Project Natal Could Cost as Much as $200

Those Cirque du Soleil performers must not come cheap! Several Swedish online retailers, such as Webhallen, CDON.se, and game.se, are listing Project Natal controllers at a price of 1499 SEK — which converts to a cost of $197. This for what amounts to a (promising-looking) XBox 360 peripheral: Stateside, you can get a decent bundle including an XBox 360 console, a controller, internal memory, and a few games for the same cost.

Now, games are generally more expensive in Sweden by about a third (blame socialism?), and Kotaku says it could just be a placeholder price — although it’s odd that every retailer has converged upon the same placeholder. At that, much as the PS3 was hobbled in this generation’s console wars by what was perceived to be too steep a starting price tag, it could spell trouble for Natal if this is ballpark accurate.

(Kotaku via Mashable)