Reactions: Natal pricing, premium PSN leaked?

It’s that time of year again! Time for wildly speculative E3 rumors to pop up for weeks leading up to the show, with some sure to be true and others to fade into oblivion. I always feel bad about reporting on news that isn’t actually news, like when a Swedish retailer listed Microsoft’s Project Natal at a $200 price point before Microsoft quickly shot the rumor down without providing any information of their own. Common sense would indicate that Natal will be cheaper than that, but there’s no real way to know until this June, when E3 will inevitably unveil everything we need to know about Microsoft’s motion controller. My uninformed predictions? The name will be changed to a catchy, one syllable word and it will sell for around $85. I also think they’ll be revealing a Slim model of the 360 that will come with Natal packed in for $300.

In more wild and unconfirmed gossip, Sony might be taking the wraps off a premium version of the PlayStation Network at E3. This alleged upgrade would apparently go for about $70 a year and offer more content than the free PSN, such as one free PSN game a month. Unless Sony cuts online multiplayer from the standard PSN, I don’t really see many people ponying up $70 for some free crap. And if they do tear online multiplayer away from gamers this deep into the console generation, then PR is going to have to do some major damage control. As always, wait for more word at E3.

Author: Cody