Microsoft is attempting to stop reviews of Kinect from surfacing before the controller is released – which many are taking as a sign Microsoft is trying to cover up a sub-standard product.

The gaming press complains about not being sent review copies:

Kinect is Microsoft’s biggest push for the Xbox gaming division to date. The Xbox division could sink or swim depending on the success of the device. However, in an unusual move the company has been hesitant to send out the device for review.

Many journalists in the gaming industry have complained about Microsoft’s hesitation to send the Kinect and any of its software offerings for review. This is actually something that has been actively talked about on game press forums.

In addition the publisher has also placed an embargo on posting any sort of review for the device prior to launch. Microsoft’s internal anti piracy investigation group has also issued a take-down notice to Destructoid, who incidentally made fun of the Kinect’s new commercials.

The fact that Microsoft is being so sensitive about any sort of criticism towards the device is a major concern. Just like how film studios won’t hold a pre-screening for movies that is expected to tank, the video game industry operates exactly the same way.

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Typically its a very bad sign when publishers do this as it means that there is something wrong and the company wants to rely on ignorance and marketing rather than letting the public find out early. I am not saying this is the case for the Kinect, but it is very concerning nevertheless.

Square Enix was recently caught trying the same thing with Final Fantasy XIV, and seeing how that turned out it is easy to see why some identify this as a worrying sign.

source (NSFW)  http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/10/20/microsoft-no-reviews-of-kinect/

I don't know how Microsoft could enforce such a policy.  Isn't parody protected as freedom of speach?  Can't someone submit a review based on what has already been revealed?

I haven't seen the parodies but I guess it depends on whether they have used any microsoft trademarks or footage in it without consent. 

Lets assume for a moment that Microsoft is infact doing this because they know reviews will be sub-par, and that Kinect is essentially.. crap.

With the amount of money they are throwing behind the advertising, I dont think any of that will matter.

Casuals will buy this $150 camera this holiday because marketing will almost force them to do so. By Jan or Feb of next year, MS will announce some future hardocre titles for Kinect and will price drop most likely which wll keep the sales trickleing in until the next box launches with a more refined Kinect 2.0.

But outside of America, people have brains that tell them when a product is flawed, so if this little conspiracy is true, I would expect to see Kinect sales, (and 360 sales) heavily reliant on North America.

LuLz!

Don't worry ophra and bieber  review  is the only review  the casuals needs to know. =D =D =D

this was already posted a while ago....

no matter what the reviews are i dont see the core gamers catching on to kinect, even with its good pre orders for the cores it wont have a good word of mouth.

now when it comes to the casuals kinect doesnt need reviews, even if all of its games and it itself get terrible reviews because of the ads it will sell like shit loads. i expect more then 60% of kinect sales to be in na. or is that a small number?

They have dished out a lot of units to end users already so we know lots of Kinects already exist in the wild. I suspect Microsoft are trying to control how Kinect and also when Kinect get pushed to the public. Halo Reach had a review embargo up till pretty much the launch and that certainly did not bomb. We can all speculate but ultimately you will need to wait.

Hum.... this is smelling a  big fat FAIL for me , when u don wanna people reviewing something its cuz it sucks... 

-Tomb Rainder Underworld

-FF 14 

---Kinectis ?

The gaming media is obviously going to rip apart most of the launch Kinect games so what Microsoft is doing isn't really surprising.  But some people are making a much bigger deal out of this than it is considering a lot of reviews get embargoed even reviews for AAA games that end up with good metacritic averages.