I agree I also think the same is true for Sony. I personally believe that it's too late for either to have any significant impact on this generation. They are prepping for the next generation

I hope and believe that's the reason, rather than Natal being just a desperation act against the Wii.

I am pretty certain that Natal won't become a big sucess, not in the beginning, but it's actually allowed to 'fail' just because it's an investment directed to the next gen in a (hopefully) smart way.

The point is that they must believe in it strongly or they would never take this risk. The fact that they are putting a good effort behind it does give it some assurance of success.

I think M$ and Sony toyed with motion controller, when designing their current consoles, but ultimately opted to forgo it, and focus on more horsepower to graphics and traditional features. I'll be totally honest that the first time I heard about Nintendo's Revolution...I thought it was going to end up worst off than GameCube. Nintendo took a massive chance, and it paid off royally, and I do think the success of Wii helped push M$ and Sony down this path, but it's pretty evident that they had already been working on some of this before it was announced. Here’s the thing of it…the original Xbox launched with networking standard…so Wii and PS3 are just copycatting? Hardly…Id launched the first huge FPS, but it’s silly to say all FPS are “aping” Wolfenstein.

I agree that MS has a lot of faith and expectation in what they have created in Natal.  During the next generation MS will develop a machine that more completely melds the capabilities of their ecosystem.  Their next box will be usable with all the possible permutations of control: controller only, Natal + controller, Natal only.  This will allow for their core franchises to flourish but also allow for some creative motion control games for those who want that.  But they have created it for the time being to be an extension of the 360's life.

But for anyone to make any predictions on MS's plans, we must first see some software that they have launching for it.  We might get a look at this during GameFest, or at least see more of their Natal plans.

Don't think Nintendo ever ate into 360 market, but the other way around is true for Natal, MS wants to eat into Nintendo's market.

I dont think MS puts "faith" in anything. They have a team of calculating machines that determine the best possible course of action. Natal is already a success, we just don't know it yet.

Windows Vista was part of the plan too. Frustrate users to the point when Windows 7 comes out which fixes Vista issues, everyone will run to the store to buy it.

Zune too was part of...ummm...yeah someone screwed up there. :)

Most third-parties are already having a hard enough time coping with the development costs of current HD console games. It's hard to imagine Microsoft having much success convincing them to develop even more expensive games to take advantage of next generation hardware anytime soon.

Natal really is the equivalent of a launch of a new console but has the advantage of not having to create and launch an entirely new console in the process. It probably is the only viable way they have to stage a major attempt at attracting a much wider audience without having to wait years for their next console to be released.

So when do you think the next MS console would come out?

What will be the answer of Nintendo then ?

That is a more interesting question I believe