Bah, still no price for Kinect but we now know that it is slated for a November release. I wasn't very impressed by the Kinect games at Microsoft's press conference. Their whole show was pretty much all Kinect related. At least the new Xbox (not so)slim looked pretty cool.

Well, they certainly have no shame when it comes to imitating their competition (Kinect Sports, Kinectimals). I didn't catch the final price of all this: I saw that they have some new 360 model for $300, but that is still without Kinect, right? Or did they announce an all-encompassing console+Kinect product? I'm curious to know how much this family-aimed product will really cost a household that wants to come on board, because that will be crucial to its success or failure.

It's without the Kinect. Supposedly Kinect will be $200.

The new model releases in a week, so it's Kinectless. No pricing announced.

I agree. If the rumors are true it'll cost $500 for the system + camera, and of course you need a huge living room on top of that.

If the price of Kinect ends up being over $100 then you can count me out.

In that case, you could be looking at around 450 or 500 for the eventual Kinect bundles that I presume will be aimed at this holiday season. Perhaps they'll bring it down to $400 for some sort of family-centric bundle, but even then, it sounds a bit high.

I also feel that Microsoft can't have it both ways. They want to continue to be the hardcore, FPS-centric platform and fill every event with footage of the latest shooters, but then invite families to come buy into the console as well. Sure, there are some violent Wii titles, but it just feels different to parents out there when they think of picking up something like a Wii for the family to play together -- given the heavy emphasis on family-friendly titles across its game library -- versus picking up a 360 and knowing that the teenage boy of the house will soon be hogging it for online shooter-fests.

check out gamestop prices for Kinect. $149 for the basic bundle.
http://www.gamestop.com/browse/search.aspx?N=0&Ntk=TitleK...

Gamestop has Kinect by itself listed as $150 (which is still kind of a lot, by the way....), and then it has the Elite with Kinect bundle at $400. Not terrible, but still not very good....

Gamestop is not a source of news. They constantly put up false information just to get preorders. Their prices and release dates are always subject to change.

I wouldn't be too concerned with the Swedish list price. Remember, different territories have different base prices. I imagine videogame consoles, peripherals and games cost more in Sweden than elsewhere.

$100-150 sounds pretty reasonable for what Microsoft is promising, though.

It looks like Amazon is getting on the $149 pre-order price as well. Not the definitive answer from MS, but just makes it very likely the price.
http://www.amazon.com/Kinect-Xbox-360/dp/B002BSA298/ref=pd_ts...

how about walmart? They still like the natal name better than kinect
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Project-Natal-Xbox-360-Xbox-360/133...

$150 is now the official price
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2365457,00.asp

now you know how miyamoto felt, microsoft: http://www.gamesradar.com/xbox360/kinect-sports/news/sexy-lad...

Xbox Kinect is only 150$ (a new Xbox Slim with Wi-Fi goes for 300$). It's expensive but it's a powerful new machine and I'm not surprised. What I'm more concerned with is whether or not anyone makes games for it. They have a huge advantage over Nintendo by way of HD graphics, but if no one's willing to make motion control games outside of sports and fitness it doesn't matter to me. I hope someone surprises us.

Sony on the other hand has revealed in games like Dead Space 2 what it intends to do with Move; repackage old Wii titles. Putting Wii games on a PS3 is just lazy and can't be exciting for anyone (I expect No More Heroes and Raving Rabbids to be coming soon, enjoy!). I hope Sony likes staying in 3rd place.

^that's right. given how few developers have successfully made use of the motion+, which only costs $15 and is bundled with some high profile games, and how few have even successfully used the standalone wiimote already packaged with every system, i don't know how much luck they're going to have getting a good library of games for a camera that costs $150 on its own.

at this point the camera is impressing people and will undoubtedly have some fun games, but the wii has pretty much proven that outside of a few dedicated developers (like ubisoft or high voltage) most 3rd parties don't care about new methods of gaming at all. the wii still succeeded without very good 3rd party support because it was the first to introduce motion and it was cheap, not to mention pretty easy and convenient to use.

kinect's audience is going to be the few 360 owners who actually like motion and are willing to buy into it for the cost of a new system. the camera itself is also a lot more finnicky than the wiimote was... the video i posted above showed the camera pretty much having a seizure because of flash photography, so in addition to having 13 feet of space, the lighting also has to be a consideration. then the thing itself is... pretty big.


not exactly as noninvasive as the sensor bar.

oh boy. for a long while i wondered how kinect would implement one of the best motion features the wii and now ps3 offer, pointer aiming. short of pointing your finger at the screen, i didn't know how microsoft could possibly offer an advancement for FPS that would compete with the other systems.

guess what the answer is?

pointing with your g**damn finger. and from the looks of it, it really sucks. even the spokespeople look distressed trying to demo it. i'm sure kinect can do some amazing things, but clearly FPS on the 360 are stuck with last gen controls. that's right, HD fanboys, you're last gen on this one.

Why not just use a real (fake) gun?

I like how they use cute graphics for the FPS demo. It's like... Wii Shooting! Making FPSes casual! I'm sure 360 players like the idea of that.

Also the FPS controls frankly fail on every level.