This is moving into Sega territory. Are they going to hold off the XB720 launch to 2015 in order to sell the Natal? Won't that simply beg Nintendo to cut off the Natal's ovaries by releasing the Wii2 in 2012? Will core gamers see this as being abandoned?

Really the smart thing would have been to take their lumps this generation (and to be fair, the 360 is doing leagues better than the XBox in every measurable way, so these are tiny lumps we're talking about) and then put the Natal in with the neXt Box.

I don't think that's quite the point they're making here.  This is more about how the launch of the peripheral will be APPROACHED.  They are going to approach retail release and marketing as if it were a new console launch.  Therefore they will look to secure quality titles and experiences that reach out to core, casual and new gamers.  The PS3 motion controller+camera and Wii Motion+ will have their games and most likely familiar experiences while this will have the sparkle of "the new". 

Pachter (and others) said that this tech isn't near as expensive as people think and would expect if released today it would cost between $50-100 (here is a link to where he states this: http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/bonusround/305?ch=3 ).  In a years time, that should drop even more.  Bundle this with the right game and integrate it into the dashboard experience and it could do really well.  This would also be right timing for another significant price drop for the console as well.

For the record, I would never, EVER question the Xbox divisions ability to market something.  And based on the media response already and crowd reactions from public displays of the tech, the marketing for this won't be very difficult.  Just the games.

I wonder if they will save the Xbox 360 Slim for that time? Actually further to that I wonder if the hardware itself would be updated, as in a little bit faster than your standard Xbox 360 or say twice the memory. They want to make as big a splash as possible and if they give existing users a reason to upgrade to an Xbox 360 Natal it could give help them make enough waves to get the whole lot noticed by everyone.

Pfft, just like the source said, the PS3's motion controller will have more games for it. Microsoft should hold this out until Xbox 720.

Really if I were in his position, I would have said "screw propriety" and just said it was going to be bigger than Wii Fit.

You mean like the wii fit balance board?

What do you mean by that? Like say tell anyone if they want to use it they can?

No. I mean, he said he expects Natal's launch to be as big as the 360's.

I would have compared it to Wii Fit instead. Because Wii Fit's launch was... you know. Bigger?

Throw me a bone here

@coolbeans, I had a 360, sold it for a Wii ROFL, now I have a PS3 and a Wii

Ahhh, ok Bone thrown!