• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Kinect priced at $150 in Microsoft's official online store

crazygambit said:
Actually, if the info on the memory requirement is true then I'm afraid an overpriced HDD might be neccesary.

Or a memory card. But that is a necessity on the consumer end, or a want. With Kinect Microsoft needs you to buy it. I don't understand how people aren't seeing the difference in these things.

echoshifting said:
Sadly, it's not. I wish MS would just confirm the pricing already so we could put this to rest, but IGN just posted a story 15 minutes ago with the latest official comment on pricing: there is no comment. Still. All pricing involving Kinect is technically speculative until the press release.

It's 4+ months away. Why give a price? I think this is a great tactic, without an official response people are still curious. Once you name a price you'll lose some of those people that it went over their 'limit'.
 

Talamius

Member
Joe Shlabotnik said:
There weren't in it for the money during the Xbox's lifecycle. The 360 really was/is about making money, eventually. If after ten years they're still eating money strictly for the purpose of griefing Sony, one starts to wonder if it's all just a colossal waste of time.

Here's a prediction: If Kinect bombas, Microsoft's own shareholders will run them out of the console space. They're not going to continue to throw billions into the furnace to go 50/50 with Sony for ANOTHER generation.

infinityBCRT said:
guys, USB storage is supported. I'm shocked at how many people either don't realize this/at how many people don't have any USB sticks sitting around at home.

I actually agree here. Kinect has a metric fuckton of problems at launch, but the memory requirement is not one of them.
 
flyinpiranha said:
Or a memory card. But that is a necessity on the consumer end, or a want. With Kinect Microsoft needs you to buy it. I don't understand how people aren't seeing the difference in these things.
guys, USB storage is supported. I'm shocked at how many people either don't realize this/at how many people don't have any USB sticks sitting around at home.
 
Joe Shlabotnik said:
Yes we know what motion is. The point is that your two favorite games, and your major reason for getting the Move, are a third-person and first-person shooter. And the Wii's pointer controls are probably better for those kind of reticule-based games than the Move tech.

Yes, Move will probably work better than Motion+ for positional accuracy, in boxing games, swordfighting, etc. And there aren't many "mature" licenses like Killzone and SOCOM on the Wii. But the particular control scheme you're suddenly psyched about is actually the one scenario where the Wii is still likely a better choice than Move.


Actually from what i have read from pretty much every one of the gaming media is that Move is more accurate than the wii remote with motion plus.

So i don't think it will be better for FPS when move is more accurate,also with more power you can do more things that is already a given,playing a FPS on wii is not the same as playing on PS3 or 360,the engines are not the same are the wii can't pretty much handle the things the PS3 can.

MW is also on wii and you can check the score for it,something is not right.
 

venne

Member
Joe Shlabotnik said:
Yes we know what motion is. The point is that your two favorite games, and your major reason for getting the Move, are a third-person and first-person shooter. And the Wii's pointer controls are probably better for those kind of reticule-based games than the Move tech.

Yes, Move will probably work better than Motion+ for positional accuracy, in boxing games, swordfighting, etc. And there aren't many "mature" licenses like Killzone and SOCOM on the Wii. But the particular control scheme you're suddenly psyched about is actually the one scenario where the Wii is still likely a better choice than Move.

Mouse support would be an even better choice altogether.
 
seady said:
The fact that Microsoft keeps on saying they have not confirm a price - even when the $150 price is everywhere - means one thing: the $150 is a decoy.

I'm starting to think they are testing reaction to the price because even their own website still says the price after a day and if they were that determined it would have been removed by now.... but oddly it's still up.
 

Kilrogg

paid requisite penance
Joe Shlabotnik said:
There weren't in it for the money during the Xbox's lifecycle. The 360 really was/is about making money, eventually. If after ten years they're still eating money strictly for the purpose of griefing Sony, one starts to wonder if it's all just a colossal waste of time.

I didn't say they just want to grief Sony.

Considering how many billions they sunk creating the 360, I think they were ready to lose more money this gen too, or at least not make much, and use the 720 as the final system to dominate the market.
 
seady said:
The fact that Microsoft keeps on saying they have not confirm a price - even when the $150 price is everywhere - means one thing: the $150 is a decoy.

To what effect. Is the targeted audience even paying attention?
 

Vinci

Danish
A Twisty Fluken said:
This is a fallacy.

Yes, it is. After its unveiling, it was virtually assured to do at least decently well. Now, could people have predicted its massive success? I know some did, but not overly many. That said, Tycho is still wrong. Not every traditional gamer hated the Wii upon arrival or even after.

lowlylowlycook said:
To what effect. Is the targeted audience even paying attention?

Well, of course it's doing so well on Amazon blah blah bladity-blah.
 
Vinci said:
Yes, it is. After its unveiling, it was virtually assured to do at least decently well. Now, could people have predicted its massive success? I know some did, but not overly many. That said, Tycho is still wrong. Not every traditional gamer hated the Wii upon arrival or even after.

And I'm not sure the Wii hate was accurate as there was misplaced PS3 love at the time. I don't know how well the Wii would have been received if it was announced on it's own and not near the release of the 360 and PS3.

The Wii/DS announcements were amazing to read on places like GAF especially considering how they ultimately performed in the marketplace.
 

Busty

Banned
Talamius said:
Here's a prediction: If Kinect bombas, Microsoft's own shareholders will run them out of the console space. They're not going to continue to throw billions into the furnace to go 50/50 with Sony for ANOTHER generation.

Good grief.
 

jluedtke

Member
Sho_Nuff82 said:
Kinect isn't going to be a big mover as a $150 standalone. It will be as a $300 bundle. With an Xbox360. So yes, they are aiming at people who are either bored/disappointed in Wii, or people who are console-less this fall and looking for the new flavor-of-the-year party game.

Again, so I have this straight: you're saying that 1) "Casual/Lapsed Gamers" (ie: people who hadn't bought a console in years - or ever - before they bought a Wii), are now going to go out and buy their second console in less than five years, despite the fact that it's twice the price of the Wii? And 2) Microsoft is hoping to sweep up the crumbs by appealing to those who somehow have avoided buying a console, with the hope that they see this Kinect peripheral and now feel compelled to see what this whole gaming nonsense is about?

If that's correct, then in my estimation, their whole marketing plan is to sell about 3,000 total units. In that case, $150 might not be enough to recoup their investment.
 
jluedtke said:
Again, so I have this straight: you're saying that 1) "Casual/Lapsed Gamers" (ie: people who hadn't bought a console in years - or ever - before they bought a Wii), are now going to go out and buy their second console in less than five years, despite the fact that it's twice the price of the Wii? And 2) Microsoft is hoping to sweep up the crumbs by appealing to those who somehow have avoided buying a console, with the hope that they see this Kinect peripheral and now feel compelled to see what this whole gaming nonsense is about?

If that's correct, then in my estimation, their whole marketing plan is to sell about 3,000 total units. In that case, $150 might not be enough to recoup their investment.

Since when is $299 (the rumored arcade bundle price) double $199? Most Wii owners bought their console at $250 (or more, during holidays), remember?

And you're completely dismissing the possibility that someone would buy an Xbox360+Kinect instead of a Wii, which still manages to sell hundreds of thousands of units a month to people who weren't gaming steadily before this generation. A "non-gamer" (here we go again) buying a Kinect Bundle + Dancing game + Fitness game is no more far-fetched than a "non-gamer" buying a Wii + Wii Fit + Just Dance, something that happens week in and week out.

MS is only now, 4 years after the Wii's launch, giving those people a choice. Overwhelming the Wii is unlikely (late imitators rarely do in new markets), but like the Android vs Iphone markets, there are people who will welcome the newcomer with open arms if they provide a similar or superior experience, and there will be a segment that abandon the Wii altogether just for the novelty of trying the competition.
 

jluedtke

Member
Alright man. If you say so. I just think they're going after a very limited market, rather than carving out their own niche. Like I said earlier: I have no idea what the hell their strategy is with this thing. It just seems flailing and without any sort of focus.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Sho_Nuff82 said:
Since when is $299 (the rumored arcade bundle price) double $199? Most Wii owners bought their console at $250 (or more, during holidays), remember?

Yes, because they didn't have one. Now they do. They're not going to apply the same pricing standards to a second console as they did to a first, and non-Wii owners will still be able to get a Wii for cheaper.

And you're completely dismissing the possibility that someone would buy an Xbox360+Kinect instead of a Wii, which still manages to sell hundreds of thousands of units a month to people who weren't gaming steadily before this generation. A "non-gamer" (here we go again) buying a Kinect Bundle + Dancing game + Fitness game is no more far-fetched than a "non-gamer" buying a Wii + Wii Fit + Just Dance, something that happens week in and week out.

In fact it's $100 more far-fetched!

there will be a segment that abandon the Wii altogether just for the novelty of trying the competition.

It's not clear that this segment represents more than 5-10% of anything in gaming. Whether we're talking about WoW players migrating to other MMOs "just to try", iPhone owners switching to an Android phone, etc. Stuff is pretty entrenched.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
venne said:
Why?
The only advantage I can see it offering is head tracking (which would probably be too taxing on the CPU to exist alongside the game this generation) and perhaps voice command (which shouldn't be exclusive to Kinect since the 360 already has a fucking headset).
I don't need to flail my arm at the screen to throw a grenade. A simple trigger or button press will do just fine thank you.

MS should have push Kinect to hardcore and casual gamers that's why. They should have found some way to implement it into Halo Reach that's cool. That's what 1st parties do.


Joe Shlabotnik said:
Yes we know what motion is. The point is that your two favorite games, and your major reason for getting the Move, are a third-person and first-person shooter. And the Wii's pointer controls are probably better for those kind of reticule-based games than the Move tech.
Yes, Move will probably work better than Motion+ for positional accuracy, in boxing games, swordfighting, etc. And there aren't many "mature" licenses like Killzone and SOCOM on the Wii. But the particular control scheme you're suddenly psyched about is actually the one scenario where the Wii is still likely a better choice than Move.

How do you know this? I thought it was stated that they were the same.

seady said:
The fact that Microsoft keeps on saying they have not confirm a price - even when the $150 price is everywhere - means one thing: the $150 is a decoy.

Why do a decoy though? Doesn't that screw up the "marketing" aspect of selling Kinect?
 
OldJadedGamer said:
I'm starting to think they are testing reaction to the price because even their own website still says the price after a day and if they were that determined it would have been removed by now.... but oddly it's still up.

I think that's exactly what Microsoft is doing. They are seeing how $150 pricepoint is doing with pre-order. If stores are ordering a lot of Kinect at $150 then they probably will sell it at $150. Why sell something for less when you can sell for more, that's always been Microsoft stand.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
flyinpiranha said:
It's 4+ months away. Why give a price? I think this is a great tactic, without an official response people are still curious. Once you name a price you'll lose some of those people that it went over their 'limit'.

This is a good point. They don't have to announce the price. So, why put the price up on their website then?
 
MS must have a lot of money earmarked for their Kinect marketing to push the official price out to people once confirmed since they're so seemingly unconcerned about the high numbers flying around.
 
mckmas8808 said:
This is a good point. They don't have to announce the price. So, why put the price up on their website then?

And why not take it down as soon as they realized it was a mistake? There is no way that this price could be allowed to be up there for as long as it has been... not with a company like MS who can remove stuff in a blink of an eye.

It's really weird how long it's been up.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
OldJadedGamer said:
And why not take it down as soon as they realized it was a mistake? There is no way that this price could be allowed to be up there for as long as it has been... not with a company like MS who can remove stuff in a blink of an eye.

It's really weird how long it's been up.

Exactly. And wouldn't lowering the price in October make it look like MS couldn't sell the system at $150? Wouldn't that be a PR nightmare?
 

gerg

Member
OldJadedGamer said:
And why not take it down as soon as they realized it was a mistake? There is no way that this price could be allowed to be up there for as long as it has been... not with a company like MS who can remove stuff in a blink of an eye.

It's really weird how long it's been up.

That's probably because it's the price.

Actually, Microsoft is just leaving the price up there so that when it announces the actual lower price it can contrast the good news with all that FUD it's been purposely spreading about its own product! ; )

I'm going to eat so much crow if Kinect isn't $150 at launch.
:lol
 

derFeef

Member
mckmas8808 said:
Exactly. And wouldn't lowering the price in October make it look like MS couldn't sell the system at $150? Wouldn't that be a PR nightmare?
Sure, lowering the price is a bad thing.
 
gerg said:
That's probably because it's the price.

Actually, Microsoft is just leaving the price up there so that when it announces the actual lower price it can contrast the good news with all that FUD it's been purposely spreading about its own product! ; )

I'm going to eat so much crow if Kinect isn't $150 at launch.
:lol

I'm still waiting for the ban bets for people who think it's really going to be $150 bucks no matter what. Oh, and of course these threads will be bumped later for the lolz either way.
 
Vinci said:
Yes, it is. After its unveiling, it was virtually assured to do at least decently well. Now, could people have predicted its massive success? I know some did, but not overly many. That said, Tycho is still wrong. Not every traditional gamer hated the Wii upon arrival or even after.

Yes, but even if every traditional gamer had predicted failure for the Wii, to then assert based on that that Kinect is a step in the right direction because traditional gamers predict it will fail is faulty reasoning, quite simply.
 

DMeisterJ

Banned
This whole 'fake price, interest gauging' theory seems quite unlikely, and seems extremely convoluted. They don't have to come out with a press release or anything to announce the price. Isn't it just as likely as Microsoft has now put the pricing on their console because every other retailer has done it and it looks fucking stupid to not have people be able to buy the thing from your own site? Or in the interest of theories, couldn't it just be that MS knows how fucked they are by announcing a price point that expensive, so instead of proclaiming it at that, they just quietly update their site?

I mean, when I was a kid and got a 'F' in school, I surely wasn't being loud and telling everyone about it.
 
Stumpokapow said:
Yes, because they didn't have one. Now they do. They're not going to apply the same pricing standards to a second console as they did to a first, and non-Wii owners will still be able to get a Wii for cheaper.

In fact it's $100 more far-fetched!

I thought the first few years of this generation established that price isn't a factor unless something is outrageously overpriced (as in, the situation with the $599 PS3 vs the $399 360)? A $199 Arcade vs. a $250 Wii was a meaningless comparison, because people interested in motion gaming wanted a Wii, period.

If Natal has a killer app that the masses want, $299 certainly won't stop them. $399 probably will. MS will have to work on that if the rumors are true.

It's not clear that this segment represents more than 5-10% of anything in gaming. Whether we're talking about WoW players migrating to other MMOs "just to try", iPhone owners switching to an Android phone, etc. Stuff is pretty entrenched.

I agree that Wii owners jumping ship will be a marginal market for Kinect and Move, especially during the first year. As the generation drags out, however, a new console 4-6 years from your last purchase for $299 or less becomes less of a big deal and more the expected product cycle.

mckmas8808 said:
MS should have push Kinect to hardcore and casual gamers that's why. They should have found some way to implement it into Halo Reach that's cool. That's what 1st parties do.

That would've been a mistake.

I think Sony is going to have a really hard time selling Move to console FPS gamers, who by and large are content with the current status quo. If they wanted more accuracy, they would demand mouse & keyboard support or simply buy the same games they've been buying for the last 5 years for PC. The Wii has had a handful of motion-controlled shooters that have been lauded for lightning-quick accuracy, and no one has converted over in droves. They're trying to fix something that isn't broken. The harsh divides we've seen in many genres/franchises this gen (what sells/works on Wii vs. what sells/works on PS360) signify that most people have made up their minds as to which games they want to play with waggle and which they don't. Sim sports games, shooters, and action games will remain dual analog dominated for the next 5 years at least. All Sony's hardcore support will do is divide the online bases of the games where the peripheral is supported, and force some kind of motion option for all of their first party games going forward so early adopters don't toss them in the closet once the novelty wears off.
 

gerg

Member
@DMeisterJ: Or, y'know, Microsoft could tell those sites the real price of the console and have them drop their pre-order prices accordingly.
 
DMeisterJ said:
This whole 'fake price, interest gauging' theory seems quite unlikely, and seems extremely convoluted.

697221235_AxzRa-L.jpg
 

DMeisterJ

Banned
gerg said:
@DMeisterJ: Or, y'know, Microsoft could tell those sites the real price of the console and have them drop their pre-order prices accordingly.

They could, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on that.


A Twisty Fluken said:
http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/697221235_AxzRa-L.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

:lol
 
mckmas8808 said:
MS should have push Kinect to hardcore and casual gamers that's why. They should have found some way to implement it into Halo Reach that's cool. That's what 1st parties do.



Why do a decoy though? Doesn't that screw up the "marketing" aspect of selling Kinect?

Why would they push it toward the Halo/hardcore crowd? They could drop that news 1 week before launch and it would sell like hotcakes. No need to waste E3 space on us because we listen to every report. Just look at GAF, what's it been? Like 5 or 6 Kinect threads that could easily be put into one main one?

They need to start word of mouth with the people that don't visit IGN, Gamespot, Giantbomb or even know who Kotaku or Eurogamer is. Those are the people they are targeting and us poor hardcores are crying that after months of saying "Don't fucking put motion control into my core games" they didn't put motion control into our core games.

Why not do a decoy? A lot of people were "Nothing over $59.99 it's shit, fuck it" and now that $150 is 'out there' all of a sudden $99.99 doesn't look so bad. Car salesmen do this all the time.

"I can only spend 10k"
"OK, let's look at this car, it's amazing isn't it?"
"Wow, this is only 10k?"
"Oh, you said 10k? Sorry, this is 25k ... but I got this nice little 12k car for half the price!"

I'm not saying that is what they are doing for certain but NO pack in? For $150? I mean people honestly believe that? I will be absolutely dumbfounded and eating crow for the next ten years if that happens ... but I'm in the 99% sure it won't happen boat ... for now.


mckmas8808 said:
Exactly. And wouldn't lowering the price in October make it look like MS couldn't sell the system at $150? Wouldn't that be a PR nightmare?

Dude, that's months away. We've been discussing this for what seems like forever ... but it's been 8 days since it was shown at E3 and less than that for these pricing rumors. 8 days. It's not like they haven't been watching and I'm just going to assume that Microsofts marketing department, the ones that sold us defunct Xbox 360's for years even though WE KNOW THEY BREAK is a little smarter than the average armchair marketing guru here on GAF.
 

Shanadeus

Banned
OldJadedGamer said:
I'm still waiting for the ban bets for people who think it's really going to be $150 bucks no matter what. Oh, and of course these threads will be bumped later for the lolz either way.
LETS HAVE A BAN BET YOU AND ME!
I bet a 2 week long ban on the Kinect ending up being priced at $150. If it turn out to be cheaper than that, OR include a full game (demo doesn't count), then I shall be banned. If it ends up with the $150 pricetag AND comes with no full game then you shall be banned.

Will you accept?
 
Shanadeus said:
LETS HAVE A BAN BET YOU AND ME!
I bet a 2 week long ban on the Kinect ending up being priced at $150. If it turn out to be cheaper than that, OR include a full game (demo doesn't count), then I shall be banned. If it ends up with the $150 pricetag AND comes with no full game then you shall be banned.

Will you accept?

Here's the thing. I'm not dumb enough to proclaim it being one price or another until it's officially announced. I don't know the price, I don't know if they are going to take a hit on it, or if they will try to profit. MS has done a lot of dumb stuff in the past.

I was mostly talking about the people who post in a lot of these threads like there is no way that the price *couldn't* be less than $150. Just wondering with all this back and forth if there have been any valid ban bets yet.
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
Shanadeus said:
LETS HAVE A BAN BET YOU AND ME!
I bet a 2 week long ban on the Kinect ending up being priced at $150. If it turn out to be cheaper than that, OR include a full game (demo doesn't count), then I shall be banned. If it ends up with the $150 pricetag AND comes with no full game then you shall be banned.

Will you accept?

Ban bets are generally looked down upon these days.
 
OldJadedGamer said:
I'm starting to think they are testing reaction to the price because even their own website still says the price after a day and if they were that determined it would have been removed by now.... but oddly it's still up.
Quick! bitch until it's £19.99
 

OnPoint

Member
Shanadeus said:
LETS HAVE A BAN BET YOU AND ME!
I bet a 2 week long ban on the Kinect ending up being priced at $150. If it turn out to be cheaper than that, OR include a full game (demo doesn't count), then I shall be banned. If it ends up with the $150 pricetag AND comes with no full game then you shall be banned.

Will you accept?

Does "full game" count something like "Kinect Sports"?
 

Shanadeus

Banned
OnPoint said:
Does "full game" count something like "Kinect Sports"?
I was thinking anything that can be bought separately in the game store.
That'll my guess for now - Kinect will not come with a full game - a demo or a live game at most.
 

Kaako

Felium Defensor
Shanadeus said:
LETS HAVE A BAN BET YOU AND ME!
I bet a 2 week long ban on the Kinect ending up being priced at $150. If it turn out to be cheaper than that, OR include a full game (demo doesn't count), then I shall be banned. If it ends up with the $150 pricetag AND comes with no full game then you shall be banned.

Will you accept?
O shit, a whole 2 week?! :lol
If you're gonna do ban bets, it needs to be at least a month or more. Still, ban bets are kinda dumb.
 

Karram

Member
The more stuff I hear about Kinect the less interested I get. I mean when I first saw it at E3 09 I thought its pretty interesting but in the last few days I heard enough stuff that just made me have no interest in Kinect at all.
 

Kinitari

Black Canada Mafia
I don't know if it matters to anyone here, but in my system at work (Best Buy - Canada), the price is tentatively set at "99.99" - take that as you will, as that sort of price is definitely no indication of a final price point.
 

derFeef

Member
Kinitari said:
I don't know if it matters to anyone here, but in my system at work (Best Buy - Canada), the price is tentatively set at "99.99" - take that as you will, as that sort of price is definitely no indication of a final price point.
We should make a new thread! :lol
Yeah, price is not finalized yet I think, but MS itself putting the price on their site and leaving it that way is kinda fishy.
 
ralexand said:
This will sell out during the holiday season.

Mark my words. The marketing campaign will be insane and they will sell it because its doing something no other game system has ever done, recognizing your entire body. The move will be seen as an advanced Wii controller which might sell it to the hardcore but that will be it.

ralexand
100% logic failure rate
 
Top Bottom