I sure hope for Microsoft‘s sake this isn’t true. Word on the street is that Project Natal (which won’t be the final name) will cost $150 and will launch in October. Considering Microsoft is aiming Natal at so-called casual gamers, what are the odds these people are going to shell out $150 to be able to play that paint-slinging game we’ve seen demoed over and over again?
Microsoft will also bundle Natal with a new edition of the Xbox 360 Arcade SKU, with a price of $299.
How on God’s green Earth does the Xbox 360, five years after its debut, still cost three hundred dollars? Is that not crazy to anyone else?
These prices come from one of Edge’s “trusted sources.” Edge doesn’t mess around, so I’d take these numbers pretty seriously.
All these motion controllers, Natal and PlayStation Move, are direct responses to the Wii’s success. That success happened several years ago. You have to figure that most of the “grandmas,” for lack of a better term, who bought a Wii to play Wii Sports with their grandchildren have already gotten their rocks off, so to speak? They have a Wii, it does what it does, and everyone’s happy. How many of these people will now shell out an extra $300 to play more casual games, particularly when the entire world economy is on its tippy toes? Who has an extra $300 lying around to play Silly Game? How many casual games are free on Facebook or whatever? It just seems sorta crazy to me.
I don’t know, but these prices don’t look good at all.