Natal Rumors via Edge Mag ($149 or $299 Bundle)

[Nauren]

Link

Ouch at the price.....even the bundle since it has no HDD...

[plague]

Ouch on that price is right.

[Sosa]

I have a feeling that a lot of people went from "mildly interested" to "fuck that noise" very quickly after that announcement.

The problem with gimmicky accessories like this is that only a small number of consumers generally own them. This being the case, the potential market base for producing games targeted around these accessories is equally small (realistically smaller, since not every motion based game will appeal to someone with a Natal-enabled system.) Small title library supporting the feature means little incentive to actually own one... and before you know it, they end up as a door stop.

There are obvious exceptions to this (the Nintendo 64's rumble pack and arguably the Wiimote itself come to mind,) but there are far more examples of failed peripherals than successful ones. The price point has a lot to do with it as well; people are generally more likely to drop $20-30 on a gimmicky device they may not get much use out of (read: pretty much any Wii accessory,) than they are $150.

[plague]

Hell yea, and even my fucking Wii accessories end up just collecting dust...I guess I gotta throw a few more drinking parties, it's the only time the Wii even gets turned on...about 2x a year lol.

[Nauren]

$150.....you have to be standing for it to work.....150ms+ latency...yea dead in the water.

[Markus]

I *hated* the rumble pack. Idk why, it just seemed like such unperfected technology. It really ate batteries too. But I think they invented the vibrating control which is pretty standard now, which is awesome. So kudos to Nintendo (proud NP subscriber for like 7 years).

Everyone claims that the 360 has more to offer via their online service. 360 has been out forever, so they and their gaming companies have made tons of cash. Imo, this is just gravy and it's something that we will probably see on Microsofts next system, which I just assume they are working on already.

Personally, I prefer to play sitting down, laying down, etc. The Wii is a once in awhile kind of thing. Beer + Spliffs + almost any game on the Wii = omfg epic laughs