Kinect pricing official, plus bundles

[Bojay1997]

I didn't realize people hated 3D so much, it's amazing to me. But i have not used it enough to see if it gave me headaches. I've never got headaches from 3d movies i've seen.

I just don't think it adds much to the experience, it's expensive and aside from the health concerns, there is the hassle of dealing with the glasses and the fact that it makes casual TV viewing a lot less practical. Also, watching a two hour movie in a theater is a lot different than playing up close to a TV for several hours on a video game. To me it's kind of like IMAX. The first ten minutes are amazing, but then you get used to it and it looks like every other movie you've ever seen and you start to wonder why you spent $18 to see a movie you could have seen for $10.

[Diatribal Deity]

All the "predictions" aside. The success of Kinect on Xbox 360 ultimately will probably have little to do with its eventual true overall impact. Sure it is an attempt to boost a bit of video game market share, but ultimately this is more of testing of the waters for potential video conferencing down the road.

Think of this as extended R&D for the technology behind the device. Development cost of each Kinect unit is rumored to be $150 which means after all else is factored in, Microsoft will not make any profit on its individual sale. Yeah, if they sell some gimmicky games they may end up breaking even or making a slight profit.

I remember when Xbox originally launched, Microsoft's only intent was to capture a small share of the lucrative video game market in the long term. They were very aware it would be a rocky road, but new profits would come later. They have a long term approach to everything.

If you are looking at the initial success or failure you are not looking at the whole picture. Ultimately the technology behind Kinect may have very little impact on gaming, but lead to a nice profit as the technology is used in the boardroom and other applications in the future. The small pockets of the average consumer cannot compare to the deep pockets of businesses. To think this whole Kinect overall strategy was not thought out, would not be giving Microsoft (a pretty profitable and successful company) much credit.

I welcome any and all technological releases, as chances are the initial use ultimately will probably not be its legacy. Failure is an option for Microsoft, a company already known to take some pretty big chances.

[Bojay1997]

All the "predictions" aside. The success of Kinect on Xbox 360 ultimately will probably have little to do with its eventual true overall impact. Sure it is an attempt to boost a bit of video game market share, but ultimately this is more of testing of the waters for potential video conferencing down the road.

Think of this as extended R&D for the technology behind the device. Development cost of each Kinect unit is rumored to be $150 which means after all else is factored in, Microsoft will not make any profit on its individual sale. Yeah, if they sell some gimmicky games they may end up breaking even or making a slight profit.

I remember when Xbox originally launched, Microsoft's only intent was to capture a small share of the lucrative video game market in the long term. They were very aware it would be a rocky road, but new profits would come later. They have a long term approach to everything.

If you are looking at the initial success or failure you are not looking at the whole picture. Ultimately the technology behind Kinect may have very little impact on gaming, but lead to a nice profit as the technology is used in the boardroom and other applications in the future. The small pockets of the average consumer cannot compare to the deep pockets of businesses. To think this whole Kinect overall strategy was not thought out, would not be giving Microsoft (a pretty profitable and successful company) much credit.

I welcome any and all technological releases, as chances are the initial use ultimately will probably not be its legacy. Failure is an option for Microsoft, a company already known to take some pretty big chances.

I'm guessing you don't actually work in an office because video conferencing is widely available, has been for quite a few years, is now fairly inexpensive and frankly, Kinect has nothing to do with moving that technology forward. Similarly, plenty of people own inexpensive home web cams and iPhones that can do easy personal video conferencing for far less than the cost of Kinect.

Kinect is and always has been an attempt to catch up and try to beat Nintendo in the casual motion control market. While Microsoft has the money to risk on certain things, it took them almost a decade to squeeze any profit out of the Xbox hardware. You're right that this is just the first iteration of the technology for gaming and it could lead to other non-gaming uses down the road, but if it doesn't succeed, Microsoft has shown throughout its history that it is perfectly willing to abandon it and never do anything with it again. Heck, they just wasted millions launching the Kin and just as quickly pulled the plug. Microsoft is not always as savvy as they would have you believe.

[Diatribal Deity]

I'm guessing you don't actually work in an office because video conferencing is widely available, has been for quite a few years, is now fairly inexpensive and frankly, Kinect has nothing to do with moving that technology forward. Similarly, plenty of people own inexpensive home web cams and iPhones that can do easy personal video conferencing for far less than the cost of Kinect.

Kinect is and always has been an attempt to catch up and try to beat Nintendo in the casual motion control market. While Microsoft has the money to risk on certain things, it took them almost a decade to squeeze any profit out of the Xbox hardware. You're right that this is just the first iteration of the technology for gaming and it could lead to other non-gaming uses down the road, but if it doesn't succeed, Microsoft has shown throughout its history that it is perfectly willing to abandon it and never do anything with it again. Heck, they just wasted millions launching the Kin and just as quickly pulled the plug. Microsoft is not always as savvy as they would have you believe.

As a matter of fact I work in an extremely large office building. But regardless, that is not the point. Tens of billions of dollars will be spent on video conferencing equipment over say the next 3-5 years. Who knows if any of this technology will capture a significant portion of that. But you know what, it does not have to. Capturing a small portion would suit them just fine. And the last time I checked Microsoft is the most profitable technology company by a pretty healthy margin even with Apple surging as it has (it generated probably a little more than 1/3 of the net revenue that Microsoft did for the last fiscal reporting year).

Microsoft's cash and short term (read liquid) investments of $40 billion dwarfs most companies (almost doubles Apple's). Just like an investment portfolio, companies need to diversify. This is just another attempt by Microsoft to do just that albeit a bit of a gamble. Believe me Microsoft hedges it's bets. For the most part it is still using the house's money.

Again I look forward to any new technology or application regardless of the company. I do not play favorites. And regardless of the track record and abandonment rate you cannot question the aggregate success.

For a more humorous although-not-entirely far-fetched look at future applications for the technology check out the following article:
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=5102

[kedawa]

What's the point of video conferencing anyway? Unless there's some kind of power point integration or something, I don't see how it adds anything useful to the experience.

[DonMarco]

What's the point of video conferencing anyway? Unless there's some kind of power point integration or something, I don't see how it adds anything useful to the experience.

Control, professionalism, new technology. With a phone conference you don't know what the participants are doing. They may be listening, taking notes. They may be watching Tom and Jerry while eating a pizza with the phone taped to their ear. They may have their assistant manager listening in their place while they go to the bathroom, then grab some lunch.

With video conferences, you know what the person is wearing and what their body or facial language is saying. A bonus if speaking to someone using a second or third language. It's cheaper than flying around to other cities and other countries. Maybe not a problem if you make one corporate trip a year, but for a manager that flies all over the place daily, the cost of setting up video conferencing technology in two places is tremendously cheaper.

Lastly! Video over IP is a big thing now. Who here doesn't remember the first time you used Skype to talk to your grandfather who lives 1200 miles away from you? Or saw your wife while stationed overseas? Or checked in on your spouse/pets/children with home security cameras while sitting at work? Or your first game of Strip Uno on Xbox Live?

[duffmanth]

I've hated this whole motion sensing since thing since the Wii first launched. It was fun for about the first week playing Wii Sports and a few other games, but the Wii just doesn't have enough games that truly takes advantage of the motion sensing feature. The same thing is going to make or break Kinect and Move. If MS and Sony don't release enough games that use each of their systems motion sensing capabilities to 100%, they're gonna flop.

[The 1 2 P]

I finally got a Kinect thanks to an amazing find at a local Goodwill(the whole story can be found in the "January Finds" thread). My initial reaction to it is that of astonishment. It really is cool not to have to hold a controller or to navigate the dashboard and videos with nothing but the sound of your voice. And luckily mine came with the Kinect Adventures game so I didn't even need to buy an extra game to try it out.

As for those games, I've downloaded and played several demos as well as Kinect Adventures. It's definitely a different type of gaming experience, one that you need to get use to before you can fully enjoy it. KA is essencially a big collection of mini games that serve their purpose to demonstrate the functionality of Kinect. Joy Ride, on the other hand, would have been alot more fun with an actual controller. It definitely takes some practice getting use to the driving mechanics and you will never feel like a bigger retard than when you play that game. It even takes random picturs of you(as do all of the games, even the demos) to remind you of how silly you look. But if you have no shame in your game than that won't matter.

Kinect is pretty fun for a novelty and I'm sure when I finally get around to inviting friends over to show it off they are all going to want one. But what I'm really excited for now is it's potential. Hopefully there will be some core games thrown in to the 2011 line up and I really want them to better utilize the ability to scan in items. Furthermore, theres alot more that they can do with the voice command controls beyond navigating the dashboard and I want them to get creative with that(like having an XBLA game show game where you answer with your voice).

I definitely see why it sold so well during the holidays but Microsoft needs to not rest on their laurels. They need to keep trying to make this thing better by adding more compelling games and more indepth features. Otherwise it will fade away into obscurity.

[WCP]

One thing that is going to be interesting in regards to Kinect, is going to be how many Kinects are sold in it's "2nd" 60 days of availability. We all know that Kinect "supposedly" sold 8 million worldwide in it's first 60 days of availability. I honestly wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Kinect's sales drop 80 percent or more in January and February.

Let's face it, it was the Tickle Me Elmo of 2010. Once Xmas had come and gone, I just don't think the impetus was there anymore for people to rush out and buy it. I'm sure it probably got some decent sales in the first 10 days after Xmas because of gift cards and such, but I would expect sales to really fall off a cliff. The only way that Microsoft could keep the momentum going with Kinect, is a lot more advertising, and another big game besides Dance Central. Unfortunately for Microsoft, I don't think it has any significant Kinect games coming in the next 4 to 5 months. It's going to be quite a wait for something to come out on Kinect that could spur more buyers into the stores. Kinect might end up being one of those right time, right places type of products that explode in popularity one minute, and then just completely disappear from the scene the next minute.

[kupomogli]

If MS and Sony don't release enough games that use each of their systems motion sensing capabilities to 100%, they're gonna flop.

If Kinect didn't sell another system it still wouldn't be considered a flop but that all depends on if they've made any money off it or not yet.

I know that the thing is selling 360s. At lunch during work yesterday, one of my supervisors said that after playing the Kinect at his sister's house a few times that he bought a 360, Kinect, and also bought an HDTV to hook it up to.

Just like the Wii the Kinect is another thing casual gamers will love. Unlike the Wiimote however, the Kinect and Move are fairly precise.

[The 1 2 P]

One thing that is going to be interesting in regards to Kinect, is going to be how many Kinects are sold in it's "2nd" 60 days of availability. We all know that Kinect "supposedly" sold 8 million worldwide in it's first 60 days of availability. I honestly wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Kinect's sales drop 80 percent or more in January and February.

While I'm sure theres going to be a drop off, I'm most surprised that it sold so well during the holidays and yet none of the stores around here(Best Buy, Target, Walmart, etc.) ever sold out for more than a few days. There was always stock available to purchase and if there wasn't there would be the next day.

I originally knew that both Kinect and Move would do well during the holidays because they were new hardware released during the most crucial buying period of the year. But now the real guessing game begins. Like I said in my earlier post Micorsoft needs to drop some bombs about new Kinect software coming this year. E3 seems like the appropriate place for that but it's not like they can't give us alittle something something before then.

[WCP]

E3 seems like the appropriate place for that but it's not like they can't give us a little something something before then.

They can't wait all the way till e3. They need to show something impressive at GDC. Something... very... Impressive.

[The 1 2 P]

Halo Kinect may be coming afterall.