| bardicverse said: I won't call it an epic fail or anything, but its not going to bring new people to the system. The 360 library, much like the PS3 library, is targeted for the "M Gamer" audience. MS is trying to draw in the casual gamer crowd, which are heavily family oriented. The system does not support a good library for this audience. Basically think of it this way - The 360 Avatars were MS' answer to Nintendo's Mii characters. It didnt drag people over from the Wii, even though they tried to give a casual feel to their system. What it did provide is current 360 owners with a comparable experience that Wii owners had. Natal will work the same way - it won't lure in a new audience, but it will provide 360 owners with motion control systems comparable if not better than the Wii. Despite its success with existing 360 owners, Natal will not shed the typecast the 360 had intentionally carved for itself - a core gamer's console. Nothing MS can do at this point will really convince people that it's a family-friendly system. It's impossible to pull off a hairpin turn in an aircraft carrier. |
I think we need to look at this another way... it isn't that any one technology or approach will suddenly shift an audience over to the 360... it's about removing barriers to a gradual shift in thinking. Many parents or grandparents don't buy a 360 because it's for "hardcore/mature" gaming. If MS provided a number of very compelling games with Natal that really took advantage of the interface (MeSports? <grin>), then people on the edge of buying their first current-gen console might have to think a little harder about choosing the Wii over the 360... "hmmm... both have party-friendly games, both have easy-to-use/intuitive controls). But MS will have to market it heavily so the word gets out... commercials showing young people at parties playing Natal centric games and having a blast could go a long way towards this goal. I'm not going to assume
that every potential console buyer out there is already biased toward one console or another... particularly if they haven't been in the market in a long time and are just getting serious about checking out the current crop of systems. All it would take Christmas season 2010 would be a few really effective commercials aimed at this market... particularly if MS keeps the cost at $200.
