That is the prevailing "logic" in these threads right now. MS is doomed is the chant I've seen repeated over and over. I'm not sure people pay any attention to history at all.

Well I believe that this race is Fanboys fantasy.

MS could well end even a little behind Sony, they would still succeed in their objectves:

- Making more money than Sony (Hardware + services)

- Selling more games

- Consolidate the XBOX brand

Sad but true.  2007 chant:  PS3 is doomed!  2008 chant:  Xbox 360 is doomed!  2009 chant:  PS3 is doomed!  2010 chant:  Xbox 360 is doomed!

(by year I went for the majority of the year.  So basically each year up until the holidays one console has been riding the doom train then switched at the last minute, but of the year as a whole that console still gets the chant)

Even if Natal is succesful it wont double the Xbox360 sales constantly. I just dont see it beeing that succesful. The mainstream consumer dont care about camera addons we already had a dozends from them. And you first have to teach the people through the TV where the diffence is.

If MS really treats it like a new console launch. Does that mean that they will launch an Xbox720 much later ? For a lot people is the Xbox360 already old. When Natal launches its 5 years old. I dont think that there are millions of people which will buy the Xbox360 for Natal if they know that the next generation of consoles is not far away.

For all people which claim that Natal will be a success you should wait for software. I will make my final conclusion if I see the software for this. Things like Pong which are controlled by your motions instead of a controller wont convince anybody. The same goes for things like Airobic and driving a car without a wheel in your hands. As long they dont invent new things which are really desirable I cant see them selling tens of millions fresh consoles. And even if they have the software they first have to teach the people that it is fun and then they have to convince them that a WII is less fun than Natal.

Except Windows and Software for that Microsoft is a mediocre Company Zune is good but it failed bing failed or will fail Xbox360 is meh. As of now the Xbox investment is a fail. And just starts now to be lucrative. I can see Natal as a Windows controlling which runs on a giant screen you could control everything with some movements without touching a thing. I can see it having a lot of uses. A stereo camera is nothing new. sony has one too . And the Nasa and ESA had it decades ago. Its not even a new technology. Everyone can use it Nintendo dont wanted it for a reason. And Sony develops ICU. So it could very well be that Sony shows ICU on E3 2010 and will market is as the thing it is. Just a simple addon. Which would get the same software as Natal that would pretty much destroy Micosoft plans and probably will happen.

MS wants to sell Natal as a huge new step forward and this could be a step forward. but it is not as massive as MS thinks. The hype will die off pretty soon.

And I honestly can see the Wand performing better. And even if it would be a decent success Sony would probably release ICU after a few months.

Natal is really nothing to worry about for Sony. Ofcourse a super natal software could change my mind so I would see natal as a real enrichment for videogaming but Sony on the other hand develops the same thing and it works. The race wont be tight until Natal releases and after that It could be tight so PS3 would not be as far ahead as It used to be. But for how long ? A couple of months ? I probably will see Natal as a success because my expectations are not as redicolous as the expectations from many others.

after seeing the recent sales of the ps3 i think its extremly silly if you think the 360 will still end in 2nd place. remember these are sales of the ps3 whilst it is sill the most expensive console. it still costs the same price the ps2 launched at. i think its even more silly to think natal is gonna change things. fair enough, if you expect a price cut to work but natal? something we aint seen shit of yet? and just how many games are gonna support it? dont forget its microsoft hardware! and it releasing so late that no ones gonna give a shit by the time it does. especially if sony stealthly release theirs and its a success.

for me i think sony are inn a good positin to counter whatever microsoft do, if microsoft cut the price im sure sony can shave a few dollars off.

They aren't going to claim the opposite

And ending in front of Sony with a couple of millions consoles sold is not really an achievement...

I agree with this but we have to wait and see.

I think it's silly to pretend you know what's going to happen at all and call people out for thinking it might be different than you "know" it's going to be. But I also think it's silly to get emotionally attached to a video game system and the company that makes it, so what do I know.

No way, PS3 is dominating!

Sweeping generalizations that Sony Wand and Natal are the same thing.... boy are you mistaken.

Sony has nothing even remotely similar to Natal.  The PS Eye is just a camera and a microphone.  Natal is a camera, an infrared 3D imaging device, and onboard CPU and software.  This means that developers won't need to change their game code much to use Natal because all the information is processed externally and won't use up memory.   On the PS3 with the Wand, devs will have to sacrifice memory and CPU to translate and use the data from the PS Eye.

And as far as ICU is concerned... its just a Natal knock off that would never work for them on the PS3.  They already have the PS Eye for this generation.  Adding ICU would make it even more confusing...  Not to mention it just uses 2 cameras to act like eyes and must be spaced some distance apart.  It is no where near as in depth as what Natal can do.

They way I see it, Natal will guaranteed be many times more successful than the Sony wand.