If you want to see the unfettered joy on a loved-one's face that only a Kinect-shaped parcel under the Christmas tree can bring, you'd better get your act together. Microsoft reckons that unless you order one this week it'll be lumps of coal all round come 25th December.

According to TechCrunch, Microsoft exec Don Mattrick told the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco that anyone wanting to buy a Kinect in time for Christmas should place an order "by the end of this week" or risk disappointment.

Mattrick went on to claim that he wasn't just cynically trying to spike sales with his prediction.

Call his bluff if you dare, but don't come crying to us when little Jimmy ruins Christmas lunch with his inconsolable tears of despair.

Microsoft's new motion-sensing hardware has been flying off shelves since its launch earlier this month. It moved a million units in its first 10 days on sale in the US. In the UK, Xbox 360 sales doubled in its first week on sale.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-17-buy-now-or-its-a-kinect-free-christmas

I call BS. Microsoft predicts 5M by the end of the year. So they have enough stock to sell at least 5M.

Can't speak for the US but apparently in the UK Apple rules the christmas roost.

If you can't get them kinect then get them an apple product.

Tears problem solved.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/fun/gizmo/3194733/KIDS-as-young-as-FIVE-want-iPhones-for-Christmas-a-survey-revealed.html

Nothing to do with console gaming but just in case you live in the Uk and can't get Kinect.

Dude it would be a cold day in hell before I would get my little kid an iphone for christmas...

such an expensive thing to get lost or broken.

Actually VGChartz has the first 2 weeks in the Americas at about 800,574...

VGChartz need to update their numbers.

That Eurogamer article is wrong. They sold 1M in it's first 10 days Worldwide, not just in the US. Those numbers include ~3 days of EU launch sales.

The press release from Microsoft states "Worldwide".

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2010/nov10/11-15NineMillionPR.mspx

"Microsoft Corp. today announced it has sold 1 million Kinect for Xbox 360 units worldwide in 10 days and is on pace to hit 5 million by the end of the year."

Yeah that's what I figured; so VGChartz's estimates seem to be right.

Yeah, VGC did pretty damn good.

I don't think they're saying they'll be sold out of all stock after next week, just if you want to have an easy time finding one you'd best buy it this week.

The Wii was impossible to find for a while yet it was selling a lot so SOME people were obviously finding them, but you needed to work/be lucky to get one.