Greenberg: 'millions of Natals in consumer's homes this holiday'

You know what's a good way to kill a multi-billion dollar franchise? Tie it to an expensive, gimmicky add-on...

The people at E3 '09 pronounced it "nay-TAL" with the second "a" sounding like the "a" in "apple".

I thought it was pronounced "boiyoyoyoyoing".

Nah-tal. Portuguese pronunciation, since the name comes from the city in Brazil.

it could be the natal region in africa, my guess is it's the natal related to birth. no matter what this name is even more retarded than 360.

I don't know about that, Chris, they also package the current camera with "You're In the Movies" for $20.

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Live-Vision-Camera/dp/B000GCGB3M/ref=sr_1_36?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1263092396&sr=1-36

if it is $50 for Natal I will be shocked....sure MS wants to get it in as many homes as possible but I don't think they will make it that cheap in order to try to do that. I mean they are trying to go after the Wii market but what they fail to realize is that Grandma isn't going to buy a 360, neither are most of the soccer moms.....

they'll be lucky to sell a quarter of a million. Honestly I have a feeling that the majority of gamers are "ho-hum" about it because it hasnt yet been proven to be anything but sloppy and laggy.

Quick someone save this thread.

Chris will be eating those words all too soon.

eating my words?? me?? lol

I Really don't see MILLIONS of people going out to buy this....I mean its NOT Halo....NOT Call of Duty....NOT Gears of War.....its a damn camera that tracks movement, and has voice control support....a lot of people have no need for that or any interest in it....remember we here on Joystiq are are in the know, and a lot of us aren't sold on it.....why do you honestly think the wii audience is goin to be sold on it enough to go out and spend $250-$300 on all needed to play this?

I agree with you Chris... I've never seen an add-on do extremely well (and I would consider extremely well to be 50% adoption rate). Power glove, light guns, Playstation 2 network adapter, qwerty keypads....etc...

The most successful add-on I've seen in recent history is the Wii fit and that has about a 33% adoption rate (based on what I've gleamed from vgchartz.com) and that is pretty gimmicky. It's like a gym membership, 95% of the people who get one let it languish in 1-2 months.

Microsoft would have been better off releasing with a brand new xbox and give it more time to develop. Heaven knows they are not a patient company in terms of getting things working the first time around (and this goes back to the Windows 3.1 days) so the extra time would be paramount to overcome their quality control issues they have become known for.

Since they've said they're treating this like a console launch, coupled with the estimated low price of the peripheral, I would say that the possibility of millions of Natals being sold by the end of the year is total feasible. It'll probably launch in November at the latest, possibly earlier.
So, at minimum, the timeframe for those numbers would be 2 months (beginning of Nov through the end of Dec). For a heavily marketed, low cost device with games included, plus sales of the Natal pack-in xbox 360 consoles, 2 million or more seems reasonable.

ToTheMoon

It's kind of an apples to oranges comparison since the PS3 or Xbox serves as peoples entertainment device, not just a video game console. Considering you can't even watch DVD's on the Wii.

Those crazy addons like Xbox Live is such a failure right?

The PS2 Network adapter was pretty late in the consoles lifecycle and broadband then wasn't what it is today. Playing with people on dial up wasn't fun then either.

The statement you made about Microsoft is true of a lot of companies. Apple's 1st Gen iPhone had problems as well, and when I bought my PSP it had dead pixels. That's what happens when you're an early adopter of anything.

Such narrow minded statement.

We don't know how the thing will sell, but I can tell you when they start bundling Natal with the console it might sell very well. There are 350 million people in the U.S. There are families out there that want casual games like that on the Wii, that still have made the purchase. When they stack up the features of a bundled Natal / Xbox combo with that of a Wii, they may very well just get the Xbox 360 if they're at a similar price point.

With the Xbox you get real online play, can watch your DVDs, rent HD movies and TV shows, huge variety of games for everyone in the family. Causal games for mom and pop, MW2 for the boys, Bejewled and Peggle for the girls. The opportunity is there and that's why MS is a billion dollar company, Sony is a billion dollar company, and Nintendo is a billion dollar company.

And if you look at things this generation agree with MS or not, but they have been very successful in what they have done. They've made a lot of money selling accessories.

Shit look @ Rock band and Guitar Hero. Perfect examples that addon sell well. Your thinking is late 90's at best.

Ok so Natal is an add-on....we got that....

but what add-on has sold MILLIONS in a few months?? Something similar....not a damn band kit...the closest thing I can think to compare this to is the Wii Motion+ and thats on the Wii...a system which has a larger install base than the 360 and I dont even think that did millions in a few months in the US......

Chris,

The band kits are perfect reference points. Beatles Rock Band is like $250. That's more than the damn console in some cases.

If people are willing to shell out $250 for 1 game that is saying a lot.

Really, what is more bold by a company? Selling plastic guitars that can really only be used by 1 genre of games or trying to sell a camera for 3/4 the price of the guitar, that has the possibility to be used in thousands of different types of games.

The Wii addon sold tons because of software. Wii Sports was a system seller for Nintendo, Wii Sports Resort is what is selling Wii Motion Plus.

It's the software that sells the hardware Chris. People would not have purchased those plastic guitars if the software sucked.

Again, until we can see what the software can do for Natal, we really won't know what it can do.

thats the thing....those Band sets are getting a LOT of use out of them, and the people that buy those can see that use so they justify it with a purchase.....

Natal on the other hand is good Tech....but all the marketing in the world won't make the soccer moms and grandparents go buy a fancy camera that I can tell to play movies for me....or that I can use to talk to the grandkids.....

Natal on the other hand is good Tech....but all the marketing in the world won't make the soccer moms and grandparents go buy a fancy camera that I can tell to play movies for me....or that I can use to talk to the grandkids.....

What you said basically makes no sense. You're comparing 2 things at different times. People buy the band set because they're getting a lot of use? What about when they first came out and no one had one? Where was the justification to purchase it then?

So the rock band stuff is bad tech then?

All the marketing in the world, you know those ads with Metallica, Tony Hawk, Kobe Bryant, A-Rod... they weren't enough to convince soccer moms to buy those for their kids? Yeah, I guess that's why no one bothered purchasing them. No one bought those $100 to $250 band kits.

In the other comment you claim everyone has a Wii, but some are still being sold as gifts to their grandparents. Aww... so perhaps that's what MS realizes as well. So these gift giving grandkids might make an informed decision to purchase grammy a Natal because now she doesn't have to worry about syncing the Wii remotes, worrying about dead batteries? All she has to do is move her hands like she would with the Wii, but now she doesn't have to worry about throwing the Wiimote.

Yeah, it will never sell.... you're right.

Another example was DDR in the PS2 era. How many people bought those dance pads? They sold millions I'm sure.

I can't even recall any marketing for DDR besides seeing people play it at the arcade.
And I know those rock band games are much more popular.

All it takes is for people to try the tech out to know if they'd like it.

How often do we hear some douche bag say, "Why not learn to play the real guitar?"

So quick to dismiss something that really is so fun. That's what you sound like.

Hahaha I was just going to say that same thing... one of the few times that there was hesitation as to whether my natural desire to make a fist upon seeing him would manifest itself....

in the end, it did.

On topic: don't know how I feel about Natal. I'll use it, then I'll come to a conclusion. Other than that, not going to give it any further thought.

"- The games and software that will be available"

This is my main concern

Things I don't care about yet:

Project Natal.

lol

Diddle Stix 3000 (now equipped with clown nose)

I don't recall the PS1 bombing, actually I thought it sold pretty well.

I concur!

PS1 did fairly well

Worldwide sales figures
PlayStation – 102.49 million
Nintendo 64 – 32.93 million
Sega Saturn – 9.5 million

"Behold, thus saith Tmac, The Seer! Yea, his words roll forth like a pestilence upon the face of the land and who can rise up and withstand? Verily, he typeth and thy internets are hushed in anticipation, yea, he thinketh and thy reason cometh to naught."

- Book of Joystiq 15:8

Is this really Tmac? He never was this open before.

Yeah it's really me. Ever since that disastrous E3 conference, with the girl dancing and flailing around like an idiot while "playing" natal I've said that it needs to fail and die. Gaming is so much more nowadays than what gimmicky motion controls can do. After playing the Wii, I'm even more convinced of that.

I think he means the playstation's one. As in the Playstation Motion Controller.

@ wre

i loled.

Well, if the PS motion controller didn't look like a sex toy, it'd be better. At least it's proven to work rather well.

Alas, it's an embarrassment to look at and hold...

@Bradwart

dude, dont worry, its also proven to let you play on expert on foreplay. No shame to hold it.

I don't know, but I've got a few for people who are still using that tired punchline.

RedEye