Microsoft to launch Project Natal in October

Microsoft to launch Project Natal in October

Techtree News Staff, May 11, 2010 1054 hrs IST

A concrete date will be confirmed next month

Microsoft Saudi Arabia's marketing manager Syed Bilal Tariq confirmed with Saudi TV that Project Natal will be launched worldwide in October. Tariq's confirmation clip was captured by Gamertag Radio guys and according to the clip, a concrete date will be confirmed only after the E3 2010 convention at Los Angeles which takes place on June 15-17. The interesting part here is that the official Xbox Project Natal website still puts up Holiday 2010 season as the launch date.

In March, Microsoft had sent out press invites for Xbox 360 Project Natal Premiere to be held on July 13. And now, Tariq was recorded saying, "I do have great news to share with everybody that Project Natal will be launched in Saudi Arabia and in the world somewhere in October." As promised, Microsoft will introduce Project Natal at the Fall (September-October). So the games supporting Project Natal and the updates for current games for Natal support will be released post October.

Check out the video below:

What we find missing here is whether Microsoft is working on slimmer or leaner version of Xbox 360 to be sold with Project Natal controller. In August 2009, Sony had introduced PlayStation 3 Slim model for $299 (Rs. 19,990 for India). Looking at PS3's refresh, the Xbox community wants to see slimmer and lighter version of Xbox model. However, there's no heads up or information on whether Microsoft is working on it or not.

Sony's PlayStation Move and PlayStation Move navigation controller are expected to be launched in the third quarter of this year. In case PlayStation Move gets released during or post E3 convention, the battle between PlayStation Move and Project Natal would be interesting to watch.