Microsoft’s finally stopped playing the corporate prevarication game and announced an official price for the incoming Kinect motion controller – and SHOCKER! It’s somewhat cheaper than retailers had speculated, coming in at $149 (around R1100) instead of the expected $199. The peripheral will also be bundled with the recently revealed Xbox 360 S 4GB console (the new equivalent of the old Arcade SKU), as well as launch title Kinectimals, and tagged at a rather reasonable $299.<\/p>\n
Not so rather reasonable over on this side of the planet, however, Microsoft SA has confirmed a standalone price of R1999 for the Kinect device bundled with Kinect Adventures, and R3699 for the console bundle. Ouch. <\/p>\n
Predictably enough, industry analyst Michael Pachter had all sorts of stuff to say about this, including the quite obvious suggestion that hardcore gamers will be giving it the skip. “The standalone price for Kinect is too high, and core gamers will be put off by the price,” he says over at VG247<\/a>. “My bias is that most core gamers will wait, but that 5 – 10% will buy it. That suggests 2 – 4 million standalone units.”<\/p>\n The new 4GB Xbox 360 “Slim” will now be referred to by Microsoft simply as the 4GB Xbox 360, and will cost R2399. <\/p>\n