Microsoft Stands Behind Kinect Price Tag

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The Nintendo DS brought with it the ability to play games while toucing the screen and the Nintendo Wii brought with it the ability top play your games utilizing a motion controller. Flash forward a bit and even mobile phones have accelerometers in them which can (and are) used for portable gaming purposes. On the console side of things, both Microsoft and Sony are taking a hint from Nintendo and are going ahead to release motion controllers of their own for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, respectively.

Both of these brand new controllers were shown off heavily during this year’s E3 video game expo with the respective companies displaying various titles that will be played exclusively with the Playstation Move and Kinect. However, with the early adoption of any technology (be it video game related or not) comes a high price tag. On the Playstation 3 side of things, Playstation Move costs about $50 for the wand controller and $30 for the Navigation Controller, totalling $80. The Kinect, on the other hand, features a price tag of $150 and come with the 3D camera and the title Kinect Adventures.

Kinect is obviously priced quite higher than the Playstation Move which has had some analysts crying foul but according to Microsoft’s group marketing manager Brett Siddons, the Kinect is “very competitively priced”.

Siddons has been quoted to have backed this claim up by pointing to the fact that Kinect has both a full game and the support for up to 2 active players. The Playstation Move, on the other hand, requires a single controller for each participant meaning to get the same functionality as Kinect (2 active players) Playstation 3 owners would have to shell out around $160 – 10 dollars higher than Kinect.

Of course, this is obviously just Microsoft looking to cover their tracks with such a high price but you do have to take into account how technically advanced Kinect is. I mean, a camera capable of capturing a player’s body in 3D in conjunction with a home console has never been seen before and should definitely post some interesting results.