Microsoft is pushing Natal so heavily because they have to ...
It is highly likely that Natal will be released in a price range where it is similar in cost to the consumer as a new console would be and (between manufacturing and marketing costs) Microsoft may still end up taking a loss on every one sold; and if Microsoft is being honest about their expectations, they will have millions manufactured prior to launch with the capacity to produce hundreds of thousands of units each month. This (of course) produces a massive risk for Microsoft because if Natal is not massively successful they will have stockpiles of units, and they may take massive losses from contracts signed with manufacturers.
Now, Microsoft can’t afford to have Natal fail and are using every method to hype the device possible; which (in itself) adds further risk to Natal because as its profile grows the profile of its success or failure grows. We are approaching a point that whether Natal is a failure or a success it will be a game-changer.
Sony’s wand has a dramatically lower risk and reward associated with it, because it will neither be an expensive enough endeavour to really hurt the company and it isn’t “Special” enough (for lack of a better word) to do much when it comes to the long-term prospects of the PS3. Even if Sony’s wand fails they are in a fairly decent position to spin the failure as “We knew developers and real-gamers were not particularly interested in motion controls.”
