What I would really wish for from Microsoft is a way to make the Xbox 360 silent (lower power draw, passive cooling and a quiet dvd drive). Yeah, wishful thinking.

Natal is interesting and could be a game changer, if it delivers all that it's promise. But it seems far from being finished at this point. I predict Natal will be available in time for Xmas of 2010. Just hope there's some games behind it like Wii sports had for the Wii motion control.

So confirmed Natal well sell at a loss?

MS has really taken in the initiative in public relations with this one. they're hitting the airwaves and talk shows constantly. i'm pretty sure it'll be the "next big thing" if they keep up the media blitz.

I doubt Microsoft will even blink if they have to take a loss to capture Wii's audience when launching Natal.

For me, I just want an affordable peripheral that is fun and easy to use. I prefer Natal relative to Sony's because I must buy two peripherals (camera and controller) from Sony. Also Natal is controller-free, sounds straight-forward.

...if it releases soon.  if it releases holiday 2010 all the buzz will be long forgotten.  i really wish they'd give some idea of a release date on this.

Why do Patcher say Natal has to have 30 games at launch? Is that because we'd be more than halfways into the current gen, and therefore people would be more picky? Because consoles usually have just 12-15 games at launch but people still rush to get'em.

I forsee empty lines outside stores

Not really. Hype will certainly die down from now to the time it launches, but within months of its release it'll be back in TV shows, media, whatnot. People seem to forget that games often announced up to 5 years before release still have fantastic sales and even more hype then ever because of it. i.e. Gran Turismo 5 and FFXIII will probably have fantastic sales, and they were announced long ago.

but they didn't say any date, so i think it will last 2 year even longer at least. then perhaps sony has his motion thing and even more peole have the wii.... nobody will buy it if its release takes too long..

They don't give a prediction because they wanted buzz and this will not happen for a long time. MS is known for this in the PC industry. This will be the same.