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Project Natal Release Details Emerge

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the watch-me-dance-computer dept.

scruffybr writes "Today the first information about the pricing and launch of Microsoft’s Project Natal has emerged. The pricing for the hardware will be much much lower than many had anticipated, coming in at around £50 when sold separately from the console. The idea being that it’s low enough that people will purchase on impulse."

37 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. As to what PN is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    For the confused: Project Natal (per Wikipedia).

    1. Re:As to what PN is... by sopssa · · Score: 5, Informative

      Wonder why summary left out the release date as it's a lot more interesting. Trying to get us to read TFA now?

      As for the hardware launch, November 2010 is being touted as the month of release, with around 14 games expected to be released in conjunction with the new device.

      So actually not that far in the future and with some games supporting it too. For example Wii's MotionPlus still only has 3 games in PAL region.

    2. Re:As to what PN is... by Cornflake917 · · Score: 2, Funny

      So will Sony's new control system that competes with Natal will be called Project Bortion?

      --
      Abaddon: An Xbox 360 Indie game
    3. Re:As to what PN is... by davester666 · · Score: 2, Funny

      So if everybody will just PLEASE STOP BUYING WII'S!!! Dammit!

      If you really want wireless controllers that you just wave around, just hold on another 12-24 months and we promise, and this time we really mean it, we will make something really great. It will be totally great.

      If we decide to actually follow through.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  2. long way by jDeepbeep · · Score: 4, Funny

    *sigh* And I still recall when I thought having a plastic gun for Duck Hunt was cutting edge.

    --
    Reply to That ||
    1. Re:long way by Nerdfest · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Conversely, I was playing skeet shooting on Wii Olympics at a party last night and was thinking that things really hadn't changed that much.

    2. Re:long way by MeatBag+PussRocket · · Score: 2, Funny

      As has American grammar, apparently.

      --
      i wage a holy war against the apostrophe.
  3. Maybe Natal has a chance after all? by grapeape · · Score: 4, Informative

    If its that low, Natal actually has a real chance of making a dent in their user base. Addon peripherals are always risky and usually end in less than stellar support but this sounds cheap enough to be bundled not only with the console but with hot titles much like Sony has done with Singstar and the Mics or Eyepets with the camera.

    There are already 14 development studios confirmed to be working on natal titles, including Lionhead, Rare, Activision Blizzard, Bethesda Softworks, Capcom, Disney Interactive, Electronic Arts, Konami, MTV Games, Namco Bandai, Sega, Square Enix, THQ and Ubisoft. Not a bad lineup for a peripheral, sounds more like a console lauch than a peripheral introduction.

    1. Re:Maybe Natal has a chance after all? by $1uck · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think you will see more of this, the console makers want to extend this "generation" out longer than previous ones. Instead of creating next gen consoles Sony and MS seem to be working on enhancing the current crop with things like this. I just hope that when the next generation does come around that they will be backwards compatible with all the games and addon hardware.

    2. Re:Maybe Natal has a chance after all? by grapeape · · Score: 4, Informative

      You mean something similar to Sony's initial funding deals for 40 PSN titles and their newer pub fund program which exchanges funding for exclusivity?

      http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2006/11/1-2

      http://www.ps3informer.com/playstation-3/news/sony-will-pay-devs-for-psn-exclusivity-010110.php

  4. Speculation... by xtracto · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yeah, 7 comments and nobody has mentioned that this is just speculation from some "tip" heard by mcvuk web page (which is down right now) and that pretty much all game news sites have been running?.

    I'll believe it when I see it.

    --
    Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
  5. realpeopleusedollars? by FTWinston · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Pfft. Real people use beans.

  6. Colbert said it best by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Colbert said it best.

    "Now a child who owns a skateboard and has the skills to ride a skateboard, will no longer have to ever ride a skateboard again."

    1. Re:Colbert said it best by hattig · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Now a child who doesn't own a skateboard, and doesn't have the skills to ride a skateboard, will no longer have the ability to play a game involving skateboards."

      You know, I press buttons on a controller because I can't actually fight/fly planes/race cars at 200mph/pilot spacecraft/do magic ... don't take these away from me!

  7. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  8. Re:$83 by CannonballHead · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Have you looked at how much clothes, especially "fashion" and "designer" women's clothes, cost? A lot of people spend $83 ... or more ... on impulse buys. At the mall. Or at Fry's...

  9. Purchase On Impulse? by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... coming in at around £50 when sold separately from the console. The idea being that it’s low enough that people will purchase on impulse.

    Maybe I am just a cheapskate...but isn't 50 pounds a little above the 'impulse buy' margin? Usually impulse buys for me run in the arena of $20.00 or less. 50 pounds converts to, according to google, $83.27. That's approaching that dreaded $100.00 limit. When I am walking through wal-mart stocking up on whatever I need, I rarely, if ever, see an $80.00 item and say, "Ooooh I need that!" and throw it in the cart. That's a week and a half's worth of groceries... I don't know, maybe I am the exception to the rule, but I think 50 pounds is a little on the high side to term it an 'impulse buy.'

    And yes, people can fill in all the snarky responses about, "Oh, well, since YOU wouldn't spend the money I guess NOONE would...its not like anyone else has DIFFERENT buying habits..." and so on. I am not trying to say that nobody will fork over eighty bucks for the Natal, but it just seems a little high to be deemed an impulse buy type item...I mean hell, I won't even impulse buy new release games that I am excited about and they retail for $60.00.

    But like I said, maybe I am just a cheapskate.

    --
    Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
    1. Re:Purchase On Impulse? by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No it is.. £50 is a lot for what sounds for all the world like a wiimote ripoff.

      £50 with a bundled game (where the game is £30-£40 anyway) makes more sense.

    2. Re:Purchase On Impulse? by bryansj · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You can't convert £50 into dollars using the exchange rate for something like this. If it follows the standard trend then it will be $50 in the US and £50 in the UK.

    3. Re:Purchase On Impulse? by chrysrobyn · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think OP was onto something when he defined an impulse buy as "in the area of $20.00 or less", and I don't disagree. The whole point being that £50, regardless of how you convert currencies, isn't an impulse thing. Admittedly, after looking at what MS charges for other XBox 360 accessories, anything short of $100 is a bargain.

    4. Re:Purchase On Impulse? by natehoy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'd say it's more the "next generation" wiimote.

      Keep in mind that I have never, ever owned a gaming console. But the wiimote was, by all accounts, a game changer. Instead of pushing buttons, you moved something you held in your hand. But it's still a handheld controller, and is in some ways a ripoff of a standard game controller - the "only" changes were that you had fewer buttons and you used actual motion of one arm to control the device. And it had a nasty habit of making holes in expensive large-screen televisions.

      With this unit, the "controller as a device on your person" is gone. You use actual body movements and voice to control the game, not just the movements of one arm on a unit that still has buttons. Not that this type of interface is totally new, but it is the first time it's being mass-marketed to such a low audience and is made affordable enough that just about anyone in a first-world country could scrape together the funds to get one, and to many this will be chump change.

      In other words, this appears to be to the wiimote what the wiimote was to a standard controller - the "next step forward" in making games more engaging.

      Of course, if this doesn't work well or is not implemented well, it's going to suck pretty badly. With a basic controller, you push da buttons and if something doesn't happen you either pushed the wrong button or you need a new controller because yours is busted. With a wiimote, you swirl the thing around and if it doesn't do what you want you either moved it wrong or you busted it last time it hit the wall. With this thing, it is potentially reading a lot more data from you, and a poorly designed game could go bad fast.

      This could lead to some really clever intuitive games, or it could lead to some really stupid games whose controls make us long for a couple of 4-way buttons on a plastic puck.

      --
      "This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
    5. Re:Purchase On Impulse? by Zerth · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It will be implemented badly. They've already stated it will only do gross motions and have limited resolution. It's the 2d camera version of the Sega Activator.

      While a lot of people like flailing about, I rather prefer to be a tool and play from the couch.

      Finger/hand tracking would be awesome. Limb tracking, not so much.

  10. well what about us poor Americans? by JeanBaptiste · · Score: 3, Funny

    at that price it could be 3000 USD by the time it comes out...

  11. Link dead. by jargon82 · · Score: 2, Informative

    "Account has been suspended"

    1. Re:Link dead. by Mercution · · Score: 3, Informative

      You can find more details from here. Plenty of other places are commenting on them but most sight mcvuk.com as their source. Google News Articles on Natal Details

  12. Well... by frito_x · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Reminds me of the Wii that supposedly had plenty of developers on board to make new and exciting games for the then-revolutionary wiimote... we all know how that turned out.

    one of the funny things in the natal tech demos i've seen on youtube is how one of the presenters takes cheap shots at the wii's "waggling" of the remote and how stupid and silly blah blah blah... and then watching them arm-waving and making awkward poses to "draw" an elephant (pretty silly IMO) i wonder how much different natal is going to be.

    Not that much, judging by the demos i've seen so far. Hope i'm wrong, though.

    1. Re:Well... by cowscows · · Score: 2

      It's doing alright, depending on what sorts of games you enjoy playing. Despite all the talk about "changing the way we play games", Nintendo has gone pretty middle-of-the-road with the Wii, hence the Wiimote including buttons and not being 100% reliant on movement. In fact, Nintendo has released games for the Wii that are primarily intended to have you hold the wiimote sideways and basically use it like an old-school controller.

      The motion sensing is really cool and fun when it gets integrated properly into a type of gameplay that it's appropriate for. It is annoying and stupid when developers map random motions to random actions within a game just because they feel compelled to because it's a Wii game.

      As for the performance of the wiimote hardware itself, it was never quite as accurate as a lot of people expected. Generally movements didn't really translate 1 to 1 in terms of things on the screen moving exactly like you moved the remote. There is also often a little bit of lag with the remote, which can be noticeable and annoying depending on what type of game you're playing. Nintendo has recently released an small add-on attachment to the controller that is supposed to make it more accurate. It definitely makes a difference in the few games I've played that take advantage of it, but I don't have enough experience with it to say for sure.

      At the end of the day, I don't think that the wiimote has "killed" the traditional buttons based controller. But then again, I don't think Nintendo ever intended it to, and even if they once thought that that might be possible, they've since decided that buttons are here to stay.

      If you haven't had the chance to try out a Wii controller, you should give it a shot, it's pretty amusing.

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

  13. Re:$83 by pankkake · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You don't seem to know many women.

    --
    Kill all hipsters.
  14. Re:$83 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Obviously you have not met a woma...

    Oh right, this is slashdot.

  15. Re:Awesome by FredFredrickson · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's actually quite brilliant. The technology won't catch on if it costs too much- but if it becomes pretty much a standard, MS just opened a brand new venue for games, it's like the 360 is brand new again.. giving them a steady new influx of cash before the next system is unveiled.

    For the first time, I feel like MS is making a move on future planning, not just on a quick dollar today. Great move MS. I've always been surprised how well they market the 360 in comparison with the rest of their failures. Zune, anyone?

    --
    Belief? Hope? Preference?The Existential Vortex
  16. Too bad many more people by Shivetya · · Score: 2, Informative

    would not look at phone, cable/sat, etc, contracts the same way.

    I know people paying more per month for cell or tv service than this device costs! It is all about context. To some of us $100 is impulse, to others its "do I eat" or can I put it on lay away, and to some its a "tip".

    This is a great price in the realm of video controllers, let alone the possibilities it opens up. Think of it as the razor, they will get you on the blades (games)

    --
    * Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
  17. Re:$83 by natehoy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Clothes are not really the "impulse" item, accessories are. That $80 handbag is a "must have" accessory when seen with the two $120 dresses, but the intended purchase was a $240 in dresses. The handbag is an impulse buy that, in the buyer's mind, adds perceived value to the purchase already made that is more than the money spent. So the dresses are not an "impulse" item, but the handbag sure is.

    In the same vein, if you are going in to spend $240 on 4 new games, and you see a controller that could potentially make all four games more fun, $80 could be a "must have" accessory. If it makes all four games twice as much fun, or you think it might, then it's a no-brainer to add that to the cart, right?

    That's impulse. The "hey, in the context of what I'm doing right now, this item seems really important to me in relation to its price".

    --
    "This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
  18. And you thought Wii remotes were bad? by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 3, Funny
    I figure 2 weeks of general release before we're getting stories about people throwing themselves out of windows with Natal.

    Not so bad if you're in a house, but God help the guy on a penthouse balcony.

    --
    Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
    1. Re:And you thought Wii remotes were bad? by nedlohs · · Score: 2, Funny

      They just need to tie the ankle strap to their ankle and the couch.

  19. Re:How did it turn out? by Cochonou · · Score: 2, Informative

    They've sold about 360 million of games. Compare this with 166 million of games for PS3, and 288 million of games for the Xbox 360.

  20. Re:Awesome by MeatBag+PussRocket · · Score: 2, Insightful

    its not an xbox 360, its an attachment _for_ an xbox 360. imagine a $75-100 wii-mote (depending on exhange rates)

    --
    i wage a holy war against the apostrophe.
  21. Re:Awesome by binarylarry · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oh man, this is gonna be the biggest thing since the Virtual Boy!

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!