Well 2010 will be the 360s last chance in its bitter battle against its arch nemesis the PS3 in the HD console sales war. 360 has been taking a huge onslaught from the PS3 in weekly sales. 8.3 million lead has withered down to 5.3 million in only 5 months. Next 8 months the 360 will have to ride out the storm. September this year will see 360 price cuts and Halo:Reach launch which may or may not improve the 360s fortunes.

It is Natal which may be the 360s last hope to extend the 360s lifespan and delay the PS3 from overtaking the 360. Providing of course that Natal is a sales success and captures soem of the casual market which the Wii has dominated. Whether Natal will be a hit with the hardcore 360 owners is yet to be seen, because Natal has not been launched.

"Is Natal the 360s last hope?"

If we are talking about keeping ahead of the PS3 in sales, then yes, I think so.

Natal is Microsoft's Luke Skywalker. It's an untrained orphan farmboy with blonde hair. It'll probably kiss his sister, kill his father, and blow up the Death Star. Yoda rode on his back while he ran through the forest, too. Yoda is cool. Did you see him totally whoop Count Dooku in Episode Il? That was awesome.

Wait. What are we talking about?

Somehow, I think they've got something else up their sleeve. Natal might entice enough people to get some leverage again, but I think they are not done just yet (I'm thinking some sort of re-release of a better 360 (540 sort to say) with discount for current owners, so that better hardware is available, while still being able to play 360 games on it - add some upscale-thingy in there and you're basically halfway into the next generation without alienating your current audience.)

so.... where is the candy...
>_>

maybe

Upscale thingy is not a 540 upscaling has almost no effect. Look at upscaled DVD and Bluray but in games its even worse. The difference is so minor and the games are upscaled anyway from resolutions like 800x1440 to 1080p. Upscaling Xbox is worthless even more then an upscaling wii because the games already are upscaled to 1080p on both consoles.


A surprise could be a 360slim this could Ms bring back into the race again. But until September/oktober there is nothing which can be done a slim release would probably happen also in September/ocotber together with Natal So 1.8 Million down until September october are a real possibility. After that MS could counter again but I doubt it will be so effective that it would stop the gap closing for a long time.

Sony could also counter with a Pricecut plus Arc/ Gt5 .

They've gotta have something else up their sleeves. Offhand I'd say it could be, price cuts, a console revision (one that doesn't sound like a lawn mower) and some exclusive AAA title they've been holding onto all this time.

the 360 has been out for over 5 years now and reached affordable pricing at $200. the 360 will of course sell for some time to come but old trends (which i know aren't 100% applicable this gen) would suggest that the 360 will keep going down YoY until it's out of the market. because natal could drastically change the type of experience the 360 has to offer i would say it is the only hope MS has of reversing the inevitable decline.

same goes for the ps3, it has a great year last year but this year it will be down YoY imo.

I wouldn't count it out even if natal wasn't around. The 360 is selling around the same as the ps3 in NA even with the ps3 throwing everything it has at it. 2009 was probably the worst in terms of games for the 360 and the best for the ps3, so it will be interesting if the 360 (considering it has a larger list of exclusives this year) can pull a gap over the ps3?

If not natal could be its saviour.