Ok here's something from Malstrom's article that shows why I think he just doesn't get it when if comes to Project Natal:

"Have you noticed the strange obsession with Steven Spielberg in hyping Natal? “Well, if Steven Spielberg loves it, man, it must be something!” If game journalists acted like game journalists, they would instantly note that Spielberg, who was stuttering his lines (watch the video again, what he is saying isn’t coming from his heart), is saying the similar lines of Fils-Aime when he spoke at E3 2006. One indication of a marketer was someone pushing Spielberg. Gamers don’t give a damn about Spielberg. Maybe if Will Wright was up there, or Sid Mier, or Richard Garriott, gamers would care. But Spielberg has no weight in the game industry. Anyway, the appearance of articles like this is an indication the Natal push wasn’t working."

Now I have to ask you why would it be strange to have Steven Spielberg talking about Natal when the audience that Microsoft is targetting would obviously be well aware of him?   Does anyone here really think that if they brought Will Wright, or Sid Meier, or Richard Garriot onstage that the mass casual audience that has been picking up Wii Fit, Wii Sports, etc would stop and take notice?  I doubt most of them would even know who they are. 

I seem to remember a time when Malstrom was bashing game journalists for being too hardcore and elitist and now he's bashing them for not being that way.  The guy needs to put aside his hate of the HD consoles and Microsoft in particular and actually start to really think instead of just bashing.  When Nicole Kidman was promoting Brain Age I have a feeling Malstrom probably thought it was brilliant.  When the Wii was shown on Oprah did Malstrom bash Oprah and talk about her credibility with the game industry?  No?  Then maybe he should shut the hell up about Spielberg.

Here's the thing Legend, the average consumer isn't going to buy Natal, the price isn't going to be in their range, unless MS is willing to lose billions by selling it at a loss, the camera pricing is estimated at $200, couple with an updated Xbox and you are looking at a 400 dollar system, well out of the price range of the average consumer, only gamers will be willing to plunk down that cash, so it is relevant, the Wii fit crowd isn't going to buy NATAL unless its sold at a massive loss

That's what they get for announcing it so early.

Here's the thing Avinash_Tyagi, you have no idea what the price of it is going to be.  You have no idea what the price of the Xbox 360 will be when it launches or even if there will be a special SKU with it.  That's the problem, you just have no idea and yet you're stating things like they're facts.

As for Steven Spielberg I want to ask you, do you think it would have been better for Microsoft to have gone with Will Wright or Richard Garriot instead?  Do you think it would have gotten as many headlines or had as much weight with the mass casual audience and non-gamers?  Do you think that when Oprah was showing Wii Fit that her credibility with the gaming industry mattered?

As for what the Wii Fit crowd is going to buy, how do you know what they're going to buy in the future?  Seriously unless you show me some kind of poll or whatever that backs you up I'm going to say you're just pulling that out of your ass.  From my perspective and I'm not stating this as fact but as an observation, the fitness industry is so big because people tend to continue buying new products every year.  I've yet to see someone buy an Ab Roller for instance and then never buy another piece of fitness equipment again.

Nah, it's good PR for MS either way. Good or bad is still PR in the public eye. Most of the mainstream press seems to be positive, whereas a lot of the gamer press seems to be on the skeptical to negative side by contrast. But everyone seems to have an opinion, which means mission success.

And they haven't announced pricing, so I'm not sure where this $200 price tag is coming from. MS is not stupid enough to think they can charge the price of a console for what is effectively a new controller/control scheme if they expect this to have mass market appeal.

I'm thinking it will probably be a $50 camera peripheral if they're planning on making it a 360 add on.

Guess what part in the title I read to before I knew the intelligence level of the article?

Go on, guess!

A note that no one has mentioned:

$100 says that the Xbox 360 slim that has been rumored for quite some time (the one that uses one wafer for the GPU/CPU) launches with NATAL capabilities. Way to lower the price, launch a new Xbox 360, and re-market the 4-5 year old system.

I agree with Avinash that the average consumer won't buy NATAL at $200. That's why Microsoft will sell it for $70 or throw it in with a Slim 360 at $199.99-$249.99.

^why do you guys even want NATAL? I thought every xbox and sony owner didn't want motion controls and would always bash the wii???? I know I don't want motion controls with my playstation or xbox (that's what my parents wii is for). Quit defending it, its stupid and you know it.

He is just whining because Nintendo isn't front and center at the moment with the media. He is mad because people are talking about Natal and not WM+.

Cry me a river whiner.


This guy comes off as a pretentious ass. Excuse the language. I don't like him.

While some of the things he says and has already said may have ended up being true, he could have done it without being a complete dick and trash talking "hardcore" gamers and the like. This guy gives the Wii gamers a bad name in my opinion.

The article was a great read, as always.