Rumor: EDGE, Natal To Cost $149

[Reasonable]

jarrod said:

Reasonable said:
Just wondering - what's the usual accuracy of Edge for this kind of thing? Do they often post rumours? I'm imagining that if they're willing to quote this they think it might be true, which is a lot different than some gamers blog for me.

Edge (fairly) correctly predicted the GBA SP and DSi before there was any whif of them.   This specific rumor though comes from the same source that leaked Gears 3 in April 2011 and it's public roll-out on late night television... seems pretty legit.

Thanks jarrod.

If the price is that high then I'm guessing MS is going to market heavily on Natal as a one time buy vs multiple controllers over time plus push the experience as worth the investment (i.e. they surely must market to imply Natal is better than Wii and the next big thing).

It's a fair approach, but a risky one.  Sony tried marketing PS3 as cheaper if you took that view and counted cost of getting 360 and BR player, etc. but the average consumer tends to focus on initial cost vs overall cost - i.e. the cost of getting going with one controller is what they'll focus on and compare that to Natal.  While down YOY the Wii is still attracting more purchases than the 360 or PS3 WW so it's far from given that we'll see a big divergence of interest from Wii to Natal.  Although MS might well be eyeing the recent YOY Wii performance and thinking it might indicate tailing off of interest and a chance to re-focus attention on Natal.

Of course the rumour could still be off, or MS might change their minds closer to release if they sense they need to.