360 Slim + Nata l...how can Sony counter?...Is GT5 enough?

[ZenfoldorVGI]

The truth is, there is really nothing Sony can do to counteract it, if MS does all of those things at once, just like MS couldn't counteract the pricecut/slim announcement from Sony.

A lot of people don't want to believe it, but Natal will probably be huge, and Move wont. The reason is, to the main stream, Natal is something different, and gimmicky, and new. The Move isn't. It's just like the Wii remote, and the main stream won't be able to tell a difference. If anything, it'll actually bring about negative press in a lot of circles.

I predict that Natal will have a lower barrier to entry, and a higher marketing push, along with a lot of gimmick-sales, plus be bundled. It's gonna move a lot of 360's in comparison to the Move.

Sony is going to do something with 3D. That's a non-factor, really, due to barriers to entry, and its advantages will be years away.

Sony has a lineup, Microsoft has a lineup that is just as strong. That's debatable, and each console has a number of AAAA and AAA franchises hitting this year. AAAA being Halo Reach and Gran Turismo(the extra A implies the console moving factor).

Sony could easily 1up any price cut by MS, because it costs more, and has more room to trim.

What Sony can't do, is counteract a 360 slim.

If that happens, there is no counteracting it. You would piss off your fanbase with another redesign at this point, if you're Sony, and to top it all off, MS has the chance to shed the stigma of the "RRoD" console. A lot of gamers didn't buy a 360 because of that, but if MS pushes the console as a cheaper version of the 360, and advertises decreased heat/hardware issues, the improved 360 will sell very well. It will be even more of a boon than the PS3 slim, which was touted as having no advantages over its predecessor(an already great machine) besides size.

The 360 isn't a "great machine" it has bugs, and it's got a slow, buggy interface. The RRoD issue would be easily fixed on a redesign, if nothing else, change the colors of the lights, and design it with modern cooling and a different case design.

People will pay 199 for it. A lot of people.

This is probably the biggest year MS has had since the launch of the 360, I agree. Assuming they follow through with our speculation here, the PS3 can't "counter" it, like the 360 couldn't "counter" the PS3 last year. You can only throw everything you've got at somebody once, and MS chose to do it the year after Sony did. Good move, but expected.