Kinect clearly appeals to the casual gaming crowd, and offers very little for core gamers (who make up the vast majority of the 360 installed base)... so the most likely consumer to benefit from Kinect likely doesn’t yet own a 360 (and may already own a Wii), therefore they obviously need to buy Kinect and a 360, which will cost upwards of $400... At this point in the console cycle, the entry price points for new gamers should be coming down, not up
Yeah I thought the same thing. In Australia the Kinect is pegged at $198 (estimated price), and the Wii is selling for $298, which is $1 less than the Xbox 360 Arcade. Prices might fall, but at this stage it costs about $200 more to get the Xbox 360 setup than the Wii one. I'm also not sure if the Kinect comes with any games, whereas the Wii not only comes with Wii Sports, but is easy to find at the same price with a couple of other titles for free.
I think Kinect has a lot of creative potential to be harnessed, and it's definitely on a level that transcends the Wii and Sony's new uh... what was that thing called, Playstation Move? Whether or not Microsoft's developers manage to realize this is another question, but personally I'm hoping to have my mind blown in some way.
Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Mr. Rez) is coming out with Child of Eden, at least. just for that, I'll take the 360 a little bit seriously for once.
I think Kinect has a lot of creative potential to be harnessed
Totally, but if developers don't see the audience for it, are they going to work with the medium and develop that potential?
If I was in charge of a development house I would seriously reconsider Kinect based on the analysis portended in the Gamasutra article I linked to above.
@Matt for sure, that's a fair evaluation. I just really hope someone has the balls to take the plunge... The best shit in videogames didn't come from a bunch of people moping around about target demographics, after all. I want some awesome dude to shatter this annoying barrier between 'core' and 'casual' gamers. Kinect could be a catalyst to get things moving towards that end, but it won't be easy.
@Kanji Yes but financial risks aren't attractive to any company (or shouldn't be). Therefore it's unlikely (to me) that a quality studio will put down a good sum of money to develop a title. I could be entirely wrong, but given the pricing structure I mentioned earlier I can't see it taking off, at least not here in Australia.
Pretty much all the casual gamers now have a Wii, hence it selling so fast. I don't think the casual gamers here would like to buy another console.
Forums / Sblog Discussion / Analyst: "widespread success" for 3DS, Kinect "a big risk"
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