Robbie Bach, president of the entertainment and devices (E&D) division at Microsoft Corp., who will retire from the company this fall, said in an interview that the forthcoming Natal motion sensor for Xbox 360 video game console represents tremendous opportunities for the company and is, in fact, the Holy Grail of the console world.

“[Natal is] a tremendous opportunity from a business perspective to produce a new experience for people without shipping a new console. I mean, that is sort of the Holy Grail in many ways of the console world is how do you ship completely new game experiences without actually forcing everybody to start over again, and I think Natal certainly presents that opportunity,” said Mr. Bach in an interview with TechFlash web-site.

Many executives from Microsoft have said that the Natal motion sensor will represent incredible importance for Microsoft and will give a huge boost for the company’s Xbox 360 game console. Based on the comments from the outgoing president of the E&D division, Microsoft is investing heavily to ensure that Natal is successful.

“For me [Natal] is a jumpstart catalyst. It is a midlife kicker for the 360, and it is an opportunity to really drive that business in a dramatic way,” claimed Mr. Bach.

In fact, it is quite strange that a company like Microsoft is talking about a future product as a major hope for its current product. Although Microsoft was showing optimism ahead of Windows 7 launch in 2009, which was a success, it also demonstrated confidence in Windows Vista back in 2006. It remains to be seen, whether Natal will indeed boost popularity of Xbox 360 for the coming years before the next-generation arrives.

Tags: Microsoft, Xbox, Natal