I just wish people would get over this hype. Natal is not going to put 360 on top. The most it will give it is a small spike in sales. Just like Sony's wands for the PS3, it will mostly sell to those who already have a 360. The main reason being it's too late in this gen. Wii has already conquered the market that both are aiming at with these devices. Personally, the only thing I think could help the Wand is if the final design allows for it to be used with all PS3 games, or if there was some killer software. But that would only help it see a slight success in pushing hardware. I think the same goes for Natal.
There's 2 bad things about hype, though:
1. It can lead to even bigger dissapointment, which in turn leads to a larger embarrasment for the company who hyped it so much. This can cause a product that might have sold so-so, to just completely fail. I mean think about what we've seen so far from Natal. The only games we actually have vids of are slightly enhanced Eye Toy games. And yes, I understand Natal is an evolution in the tech, but what good is being able to track someone better if the ending game is basically the same? Speaking of tracking, I have yet to see a vid where Natal doesn't bug out in some way when trying to track someone's movements. Resulting in either a delay in tracking or the avatar on screen screwing up.
2. Pushing hype too early means it's mostly all died out by the time your product releases. And that's already starting to become the case with Natal. Shortly after E3, we got story after story about how revolutionary Natal was or how it has won X award. I barely see or hear any of that now, minus people on gaming sites talking about how it will either fail or succeed.
Another thing is price. Everyone wants to talk about how revolutionary Natal is, with its wire frame tech, face/voice recognition and built in processor, and that is why it will succeed. But one must remember, with R&D and revolution comes cost. One of the main reasons Wii was successful was it's new control tech was at launch, not after the fact, and its affordability. Natal will have none of those, as I can't see it being put out for under $100, unless MS will sell at a loss to try and get an install base established. Also the Wand is set to release about 2 quarters before Natal, most likely at a cheaper price. So whether it's a success or failure, it's going to steal some of the wind out of Natal's sails.