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Analyst backs Microsoft’s Natal to beat Sony’s Arc

Nintendo has already clinched victory in the motion control gaming war. The Wii has squashed all rivals flat, leaving entire nations of people waving like lunatics to Wii Sports tennis. But there’s still second place to fight for! Enter Microsoft’s Natal peripheral for Xbox 360, and Sony’s Arc controller for PlayStation 3.

Who will emerge from the Thunderdome, bloodied yet triumphant? Which piece of technical frippery will come second to the Wii Remote? God knows. And also Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. But have you ever seen them in the same room? Exactly.

“The key to success with a retrofitted motion controller is penetration. If price points are high, it is unlikely that Natal or Sony’s motion controller will sell many units; if they are very low, they will sell a lot more. [...] My uninformed opinion is that Microsoft will price relatively low, and Sony will price higher.”

Nothing like a man offering his opinion and then admitting it’s “uninformed.” Nevertheless, Pachter makes the right call about these things quite a lot, a good thing considering such predictions are his job.

Either way, he’s certainly correct about price being completely vital in this case. I’d imagine almost no current Xbox 360 or PS3 owners bought their consoles for Natal or Arc, so these optional add-ons need to be priced at “impulse buy” level. $50 would seem right, so if Sony does launch Arc at a hundred bucks, I’d expect a Microsoft victory as well.

[Via NowGamer]