Old Discussion Thread for all 3 motion controllers

[patsu]

If the rumor is true, they can still do this move (no punt intended):

I suspect MS and Sony will do a "if you subscribe with us, you can get the hardware cheaper or free" deal later on.
[size=-2]... or at launch ?[/size]

It's the launch price. I'm sure it will come down later.

The bundle price is $299 anyway. And I'm pretty sure MS will pack it with software.

 

[RobertR1]

The E3 showing needs to be mindblowing for $150 otherwise, bomba.

Although a 360slim + 120gb HDD + natal = $299 would sell stupid amounts in the fall but not sure if MS is that smart. They often do "wtf?" moments. Natal pricing might be one of them.

 

[patsu]

Ogmento secures $3.5 million for augmented reality game development and publishing:
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/26/ogmento-secures-3-5-million-for-augmented-reality-game-developm/

Augmented reality game developer and publisher Ogmento this morning announced that it has secured the first $3.5 million of venture capital funding for development. The exciting news? That means the company is hiring. "The key thing is really we're looking to partner, and hire folks, so we'd love to get that word out," Ogmento co-founder Ori Inbar told us in a phone interview earlier today. "What we do is we go after people that we've either known for many years or people that have passion about augmented reality, and have good experience in game design or art. It's a lot about passion."

 

[NavNucST3]

While i agree that its priced to high, im not so sure it will matter. All of MS accessories are over priced and they still seem to sell. People will buy this thing up due to the massive amount of advertising MS is going to be doing.

I have spent thousands of dollars this generation on the 360. I have absolutely no intention of paying $150 for Natal.

 

[obonicus]

I have spent thousands of dollars this generation on the 360. I have absolutely no intention of paying $150 for Natal.

How much would you pay, out of curiosity?

 

[NavNucST3]

How much would you pay, out of curiosity?

Psychological barrier pricing. $99.99 retail...$85.99 amazon. Especially since I "have" to purchase two. I'm certainly what one would consider an early adopter and $150 doesn't interest me in the least and I was definitely excited for Natal, so MSFT is going to need to depend on a different market than me. The bundles will be interesting though as my sons 360 is probably going to die on the exact day this damn thing hits.

Move interests me even less, so its price needs to be even lower for me to bite, if only because I have, two guitars, 4 Scene-it remotes, 4 360 controllers, 4 Wii controllers w/ nunchuk, 3 PS3 controllers, 3 microphones, Scene-it receiver, 360 Vision Cam, PS Eye; basically a LOT of plastic s**t and I'm not keen on accumulating more.

 

[dragonelite]

I had a 100 euro limit.
And it seems to go over it they really need to convince me with software.

But i read on a other forum and they reckon that if natal can do excellent head tracking the price would be justified. The product they mentioned was TrackIR 5 which cost around $150 and it's only for head tracking. Natal can do full body tracking and its a free mic i heard.

 

[scently]

Oh wow, what a totally unexpected price. That's reallly expensive.

I hope for there sake they have an awesome and compelling software lineup.

Who knows maybe the have done some focus testing.

Let's wait and see the capabilities of the device.

 

[ShadowRunner]

The $299 bundled price is fine IMO. $150 is a little steep for an addon but it is in effect practically a seperate and new console experience if you look at it that way and is cheaper than what you would expect of a new console launch. Wii launched at $250 and was sold out constantly for a year or so, people are willing to spend that sort of cash as long as it appeals to them.

It does seem that most sales will be through new people buying into the bundle, and this fits into the demographic natal will appeal to anyway.

I cant see it something im going to be interested in but as long as the software is there i can still see it selling in huge amounts to the non-gamer crowd at those prices. I suspect the people worying about the price are more core gamers looking at it as a supplement to there current gaming rather than a seperate experience, which is really what it is. Us lot are not the primary MS are going after.

The thing im woried about the most is wether MS is placing too much faith in it and as a consequence neglects us core gamers. Hope E3 proves otherwise. There does seem to be growing doubt about Natal and it could turn out to have been a much bigger risk for them to take than it looked previously. They have a lot to gain but if they put too many eggs in the Natal basket they have a lot of ground to lose also.

I bet MS are pissed at Pachter for his $50 random guess, its final pricing was always going to be a letdown after that. I think if it wasnt for his comments the current pices would have been more inline with our non-missled predictions and at very least wouldnt have come as any sort of supprise or great dissapointment.

 

[patsu]

I had a 100 euro limit.
And it seems to go over it they really need to convince me with software.

But i read on a other forum and they reckon that if natal can do excellent head tracking the price would be justified. The product they mentioned was TrackIR 5 which cost around $150 and it's only for head tracking. Natal can do full body tracking and its a free mic i heard.

MS may sell through all its Natal inventory even @ $150. They may not be able to make enough in such a short time. Some (most) units need to go into the bundled Arcade package. Some of us who complained about high price may cave in once the hype builds up.

I am pretty sure a lot of homebrew people are interested in say.. Google TV + Natal, PC/Mac + Natal kind of set up. If Sony hasn't taken away OtherOS, those PS3Linux users would buy one to muck around with Cell too ! ^_^

 

[Rangers]

http://www.edge-online.com/news/natal-to-cost-149-–-source

I've got to say that rumor is false.

If Move is $99 which includes a camera and a physical controller, is it feasible for Natal to be $149 for just the camera? Is the Natal camera that much more expensive?

If it's not false than wow, just wow.

And 299 for Arcade+Natal is also crazy. Presumably, all 360 SKU's will be Natal included (otherwise you split the userbase and risk ending up with a dead peripheral), so you're essentially doing a $100 rise this far into the generation? Elite for 399??

I have a really hard time believing this. If true it's terrible.

 

[Rangers]

I had a 100 euro limit.
And it seems to go over it they really need to convince me with software.

But i read on a other forum and they reckon that if natal can do excellent head tracking the price would be justified. The product they mentioned was TrackIR 5 which cost around $150 and it's only for head tracking. Natal can do full body tracking and its a free mic i heard.

Yeah but, this "trackIR 5" thing I'm sure gets nowhere near the sales volume Natal will get. Necessitating the higher price. If anything it sort of proves the point Natal should be much cheaper than 150.

Really just going to have to straight call bogus on this report. Guess we'll see at E3.

 

[patsu]

Natal is more than "just a camera". There is a circuit board, a power supply, a motorized tilt, 1 IR emitter, 1 IR camera and 1 HD camera.

That said, the rumor may certainly be unfounded. We'll know in a month or so.

 

[Graham]

Disappointing if true.

The $150 price isn't a shock, although they usually only overprice their lower volume accessories. However something about the $300 arcade feels a bit off.

I would see three possibilities if there is a $300 entry system with natal:

• The elite gets natal too (in which case it's $400+?!)
• The elite stays as-is
• It's a single SKU at $300

I don't see the first happening. If so, it would literally be a console price relaunch. However there is precedent for Microsoft increasing their prices.
I don't see the second happening. This would lead to *way* too much market confusion and would send very mixed messages. Two systems, the same price but with totally different accessories. Plus I feel MS would be foolish to not bundle Natal with every system sold, and all suggestions are they will be doing that.
The third makes the most sense. However it wouldn't be an arcade anymore, which is why this doesn't really add up to me.

Personally I'd like to see a $100 or less standalone price and $250-300 slim bundle.

I'm not at all surprised by the release date rumor.... (Although I was reaching a bit )

 

[Squilliam]

I wonder if this is simply mind games to make people expect a higher price and then 'surprise' us with a lower price when they hop on stage at E3. They too have some control over the rumours so by surprising people with a lower price it can seem cheaper than had they expected that price all along.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

If the estimates were to be true, I don't get how it's such a big deal. How much did that Wii fit balance board thing cost? Or the Tony Hawk skateboard thing?

Weren't they all $100+? So you figure, $100 bundle cost, and a premium bump in price to screw current customers who don't need to buy new consoles because that's how business works.

I also don't understand the idea of people putting limits on what they are willing to pay for an experience that they aren't aware of. Either Natal offers an experience you are willing to pay X dollars for, or it doesn't.

Considering nobody knows what that final experience will be, the idea that people are so willing to put a price tag on that unknown is puzzling.

As Patsu said, if Natal can become an alternative to a controller and a remote and can integrate with things like Netflix and google TV, and become a new way people use their entertainment devices, it'll be worth the price. Hell, have you seen how much some of those Logitech universal remotes cost?

 

[Brad Grenz]

The E3 showing needs to be mindblowing for $150 otherwise, bomba.

Although a 360slim + 120gb HDD + natal = $299 would sell stupid amounts in the fall but not sure if MS is that smart. They often do "wtf?" moments. Natal pricing might be one of them.

Rumor suggests no hard drive in the baseline $299 SKU. That's about what I expected would happen. No price drop this year, with the Natal bundled at current price points.

I also don't understand the idea of people putting limits on what they are willing to pay for an experience that they aren't aware of. Either Natal offers an experience you are willing to pay X dollars for, or it doesn't.

I don't see people running out to pay $150 for a camera that, at best, provides a slightly more refined version of what the PS Eye already can do at $40. If that's the real price I'd expect the gaming public at large to balk, like they did at the PSPgo's price. It would also confirm that MS has bought into their own hype about Natal to a very unhealthy degree. It's over-engineered with no clear benefit. They'll be dropping the price within months because no one wants to pay $150 for a glorified web cam and virtual dodgeball.

 

[zed]

I wonder if this is simply mind games to make people expect a higher price and then 'surprise' us with a lower price when they hop on stage at E3. They too have some control over the rumours so by surprising people with a lower price it can seem cheaper than had they expected that price all along.

Wouldnt surprise me, this is often done in politics, squilliam, eg national are proposing to mine some conservation land, now what they really want is place X+Y+Z, but what they ask for is X+Y+Z + (great barrier island, coromandal).
The Ppl are up in arms, the government saiz, hey since we're so nice we'll remove great barrier island, coromandal (which they didnt want in the first place), the ppl are placated. One of the oldest tricks in the books.
Personally $150 isnt too much theyve gotta cover their costs, the thing is natal is unproven yet.
It could be released and bomb horribly, thus if they were selling at a lost they'ld be hit twice
#1 it bombed
#2 it lost them cash
this way at least #2 doesnt happen, Learning from nintendo

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

I don't see people running out to pay $150 for a camera that, at best, provides a slightly more refined version of what the PS Eye already can do at $40. .

If that's all it does, why would they need to do anything? Don't they already have a camera they could just release software for?

I must have missed where the gaming community at large went from thinking this was the best invention since sliced bread and was going to revolutionize everything to merely being a webcam.

 

[Alucardx23]

They must be talking about the new stuff Microsoft will show at E3. Microsoft is nuts for pricing Natal at $150 or they are pretty confident about what they got.

Criterion Games: ” Project Natal was Amazing and Sensational “

http://www.gamesthirst.com/2010/05/26/criterion-games-project-natal-was-amazing-and-sensational/