Kinect enables controller-free motion gaming along with voice and facial recognition technology. The $199 standalone unit will be packed with one game, Kinect Adventures.
The $449 bundle will come with an Xbox 360 Slim console with 4GB built-in flash memory, the Kinect unit and Kinect Adventures game, pictured.
Currently the Xbox 360 Slim console with 250GB hard drive retails for $449 RRP. The previous Xbox 360 models – the 120GB and 250GB Elites and hard drive-less Arcade – are no longer in production.
Microsoft has not announced a Kinect bundle for the 250GB console. Nor have they revealed details regarding the availability of the 4GB console without Kinect.
We’re chasing Microsoft for more details and will update this post when we hear.
Trent Waugh
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 12:36 PMi think i will invest in the 250GB console and get the Kinect thingo for christmas or something. Is it me or does kinect adventures seem like the only game MS is pushing atm?
Luke
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 12:39 PMHoly peripheral batman… thats expensive. but i suppose its typical Micro$oft.
Daniel
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 12:40 PMWii Price drop to hit tomorrow, $199.
Will sell to the same crowd who buy Buzz, Singstar and Guitar Hero enmass every year and that’s about it.
Blackwater
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 12:49 PMI’ve been hating on this thing for months, but the tech still interests me. Its how they’re using it that makes me hate it.
I know i’ll be dumb enough to buy one
Simon
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 3:07 PMI feel the same way. I was really excited about the possibility of Rare developing some badass FPS (Perfect Dark 3 maybe?) with Kinect support. Alas, MS stuck them on a casual sports game.
The only thing that appeals to me about the Kinect is the possibility of it being used to augment the standard controller, allowing you to “reach” into gameworlds and manipulate things. Or head-tracking in a game like Battlefield 1943, where your head acts as the pilots head so you can look out of the cockpit windows. Or finger-flick motion tracking in a game like Mass Effect to fire off special powers.
The Kinect could advance gaming immensely, far more than the Move or Wii, but this jumping around your living room crap is not the way.
Munky
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 12:56 PMReasonable I think – considering this is RRP it will most likely be 10% cheaper in some stores anyway…
I don’t understand why people hate MS for making money yet Sony and Nintendo seem immune to the same criticism?
At the end of the day they are all looking to make money – the only way they do is if we give it to them – I’d say that it makes it the consumer’s fault – not the fault of the company…
G4me Lov3r
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 4:00 PMWhat you don’t understand is how Microsoft is charging way beyond what Sony or Nintendo does for their accessories.
Yes, Sony and Nintendo charges higher than the cost to manufacture the products, but they’re not blatantly doubling or tripling the price like MS.
Tomo
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 5:09 PMWhere has the impression been given that the Kinect camera is cheap to make?
Mr Waffle
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 8:21 PMAnd not just the hardware (which is pretty hardcore; a VGA camera, an infrared camera, mic etc), the software would’ve cost millions to develop. It’s way beyond simply webcam software, the motion tracking in it is crazy-advanced compared to anything you can buy off the shelf.
Riley Gray
Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 1:47 AMI’m not sure about Nintendo, but there was a story recently that Sony have only just started to break even with the PS3, which means they were giving their consumers a very good deal on the hardware – on the other hand, Microsoft made a pretty penny for every unit they shipped, which is great for them, not so much for us.
James Mac
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 12:58 PMBugger.
Still that’s about what I expected.
Would have been nice if we could have picked a different game. Any word on the AU price of the games?
dzc12
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 1:18 PMI’m spending the same amount on Reach… And yet I can’t justify buying Kinect…
Thiago Campos
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 1:18 PMWould be nice a bundle of a Slim 250gb + Kinect. I want to upgrade my old Elite for the new one, but just the slim 250gb it self is not enought for me. =S
Tom
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 1:20 PMNot unreasonable. It could always be cheaper.
Lucas Brown
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 1:23 PMYeah thats pretty much the exact price point I think all of us were expecting. Might get it when there’s atleast 5 good, hardcore titles on the market for it.
Stone
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 1:37 PMWhile the price is a little disappointing, I’m a little more alarmed by the decision to bundle the Kinect with what is essentially the Arcade SKU. It is clear Microsoft are targeting two very different markets and the fact both consoles are called Xbox 360 seems coincidental.
I’ve a launch 20Gb console and was looking at this Christmas to upgrade to the new 250Gb slim with a thrown in Kinect for novelty. I don’t think I’ll pay $599 for it though and might just have to keep my old one until it dies and then reassess.
Trent Gore
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 1:40 PMI was going to pay for it without a bundled game. Bonus.
I’m all for adopting something early because it shows interest. Developers aren’t going to make games around a peripheral that doesn’t sell.
Get on board people.
Mr Waffle
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 1:42 PMThank the maker. I wouldn’t have bought it on principle if it was higher. Now the long wait begins…
Chuloopa
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 1:54 PMyeah i don’t think anyone has the right to complain about this anymore, i mean it’s pretty much exactly as predicted anyway.. if it’s too expensive then just don’t get it yet…
Phroghollow
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 1:56 PMAny info on the bundled software??
David Wildgoose
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 1:58 PMAs the post says, Kinect Adventures is the bundled software.
Peter Richards
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 1:57 PMWii is on sale for $249 today, it could easily be $199 for Christmas, I can’t see too many Kinects running off the shelves. My daughter wants kinectimals, but I will be waiting for the price to come down substantially or pick one up second hand when people get sick of them.
Isaac Hendry
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 2:05 PMSo Microsoft let me get this straight, you want me to pay $199 for a camera… While the technology interests me “Kinect Adventures” brings about as much excitement as the cardboard box the damn thing ships in.
James Mac
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 2:19 PMWait!
We get a cardboard box too?
What the hell… Dave, why wasn’t this mentioned in the origional post?
OrderOfFaith
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 2:39 PMLets build a cardboard cubby, and sell it for $199.
We can market it with NO controllers, and finite amusement for the whole family.
Stevorooni
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 2:26 PMHopefully there’ll be some decent and reasonably priced bundles around xmas time, but for now I’m not interested.
Arcane Azmadi
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 2:50 PMStill overpriced. You can get a friggin’ Wii for that much.
Millicent
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 3:37 PMYes, but WHAT OF THE DUAL-WIELDING!?
I’m kidding.
I do wonder whether or not this will take off. $199 is a lot of money to pay for a fairly unessential thing.
DKnight1000
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 3:46 PM$200 is what most of us called.
I’m wondering will the games be around the $80 mark or Full price.
nathaniel
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 3:49 PMthose that are smart will grab the old elite and wait for this… giving them a black 120 gig console with a kinect for under $400
Raven
Friday, July 23, 2010 at 4:01 PMI hear 150 ms latency, compared to Move’s miniscule 22 ms, not sure about latency for the Wii, as has been said you can buy a whole Wii for just a little more, and the Playstation Move entire kit with vastly superior accuracy and response time, for quite significantly less money.
Ayrton Coll
Friday, July 23, 2010 at 5:41 PM$200 just to play kinect adventures? or are there some other amazing kinect games I’m not aware of?
Chris Mosely
Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 11:37 AMI think one of the issues with Kinect is input latency. If you’re looking at using it as a gesture type input controller then the problem gets even worse, and mostly likely you’ve introduced a design flaw from the outset, if Kinect is what you’re targeting. That’s the reason why it’s not suitable for a lot of games mentioned here. The short summary is, when you want your onscreen character to react immediately, Kinect can’t process a complex gesture or movement quickly enough to give you the kind of game responsivenesses you’re used too. Bloody hell that was a mouthful and probably made no sense! :)