Microsoft confirms Natal launch in October (update: Microsoft responds)
By Thomas Ricker 
posted May 11th 2010 5:00AM
posted May 11th 2010 5:00AM
So there you have it. While we'd prefer to see an official press release on the topic, there's little reason to doubt what you can hear for yourselves after the break."is going to be somewhere in October and we will be in a position to confirm the date at E3, which is in June, but definitely it is going to be October 2010."
Update: It's not as clear-cut of a statement as we'd probably, but Microsoft has responded via email, telling G4, "Syed Bilal Tariq is not a [Microsoft] employee... He is a vendor employed through a third-party company on behalf of the Microsoft subsidiary in Saudi Arabia." Sure, that downplays his realm of knowledge, but it doesn't completely discredit. No comment was given as to the October date. At least E3's a few hours closer now, right?
I can't wait until E3 to see this. Microsoft looks like they have the best Wii competitor in having something that is a few steps further than than Sony's Move.
this is gonna make my year really interesting ! cant wait
Urgh. I had a Wii for a year and after the novelty of the motion control wore off games were just not much fun to play. Casino Royale, Red Steel, No More Heroes....motion control made these games frustrating to play.
Sometimes its nice just to sit down and mash buttons ya know?
I have been thinking about this and Move (I have a PS3). I don't think either of them will have many killer app's to make the purchase a must own.
New Platforms that require unique games to be made this late in the life-cycle of the system are never really supported. A Developer will inherently be making software for the segment of the small marke-tshare of Sony or MS. Because of that mostly stupid party games or rushed products will come out for them. Maybe next time They will be on the front of this train and cool stuff will follow, but I am not rushing to make a purchase until a few games I really want to play come out for them.
@jayleigh
Granted: not being an early adopter (or a late beta-tester, which is the same thing) is always a smart thing to do.
With that said, i'm not sure you need that many games to make Natal successfull. The Wii got its success even when there was, basically, just Wii Sports. For most Wii consumer i know, it took them six months to decide they actually wanted to try some other games. So in this scenario a wide catalog is not really needed. Just a couple of good, funny, family friendly games will do.
As for developers, the idea of having a new wii-like platform that's not as oversaturated as the Wii market is, might just be appealing enough for them. So i'll bet developer support will be a given.
Can't wait to see this in action; I hope it is as great in practice as it is in theory!
Skynet is pleased.
Mark my words.
Fanboys will be silenced at E3.
If it's going to be October, I can already tell you the date: October 10th, 2010. It's too obviously a marketing date, and since it also happens to be a Sunday it allows a Saturday at midnight launch, perfect timing for a video game/console.
I'll take bets if anyone doubts it.
It's the battle of motion sensors, but Nintendo beats em all anyway.
So wait, we find this out first on a Saudi news station? lol
@tylersmyler why is that funny to you?
Nintendo has allready cornered this market while Sony and Microsoft are just fighting for scraps. The thing that really hurts both companies is that both devices seem like an afterthought.
@Ck1x
The Wii is basically a DS in a new package with the wands. While it was revolutionary, it's basically the same path.
Nintendo just realized that upgrading the base system every few years was a bad move due to profit loss before anyone else.
i have netflix 4 my 360 so... who cares about blu ray my movies are 1080p and did i mention i have almost every movie that came out... in HD.... and a i dont have to spend 30 bucks for 1 MOVIE
Hmm wil this convince me into buying an Xbox? Maybe after another pricecut.
This gimmick will fail big time
Can't wait to play Fable 3 with this >:)
Too late. Now just means dancing like an idiot infront of your home TV.
"how soon is it coming to the "Kingdom"" LOL is that how they say their nation?? Man its like watching a fantasy world news.
Wahoo!!
I already imagine a series of exercise games like the Wii Fit had. For instance you could do yoga in front of this and it can actually tell you how good your poses are! It can rate you and record your progression over several days, stuff like that. It'd be even better if it could recognize mistakes and actually tell you like, "your back isn't straight" or something like that.
There a ton of different exercise related games this thing could work with now. It's actually pretty amazing.
360 Slim + Natal for $300 would be epic win for MSFT.
""Syed Bilal Tariq is not a [Microsoft] employee..."
LOL... what a douche
imagine that the natal package in october says no black skin support support
@sedo smh that is not even funny you suck just for saying and that also makes you a dick
Ok, I lived in Saudi so I know how things work there. To have a company there, you need to have a kafeel (saudi sponor) to be able to set up shop there. So that guy is probably working for the saudi sponsor company, which would probably have correct information.