Nielsen: Majority of gamers in the dark on Natal, Move

The Nielsen Company has released the results of a recent survey designed to gauge gamer awareness of Microsoft's Project Natal and Sony's PlayStation Move. Among the 2,400 gamers surveyed, 21 percent are currently aware of Natal, while 23 percent are aware of the Move. Things look a little better when restricting the results to those who actually own and play the 360 or PS3, with 39 percent of 360 gamers aware of Natal and 42 percent of PS3 gamers aware of the Move.

Of the gamers aware of the Move and Natal, those who actually own the respective console show more intent to purchase. 42 percent of 360 owners plan to purchase Natal, compared to only 35 percent of total gamers aware of the device. PS3 owners show a nearly identical 41 percent with intent to purchase, compared to 28 percent of all those aware. Strangely, even though both Natal and Move have publicly known launch windows, a surprisingly high number of respondents -- nearly 40 percent -- don't know when the products will be available.

Also noteworthy, respondents show a wide disparity as to what they believe the hardware prices will be. To the 6 percent who think Natal will be less than $25: you're going to be disappointed.