Microsoft Confirms Kinect for $149

[Cuppa Tetleys]

I appreciate what Kinect represents in terms of advancement in technology (if it works correctly) but as a gaming controller it's far too expensive to consider bothering with. Maybe for the casual gaming industry it could be a lot of fun, but if Microsoft get tempted to make hardcore titles for Kinect they will be doomed to fail. What upsets me about that, is they might release some genuinely interesting and innovative titles EXCLUSIVE to Kinect, meaning a lot of potential good games could be going to waste because nobody wants to play Halo 3: Kinect-ion. For example; the release of No More Heroes for the Wii, when it would have been much better with a gamecube controller. I know I preferred the gamecube version of Twilight Princess.

 

[soapyshooter]

Well there goes a chance of me buying it. No way in hell I'm paying that much.

 

[Mako SOLDIER]

ok so Kinect has to be used standing up. Anyone called them out on their commercials showing the family playing sitting on the couch yet?

Kinect also only supports 2 player. commercial shows 4.

So now its coming for $150...

O man this is gonna be a really good laugh when they show us the sales number for this thing \o/

1) The two-players only thing is unconfirmed. The only evidence for that is a set of unofficial specs that were posted a few weeks ago by someone with no evidence of actual insider knowledge. Besides, how many people can you fit in your front room, all actively swinging their arms around etc? It only really needs two player support for full body tracking, and anything less intensive (Ie. does not need real-time full body and joint tracking) will likely be feasible for 4 players (technically that same spec sheet claimed it could recognise 6 people, tracking 2 of them as 'active players').

2) It has been confirmed several times that you do not have to be standing up for Kinect to work. It works just fine sitting down. Sure, none of the current games seem to implement that, but that's because the whole idea at the moment is that it's supposed to be more active than traditional gaming. I mean who on earth is going to play a motion controlled sports title while sitting down? It would completely defeat the point.

As for everyone dismissing motion control offhand (and it really IS offhand. Motion control is in its infancy, dismissing it now is like dismissing gaming on the whole because the joystick you bought for your ZX Spectrum didn't work all that well), you can say you don't like it, but the fact of the matter is that it is in no way a fad anymore. It has been adopted in a big way by every console manufacturer on the market. It's here to stay and people really need to just deal with that.

On top of that, if you hate the idea of Kinect, then renounce every light-gun game you've ever played, because that's what it amounts to: a more intuitive way to play certain types of games. A light-gun game being played using a standard controller is not as good. House of the Dead 2 on the Dreamcast proved this. Great fun with the gun, rubbish with the pad. The Guitar Hero/Roack Band series: again, fun using the 'instruments', not so good using a standard controller. So, it stands to reason that Dancing games, non team based sports games, anything involving speech and/or facial expressions etc, will work better if movement, voice, expression etc (as relevant to individual games of course) are used in place of a standard controller.

It's not all about playing Resident Evil 4 'now with added stick waggling'. Those kind of implementations are just lazy ways of tacking motion functionality onto games that aren't particularly well suited to it. This happened with the Wii out of neccesity because that was the entire console's unique selling point. It won't happen with the PS3 and Xbox 360 because they both come bundled with perfectly good controllers and have an established user base for 'standard' gaming. Lets face it, if you didn't like using a joystick to play a flisht sim on the PC when they were all the rage back in the mid nineties you didn't waste time bitching about how much you thought they sucked (and $150 is cheap compared to the price of some of those high end joysticks. I point you to http://shop.d2leisuregroup.co.uk/product1159980265catno0.html and remind you that the price of these things has most likely come down over the last decade). Nope, you just ignored them and didn't buy those games or those peripherals. It's the same with the aforementioned ligh0gun game. Don't like them? Don't play them.

Anyone would think that motion control was a personal insult to a lot of people. Newsflash: it's not. It's just another way to play games. Take it or leave it, but uninformed rants about how the latest tech is the devil are no good to anyone.

 

[Timbydude]

Pssh, they're out of their minds. I refuse to pay more than $50 for that thing.

 

[DTWolfwood]

ok so Kinect has to be used standing up. Anyone called them out on their commercials showing the family playing sitting on the couch yet?

Kinect also only supports 2 player. commercial shows 4.

So now its coming for $150...

O man this is gonna be a really good laugh when they show us the sales number for this thing \o/

1) The two-players only thing is unconfirmed. The only evidence for that is a set of unofficial specs that were posted a few weeks ago by someone with no evidence of actual insider knowledge. Besides, how many people can you fit in your front room, all actively swinging their arms around etc? It only really needs two player support for full body tracking, and anything less intensive (Ie. does not need real-time full body and joint tracking) will likely be feasible for 4 players (technically that same spec sheet claimed it could recognise 6 people, tracking 2 of them as 'active players').

2) It has been confirmed several times that you do not have to be standing up for Kinect to work. It works just fine sitting down. Sure, none of the current games seem to implement that, but that's because the whole idea at the moment is that it's supposed to be more active than traditional gaming. I mean who on earth is going to play a motion controlled sports title while sitting down? It would completely defeat the point.

As for everyone dismissing motion control offhand (and it really IS offhand. Motion control is in its infancy, dismissing it now is like dismissing gaming on the whole because the joystick you bought for your ZX Spectrum didn't work all that well), you can say you don't like it, but the fact of the matter is that it is in no way a fad anymore. It has been adopted in a big way by every console manufacturer on the market. It's here to stay and people really need to just deal with that.

On top of that, if you hate the idea of Kinect, then renounce every light-gun game you've ever played, because that's what it amounts to: a more intuitive way to play certain types of games. A light-gun game being played using a standard controller is not as good. House of the Dead 2 on the Dreamcast proved this. Great fun with the gun, rubbish with the pad. The Guitar Hero/Roack Band series: again, fun using the 'instruments', not so good using a standard controller. So, it stands to reason that Dancing games, non team based sports games, anything involving speech and/or facial expressions etc, will work better if movement, voice, expression etc (as relevant to individual games of course) are used in place of a standard controller.

It's not all about playing Resident Evil 4 'now with added stick waggling'. Those kind of implementations are just lazy ways of tacking motion functionality onto games that aren't particularly well suited to it. This happened with the Wii out of neccesity because that was the entire console's unique selling point. It won't happen with the PS3 and Xbox 360 because they both come bundled with perfectly good controllers and have an established user base for 'standard' gaming. Lets face it, if you didn't like using a joystick to play a flisht sim on the PC when they were all the rage back in the mid nineties you didn't waste time bitching about how much you thought they sucked (and $150 is cheap compared to the price of some of those high end joysticks. I point you to http://shop.d2leisuregroup.co.uk/product1159980265catno0.html and remind you that the price of these things has most likely come down over the last decade). Nope, you just ignored them and didn't buy those games or those peripherals. It's the same with the aforementioned ligh0gun game. Don't like them? Don't play them.

Anyone would think that motion control was a personal insult to a lot of people. Newsflash: it's not. It's just another way to play games. Take it or leave it, but uninformed rants about how the latest tech is the devil are no good to anyone.

1) 4 according to Rockband and Guitar hero and everyone flailing (yes we got real into it when u have 3 other ppl who can play on expert) Also not the point. Pointing out its false advertising to show 4 ppl and only support 2 <.<

2) So off the bat your gonna force the ppl who willingly buy your expensive peripheral to play inferior games standing up? i really hope your not one of those ppl that think the majority of ppl who play motion based games (As in Wii games and not them stupid fitness junk that ppl shelve after trying for a day or two) are actually standing up when they play. if u are, nothing i say after will matter. You've already bought what MS, Sony, and Nintendo are selling u.

I like kinect for what it is. i just hate it for its retarded price, implementation, and target audience. Yahtzee made a great point when he ranted about the motion controllers [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/7794-Extra-Punctuation-On-Kinect-and-PlayStation-Move]

150 isnt a lot for a controller. yes if your a hardcore gamer. Most of the expensive controllers still have INPUTS, tactile response to in game stimuli (Kinect has neither) and doesn't require the gamer to STAND. This piece of peripheral is marketed to the casual gamer. unless MS thinks casual gamers already have xbox360s in their homes, this price point is a lost cause.

i know my parents aren't gonna pay $150 for a gimmick, let alone those that dont have a 360 in the house already, spending $200-300 PLUS $150 (or the $300-400 arcade bundle or the probably $500-600 elite bundle) just so they can stand there wagging like an imbecile. they already have a $200 console that does all that without an extra $150 slapped on.

 

[Vigilantis]

Well...the bundle doesnt look too terribly bad I must say, but that is due to me not having a Xbox in the first place. I doubt the PS3 Move will be too far off from this price aswell, so I'm just going to have to wait for a decent PS3 bundle and take my chances that this whole motion sensor thing doesnt flop.

Yes it is too expensive, I dont think accesories should cost half the price of what the main product needed to use them for..

 

[Mako SOLDIER]

ok so Kinect has to be used standing up. Anyone called them out on their commercials showing the family playing sitting on the couch yet?

Kinect also only supports 2 player. commercial shows 4.

So now its coming for $150...

O man this is gonna be a really good laugh when they show us the sales number for this thing \o/

1) The two-players only thing is unconfirmed. The only evidence for that is a set of unofficial specs that were posted a few weeks ago by someone with no evidence of actual insider knowledge. Besides, how many people can you fit in your front room, all actively swinging their arms around etc? It only really needs two player support for full body tracking, and anything less intensive (Ie. does not need real-time full body and joint tracking) will likely be feasible for 4 players (technically that same spec sheet claimed it could recognise 6 people, tracking 2 of them as 'active players').

2) It has been confirmed several times that you do not have to be standing up for Kinect to work. It works just fine sitting down. Sure, none of the current games seem to implement that, but that's because the whole idea at the moment is that it's supposed to be more active than traditional gaming. I mean who on earth is going to play a motion controlled sports title while sitting down? It would completely defeat the point.

As for everyone dismissing motion control offhand (and it really IS offhand. Motion control is in its infancy, dismissing it now is like dismissing gaming on the whole because the joystick you bought for your ZX Spectrum didn't work all that well), you can say you don't like it, but the fact of the matter is that it is in no way a fad anymore. It has been adopted in a big way by every console manufacturer on the market. It's here to stay and people really need to just deal with that.

On top of that, if you hate the idea of Kinect, then renounce every light-gun game you've ever played, because that's what it amounts to: a more intuitive way to play certain types of games. A light-gun game being played using a standard controller is not as good. House of the Dead 2 on the Dreamcast proved this. Great fun with the gun, rubbish with the pad. The Guitar Hero/Roack Band series: again, fun using the 'instruments', not so good using a standard controller. So, it stands to reason that Dancing games, non team based sports games, anything involving speech and/or facial expressions etc, will work better if movement, voice, expression etc (as relevant to individual games of course) are used in place of a standard controller.

It's not all about playing Resident Evil 4 'now with added stick waggling'. Those kind of implementations are just lazy ways of tacking motion functionality onto games that aren't particularly well suited to it. This happened with the Wii out of neccesity because that was the entire console's unique selling point. It won't happen with the PS3 and Xbox 360 because they both come bundled with perfectly good controllers and have an established user base for 'standard' gaming. Lets face it, if you didn't like using a joystick to play a flisht sim on the PC when they were all the rage back in the mid nineties you didn't waste time bitching about how much you thought they sucked (and $150 is cheap compared to the price of some of those high end joysticks. I point you to http://shop.d2leisuregroup.co.uk/product1159980265catno0.html and remind you that the price of these things has most likely come down over the last decade). Nope, you just ignored them and didn't buy those games or those peripherals. It's the same with the aforementioned ligh0gun game. Don't like them? Don't play them.

Anyone would think that motion control was a personal insult to a lot of people. Newsflash: it's not. It's just another way to play games. Take it or leave it, but uninformed rants about how the latest tech is the devil are no good to anyone.

1) 4 according to Rockband and Guitar hero and everyone flailing (yes we got real into it when u have 3 other ppl who can play on expert) Also not the point. Pointing out its false advertising to show 4 ppl and only support 2 <.<

2) So off the bat your gonna force the ppl who willingly buy your expensive peripheral to play inferior games standing up? i really hope your not one of those ppl that think the majority of ppl who play motion based games (As in Wii games and not them stupid fitness junk that ppl shelve after trying for a day or two) are actually standing up when they play. if u are, nothing i say after will matter. You've already bought what MS, Sony, and Nintendo are selling u.

I like kinect for what it is. i just hate it for its retarded price, implementation, and target audience. Yahtzee made a great point when he ranted about the motion controllers [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/7794-Extra-Punctuation-On-Kinect-and-PlayStation-Move]

150 isnt a lot for a controller. yes if your a hardcore gamer. Most of the expensive controllers still have INPUTS, tactile response to in game stimuli (Kinect has neither) and doesn't require the gamer to STAND. This piece of peripheral is marketed to the casual gamer. unless MS thinks casual gamers already have xbox360s in their homes, this price point is a lost cause.

i know my parents aren't gonna pay $150 for a gimmick, let alone those that dont have a 360 in the house already, spending $200-300 PLUS $150 (or the $300-400 arcade bundle or the probably $500-600 elite bundle) just so they can stand there wagging like an imbecile. they already have a $200 console that does all that without an extra $150 slapped on.

1) Guitar Hero/Rock Band are irrelevant in terms of the number of people in the room, due to the fact that the controllers are wired (or wi-fi enebled) and don't need a camera or sensor to pick them up. The lack of line of sight changes things significantly. For instance, have you ever tried to use a Wii on a tv under 19"? It's pretty difficult because, in order to keep the cursor accurate in relation to where you are pointing your range of movement is significantly limited. Try to get two people playing a game on that scenario and you'll find it extremely difficult. Playing Rock Band on the same tv wouldn't be limited in the slightest. It's not false advertising at all. Firstly, the 2-players max thing is not officially confirmed. Besides, even if that does turn out to be the case, not once in any of the adverts are four people playing at the same time. It's always one or two people at a time with the rest of the family watching and cheering along.

2.) Yes, people who play motion based games will predominatntly play them standing up. Don't presume to imply that I'm deluded for thinking so. A game with a little bit of Wiimote-waggle, where you can sit on your arse and only move your arms, is not a proper motion game. If someone is playing Wii Sports or Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Games while sitting down then they're missing the point. Sure, I'm not going to begrudge them that, but I'm not going to tailor games to them either. If they want to sit down then why on earth are they buying motion controlled sports titles?

Yes, Kinect has a lack of tactile feedback, but so what? We don't feel everything that happens when we're watching a movie (well, unless we have a really good sound system, but that would apply to gaming too), and it's not like holding a controller is all that immersive. Sure there's force feedback, but gaming was no less immersive before that existed. Essentially Kinect is trading the act of having something in your hand for gewtting to essentially have a character that does (almost) exactly what you do. I'll take that over a piece of plastic that vibrates any day.

Lol, Yahtzee doesn't have a point about motion controllers. He has an ill-concieved rant that is based entirely upon his personal bias and focuses on immersion whilst simultaneously displaying that he doesn't really understand it at all. For example, Oblivion is more immersive than, for instance Carcassone (although the latter is still excellent), and they both use the same controller. Immersion has nothing to do with how quickly the mental impulse takes to cause action on the screen, it has everything to do with the emotional and personal investment in the game.

How many times? Kinect does NOT require you to stand. The hardware is not responsible for the software written for it.

Having a Wii already is not the equivalent of already having Kinect or cheaper. Well, unless the Wiimote now has voice recognition built in and the sensor bar tracks your movement so you never point the remote outside of the bounds of the screen. Didn't think so.

I'm not overjoyed about the price, but it's fair. Take the price of the game off of the cost of the Kinect bundle and it works out under $100. People have been bitching for ages about how they want it to be under $100. It is. Sure, they should have offered a choice from a selection of bundled games, but that can still change before launch (although, as previously stated, I like the look of Kinect Adventures).

Yeah, I do actually agree that MS are leaning too much towards the casual gamer, but that's just the launch titles. As much as the guy often overhypes stuff, do you really think people like Peter Molyneux aren't going mental over the potential of Kinect? Heck, even Bioware are excited about it and have hinted at using it in the conversation system in Mass Effect 3. It's doubtful that they will, but they'll probably do something with it after that. People on this forum think they know better than the developers. They don't. The possibilities are extremely exciting, but they aren't going to get realised if everyone is dismissing it before they've even had any hands on experience with it.

 

[Jazzy Maraca]

I was thinking about it but with that price...nah.

 

[William Dickbringer]

Ah stop your whining guys. The price is fair.

Me? I think that I will go for the bundle deal myself.

really? I was thinking of not getting the bundle and just get them separate reason is I don't like how they're giving only 4GB of storage with the thing AND not having an ability to attach a hard drive so really it would be like memory cards and having a little brother that would lose the cards would get annoying

 

[Digikid]

Ah stop your whining guys. The price is fair.

Me? I think that I will go for the bundle deal myself.

really? I was thinking of not getting the bundle and just get them separate reason is I don't like how they're giving only 4GB of storage with the thing AND not having an ability to attach a hard drive so really it would be like memory cards and having a little brother that would lose the cards would get annoying

I have LOADS of USB Hard Drives that will work perfectly. No biggie.

 

[William Dickbringer]

Ah stop your whining guys. The price is fair.

Me? I think that I will go for the bundle deal myself.

really? I was thinking of not getting the bundle and just get them separate reason is I don't like how they're giving only 4GB of storage with the thing AND not having an ability to attach a hard drive so really it would be like memory cards and having a little brother that would lose the cards would get annoying

I have LOADS of USB Hard Drives that will work perfectly. No biggie.

THEN EVERYONE WINS!!!!

 

[Digikid]

Ah stop your whining guys. The price is fair.

Me? I think that I will go for the bundle deal myself.

really? I was thinking of not getting the bundle and just get them separate reason is I don't like how they're giving only 4GB of storage with the thing AND not having an ability to attach a hard drive so really it would be like memory cards and having a little brother that would lose the cards would get annoying

I have LOADS of USB Hard Drives that will work perfectly. No biggie.

THEN EVERYONE WINS!!!!

Exactly!!! I get a console spare and for a good price.

 

[DTWolfwood]

...

u miss the point alot don't u? im answering u. How is it irrelevant when u asked how many ppl u can fit in front of the TV in a Room. I answered 4 EASILY. therefore, Kinect should work AS ADVERTISED. If 4 pieces of peripherals are in the way and u can still have fun and play with 4 ppl, what is Kinects excuse when it has no hindering gimmick in front of the players to support the 4 ppl it was advertised to do?

and whatever you wrote later in you book. um ok? \/ didn't read it. I'm a hardcore gamer and i think $150 is too much so im not getting it till there is a price drop. Good luck MS selling this. lolz

 

[Mako SOLDIER]

...

u miss the point alot don't u? im answering u. How is it irrelevant when u asked how many ppl u can fit in front of the TV in a Room. I answered 4 EASILY. therefore, Kinect should work AS ADVERTISED. If 4 pieces of peripherals are in the way and u can still have fun and play with 4 ppl, what is Kinects excuse when it has no hindering gimmick in front of the players to support the 4 ppl it was advertised to do?

and whatever you wrote later in you book. um ok? \/ didn't read it. I'm a hardcore gamer and i think $150 is too much so im not getting it till there is a price drop. Good luck MS selling this. lolz

Kinect has not been advertised as four player at once. I've said it before and I'll say it again, not once in the advertising do more than two players actually play at once. I'm not missing the point at all. My comment about the number of people you can fit in front of the tv referred to people actually playing. That should have been obvious in the context of the post. Read the words and actually take them in before you throw personal insults at others. Oh, and putting thing IN CAPITALS does not automatically make you right.

So, basically, you lack the attention span to read a post before replying, and you see no problem with responding in an ignorant and ill-informed manner. Yeah, I thought I was debating with an intelligent adult, but you clearly aren't worth my time from here on.

 

[DTWolfwood]

...

u miss the point alot don't u? im answering u. How is it irrelevant when u asked how many ppl u can fit in front of the TV in a Room. I answered 4 EASILY. therefore, Kinect should work AS ADVERTISED. If 4 pieces of peripherals are in the way and u can still have fun and play with 4 ppl, what is Kinects excuse when it has no hindering gimmick in front of the players to support the 4 ppl it was advertised to do?

and whatever you wrote later in you book. um ok? \/ didn't read it. I'm a hardcore gamer and i think $150 is too much so im not getting it till there is a price drop. Good luck MS selling this. lolz

Kinect has not been advertised as four player at once. I've said it before and I'll say it again, not once in the advertising do more than two players actually play at once. I'm not missing the point at all. My comment about the number of people you can fit in front of the tv referred to people actually playing. That should have been obvious in the context of the post. Read the words and actually take them in before you throw personal insults at others. Oh, and putting thing IN CAPITALS does not automatically make you right.

So, basically, you lack the attention span to read a post before replying, and you see no problem with responding in an ignorant and ill-informed manner. Yeah, I thought I was debating with an intelligent adult, but you clearly aren't worth my time from here on.

I guess the video they released a year or 2 ago with the family of 4 playing on the couch wasn't advert for 4 ppl playing while sitting. \/

if u love it so much please buy all means buy it, Lemme know how it goes.

 

[Baldr]

Walmart:

Wii Resort Bundle 199.54
controller 2 $38.54
controller 3 $38.54
controller 4 $38.54
nunchuk 2 $14.54
nunchuk 3 $14.54
nunchuk 4 $14.54
motion plus 2 $15.54
motion plus 3 $15.54
motion plus 4 $15.54
Total: $405.40


Xbox 360 Pro 20GB Console with 2 Controllers $169.54
Kinect Bundle $199.00
Total: $368.54

yep still cheaper in the new updates.

 

[Mako SOLDIER]

...

u miss the point alot don't u? im answering u. How is it irrelevant when u asked how many ppl u can fit in front of the TV in a Room. I answered 4 EASILY. therefore, Kinect should work AS ADVERTISED. If 4 pieces of peripherals are in the way and u can still have fun and play with 4 ppl, what is Kinects excuse when it has no hindering gimmick in front of the players to support the 4 ppl it was advertised to do?

and whatever you wrote later in you book. um ok? \/ didn't read it. I'm a hardcore gamer and i think $150 is too much so im not getting it till there is a price drop. Good luck MS selling this. lolz

Kinect has not been advertised as four player at once. I've said it before and I'll say it again, not once in the advertising do more than two players actually play at once. I'm not missing the point at all. My comment about the number of people you can fit in front of the tv referred to people actually playing. That should have been obvious in the context of the post. Read the words and actually take them in before you throw personal insults at others. Oh, and putting thing IN CAPITALS does not automatically make you right.

So, basically, you lack the attention span to read a post before replying, and you see no problem with responding in an ignorant and ill-informed manner. Yeah, I thought I was debating with an intelligent adult, but you clearly aren't worth my time from here on.

I guess the video they released a year or 2 ago with the family of 4 playing on the couch wasn't advert for 4 ppl playing while sitting. \/

if u love it so much please buy all means buy it, Lemme know how it goes.

I'm going to state this one word at a time so that you might actually understand it.

You. Can. Play. Sitting. Down.

Two. Player. Limitation. Is. Unconfirmed.

Trailer. Is. Years. Old.

Official. Launch. Trailers. Do. Not. Show. Four. Players.

Added. To. Ignore. List.

 

[Omnific One]

Hahahaha... no.

$149? With Amazon's game credits, I could preorder 3 new games. Nope, not happening.

Fact #1: The average consumer is only going to buy software for hardware they already own.
Fact #2: The price point for buying hardware is a major concern to the average consumer.

Putting these two facts together clearly states that the hardware should be given away next to free to encourage more people to purchase the software

QFT. You need to basically give these away to get people to buy the software. Printers are the same deal. You can buy a printer for $30 bucks, but it costs a ton more to make. The ink sales make up for it. That's what MS needs to do with games instead of ink. I realize that games aren't a necessity like ink, but if you have the hardware, you're going to inevitably want to buy games that work for it.