@HappySqurriel
That raises the question as to whether Microsoft even considers Kinect to be a self contained venture. After all if the new peripheral drives up sales of consoles. Which is basically the whole point in the first place. Then those additional console sales can be where Microsoft would make back the loss plus the profit. Microsoft is very much about viewing their console as a portal more then anything else. Given the choice between the car and the road. Microsoft really wants to own the road. The way to get more road is to increase presence. So no I don't expect Microsoft to actually care about the product being profitable in itself. Just as long as it drives console sales much higher even for a limited period of time.
@Fumanchu
Honestly going on past experience rapid price reductions have zero impact on vested consumers. That may seem far from the most rational thing, but it is also the most understandable on a very basic level. Early adopters are more then vested financially. They also vest their self worth in these purchases. Thus they are emotionally tied to the success or failure of the product. So much so that it blocks them from critical self analysis. That my friend is Ego. Basically accepting that they were fooled would make them feel bad. So instead they choose to believe that with time their brilliance will be made clear. Further more by doing this they can draw out the pain until what they did doesn't sting, and they eventually accept that they were foolish. Basically the affect is so gradual, and prolonged that it is hardly even detectable. Look to the PS3 price slope, and posts in these forums to see what I am talking about.
Speaking to the mental process at play in their response. This response was both healthy and productive. Neither the thought process or the persons having them were at fault. The truth is that the human brain is designed to go through this very process, and without this process you would suffer greatly. This isn't just about self gratification for its own sake. Without the mind actively protecting the sense of self worth we would be emotionally unstable. The brain wants to cycle you towards a high sense of self worth, because that is where you are more likely to be productive, and much more likely to survive. Without this mechanism society would effectively collapse. So this was actually a very rational response. So I am not knocking on anyone even the early PS3 adopters. The truth is we all do this just about every day. We basically have to do this if we want to survive.
