Speaking with the financial outlet Bloomberg, President of Microsoft Interactive and Entertainment, Don Mattrick, raised the sales expectations of the new Kinect motion controller during the holiday season from 3 million units to 5 million. Mattrick stated that the move to increase the probable sales numbers came from a combination of pre-orders, consumer interest and retail orders. Some 25,000 stores in the United States will carry the peripheral which launched today, and for some select retailers, very early this morning.
With the launch of Kinect, the motion control wars have stepped up to be a player on all three major home consoles. Sony’s Move controller kicked off the second wave when it launched last month, making this holiday one of the most closely watched hardware years in recent memory. If Microsoft does end up fulfilling it’s lofty sales goals it would represent the best launch of any Xbox branded product.
Toy R Us ceratinly seems to be backing the new controller as Mattrick states that they have positioned it as a “must-have holiday item” going on that say that this is an opportunity to have their “biggest holiday ever.”
Early reviews from the enthusiast press have been mixed, citing problems with the need for a substantial amount of distance between the Kinect and player to register, as well as difficulty recognizing certain skin tones for facial recognition features. The 500 million dollar advertising campaign that Microsoft has put behind Kinect may lead to a larger casual adoption, but only time will tell.
If you are interested in experiencing the lauded ‘controller free’ gameplay, Kinect is available today bundled with Kinect Adventures for $149.99. I for one am going to wait and see how this all pans out. If there is a big software push that extends beyond the initial launch, I think it’ll be enticing for core gamers, but until then I shall abstain from the living room buffoonery that is sure to come with the software available at launch.
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