Joelcool7 said:
Yeah I know the subject might be more fitting on the Microsoft boards but I want to get everyones opinion (Not just M$ fans). Not to mention I'm talking about sales figures.
We know that Move shipped like 300,000 units at launch. This is fairly good for a peripheral. Kinect is arguably even bigger and could ship millions this winter. But what happens if Kinect fails to deliver on its pormises? What if Kinect is before its time and isn't able to offer us a great new way to play?
Now what am I talking about of course Kinect will live up to its rep?
Well today Kotaku announced from the official manual. That in order to play Kinect at its best you need at least 6-feet between you and the system. 8-feet if your playing multiplayer. How many of the consumers who will purchase the product day one are actually aware of this? Will Kinect still work at about 2-3 feet from the TV (Like most peoples homes) or will it dissapoint the consumers who live in Apartments , smaller condo's or even some homes?
What homes are you living in where people sit only 2-3 feet away from the TV?! I think the average home will have at least 8 or more feet between the TV and their couches/furniture. Sure some small apartments or dorms will not have that kind of room, but the majority will have plenty of room to spare. My apartment has 8 ft from the TV to the front of my couch, so I should be fine.
Then theirs the camera according to the manual you need to keep it out of the light. No direct light this is understandable. But how many of the consumers are aware of this and will be aware of this come launch. What if the living room is facing outside these consumers will be let down won't they.
The Wii manual and PS Move manual say the exact same thing. They just need to close the window blinds!
Then it says if your wearing bright clothes the camera may have problems picking you up. It suggests changing clothes to play Kinect. Or how about the fact that while Microsoft claims to have fixed the sitting down issue their isn't any software that enables you to sit down while playing, will that deter consumers and possibly lead to a backlash. Then theirs the official 200-ms delay and worse for other games this lag could dissapoint some consumers.
Again, this is only for games that rely on the RGB camera for aspects of the game. It merely states to wear clothes that don't match your backround. Also, where did you get this "official 200-ms delay"? Last I heard it was 100ms and even lower in some games. The majority of the delay is software based and varies from game to game.
Now don't get me wrong I would love to see Kinect become everything Microsoft is/has promised/es but what will happen to Microsoft's 360 platform if Kinect fails to deliver? Will a failure of Kinect hurt Microsoft's sales? Or could Microsoft weather the storm if Kinect fails and maintain the second largest market share? Would Kinect's failure lead to the Nex-Box coming out next winter?
You are forgetting that MS can market Kinect to PC owners as well. If it fails as a 360 peripheral I am sure they will expand it to support PC's, home theater devices, etc. to enable the use of its features in other ways. The 360 will go on unscathed, just without the major boost to sales that Kinect could have brought.
Just how important is a flawless launch of Kinect to Microsoft's viability in the console market?
Meh. If it fails they will likely just refine it for their next console to iron out any of the kinks. They will stay a strong member of the console market regardless.
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