't seem that off to me considering it's just cameras.

Whoa, that makes TWO gamers here. Weird. I mean, what is this, a gaming news website?!

Oh....

I'm worried it'll turn out to be as gimmicky as the Wii's controls. I wonder if this isn't just a play by Microsoft to grab onto some of the Wii's casual gamer marketshare, rather than be developed for more traditional gamers like ourselves.

I mean, business-wise, they've already "beaten" Sony as much as they can really expect to, but they haven't really targeted the Wii's customers yet, so perhaps this is just their effort to gain more marketshare. It might explain why Natal uses no controller; so that non-gamers will find it painless to use.

Sony's motion controller, on the other hand, is a controller, so perhaps they're designing it for more traditional gamers who have no problem with regular controllers. Although, it's still only got like one button on the thing so how hard could it be to use.

I'm reserving all judgement on these things till about a year after they both launch. It's all on the devs to see what they do with these things.

The fact that Johnny Lee is working on it is one of the things keeping my faith that this will be amazing. After seeing some of the stuff he did with a Wii and a laptop, it makes me wonder what he could do with a full team and finanical backing from Microsoft.

For fifty bucks I'll pick one up just for the awesome Minority Report style dash interfacing.

I hope they do a lot with this peripheral. I was reading somewhere about how some games will have such minor natal support. Such as an FPS game where you can wave your hand to signal squad members, or motion throwing a grenade to throw one, but still having to use the controller. It takes less time and effort to just press the grenade button. So really hoping this doesn't end up like the next eye toy or virtual boy.

I don't know, I felt the same way about the Wii. Lots of hype, very excited to try it out, and I was bored with it in 20 minutes. I'm getting the same vibe with Natal. We'll just have to see how game devs use it.

First of all, you weren't bored with the Wii in 20 minutes when you first tried it. Dislike the Wii all you want but I doubt that is true for anyone when they first popped in Wii Sports.

Secondly, I agree about hype getting the best of everyone. In the very beginning, everyone expected the Wii to work like it just now does with motion plus. I think everyone will be expecting Natal to work like Minority Report or something. I don't know if they can match the expectations, but if they can (and at that price) expect this to be big.

@uncle jessie

I got bored of it with 15mins.

See. I was right.

Actually Spyder, more people care about their useless avatars then you might think. Look at all the people that actually pay for new shirts, hats, and toys for their little counterparts. Avatars are now commonplace and will be on every console going forward, I guarantee it. And that's the same guarantee the Men's Warehouse gives so you know it's solid.

Guys, I need your help. Is it worth it? Because I kind of want it. Its $400 (1 xbox, 1 natal, +tax) and I don't want a wii. I already have the xbox though.

You already have a 360, but you are including it in the total cost for Natal? Also, no one has tried it and can't give you their opinion or feedback about how well it works.

I'm sorry, no one can help you.

Personally, I'm holding off till I see how the games use it. It could very easily be just a gimmick. Of course, if you were going to buy a 360 anyways, go for it, the chances of Natal being an absolute failure have to be pretty small.

I'm asking your opinion on it as what we have seen so far.

@Sandmonkey

Same thing we see with most Microsoft products. A lot of nothing. Personally it's in a gray area for me. Great concept, but lacking in content at the moment.

You already have a Xbox, just wait until it comes out and see for yourself. It probably won't be the same experience as a Wii...

I don't care if they sell it for $10. If there's not anything worth playing on it, and it's going to copy the Wii and have ridiculous amounts of shovelware and tech demo "games" then I'll have no problem forgetting it even exists about 10 minutes after launch.

Always the optimist.

tracy mcgrady would win finals MVP before tmac buys this.

The space between my gaming seat (OK, the end of my bed) and my gaming HDTV is 24", so any Natal game would have to involve simple arm movements rather than jumping around hitting balls. If they have a few decent games, fine. If not, I'll live without...

If they can release this thing at the same price point of a regular game, why not? It will probably come with some sort of mini game collection, too (if they're smart).

It should come with Ball Slapper. That's what it's called right?

A fun name, but no :P

Ricochet is the name.

$50 is a reasonable price (odd, for Microsoft), but it's still not worth it for a gimmick I've already played out with EyeToy and Wii already. I'm not saying this is inferior to Wii, just that well, Wii got there first and so I'm going to be less likely to jump on a new thing that just seems like it'll bring more flashy but shallow gameplay.

Well I have to get my Xbox fixed first. Hopefully the Natal won't just stop sending signal to the TV.

Makes sense, that’s MS’ strategy isn’t it, try to gain an early market lead with a product that’s garbage, then bleed your customers dry with hidden costs. They are looking at using Halo Reach and a low price (by MS standards – they would normally price this at $200) to get this thing into as many homes as possible and gain an early lead, even if the initial games are shoddy and even though the hardware isn’t even ready and tested yet (and they are planning a launch a year later?) Expect the Halo gang to lap this up, irrespective of how bad it is. And of course, you may buy the basic setup for $50, but there will be peripherals and add-ons. Expect MS to price them at 2-3 times market rates at that point. Same old story.

You limp dick fuckups are funny. You make love to the wii because of the concept, then you bash MS for having a similar, albeit different concept without ever actually seeing any software for it. I'm sure they'll have a mini-game collection or two, and why not, but considering that they're not the only ones making software for this, I'm inclined to be optimistic. The fact that the 360 isn't home to gobs of shovelware only bolsters my optimism.

Who shit in your corn flakes?

Look, Microsoft would *love* to have the amount of shovelware Nintendo has. Love it. So long as it isn't proving detrimental to consumer experiences overall (and it hasn't on Wii, if it's continuing software sales dominance is any indication), the manufacturers are busting for that kind of support as well, to make big money on licensing fees.

The reason 360 doesn't have quite so much shovelware is because of its inferior market position, as well as significantly higher development costs (though as others have pointed out, those higher dev costs only come with building quality games, so the point might be moot there)

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 50 Comments

Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment.

Breaking News

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days

Vita 'UMD Passport' won't be offered in US 217 comments
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning review: A tempting fate 150 comments
David Jaffe leaves Eat Sleep Play, layoffs hit developer [Update] 107 comments
Don't call it a remake: Final Fantasy X is a 'remaster,' to be clear 94 comments
Battleship movie adapted into FPS by Double Helix 90 comments

Rumor: Project Natal launch details leaked

Reader Comments (80)

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 9:49AM Moorbo said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 9:51AM ducttapeBigSexy said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 9:57AM HTCEVO said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 9:59AM bongoes said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 9:59AM Moorbo said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:11AM leemahi said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:22AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:55AM Petebot330 said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 11:51AM comradetrotskii said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 1:06PM Dismissile said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 1:24PM guttertalk said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 9:53AM BanditKing said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 9:59AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:22AM Jack Tretton said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 11:20AM RKN said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 9:57AM Mr Khan said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 9:58AM Mr Khan said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:04AM NaeemTHM said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:07AM Ex14 said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:07AM DiamondXP said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:16AM Chibi Chaingun said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:26AM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:28AM EatMoreBread said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 11:16AM R Planteer said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:08AM Vcize said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:15AM Spike Spiegel Humble Bounty Hun said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:20AM EatMoreBread said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:32AM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:50AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:55AM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:22AM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:24AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:28AM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:30AM EatMoreBread said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:31AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:34AM Spike Spiegel Humble Bounty Hun said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:34AM ShadowModder said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:29AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:36AM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 3:08PM PedoJokerBear said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:36AM mikepaul said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:38AM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 11:59AM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 5:50PM Ashitaka said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:41AM spin cycle said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:47AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:47AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:55AM oolz said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 1:05PM HTCEVO said

Posted: Nov 11th 2009 1:44PM Mr Khan said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

Double Fine returning to its adventure game roots with Kickstarter project

Featured Stories

Portabliss: Time Ducks (iOS)

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning review: A tempting fate

Portabliss: Sticky Bees (iOS)

The most popular postsin the last 7 days

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW

The most popular posts
in the last 7 days