yeah it is hardware, the question though are 39 million balance boards out there? Or 39 million games, wii fit plus also was sold and is sold seperately.

I don't give a TOSS how you want to classify Kinect as, hardware, software, Wiiware, underwear, that doesn't change the fact that it's not a $300  console nor the fact that it is only an add-on to the 360.

Its sale are inherently less impressive than console sales due to the fact that they get BUNDLED they are CHEAPER and more easily attainable. It's pointless to compare them to consoles.

If you want a fairer comparison, go compare it to Wii Fit or the Move. Those would be the better (and more logical) comparisons.

I have the true solution to the "hardware vs. accessory" argument.  And it's amazingly simple.

Kinect has changed the rules.  Labels do not work on it.  It cannot be properly compared to anything else.  People on both sides of the argument?  Deal with it.

But it is a HUGE success.

You have all got it wrong...  The Kinect is the hardware and the 360 is an add-on/accessory for it like a power cord or USB cable for a printer.  

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I was just waiting, i thought that a hater might make a comment back before i could hit the reply button.  I (like most of the people on this site as far as i can tell) have all three of the current systems(and a crap load of the older ones).  I also have purchased the Kinect for a couple of reasons.  1.  I was hoping to get what i thought the Wii would be at some point  2.  I have 4 kids   3.  Willing to try anything new to make my gaming more interesting.  The Kinect works good enough, but i am hoping more challenging games are coming(key word hope).  I haven't yet bought the Move, as i have tied it and it doesn't seem to be much different that the Wiimote.

Oh, by the way.......  The Kinect is obviously an accessory!

Of course it's hardware. There are accesories for PC like a joystick and still is hardware.

I think that the word a lot of you is looking for is "Console" instead hardware.

what goes for VGC goes for gameradar :
"hardware is USUALLY the word we use to talk about a console sku"

it is fairer to talk about fastest accessory or fastes peripheral

sure, if we use those words, the "news" become suddenly a lot less "sexy" ...

I'm pretty sure that the issue with the word isn't so much whether Kinect is hardware. It's whether the only other things that are "hardware" are consoles.

Think about it - if Kinect is hardware under the reasoning put forward in this thread, then why is, for example, the Wiimote not considered "hardware"? The Wii itself sold about 3.5 million in its first two months, each of which included a Wiimote. Wii Play sold another million or so, and each of those included a Wiimote. And then there were the Wiimotes sold separately, which would also account for a large number. It's not implausible that more Wiimotes were sold than Kinects.

And before you complain that you can't include the Wiimotes bundled with Wiis, let me point out that the Kinect sales numbers include Kinects that are bundled with Xbox 360s. And they include Kinects that are bundled with games, so Wii Play is fair game, too.

Essentially, the concern is that they've defined Kinect as "hardware", but not any of the other peripherals/accessories that are comparable to Kinect.

EDIT: More than that, though, it's not even accurate if you ignore the issue above, and let Kinect be the only non-console "Hardware" item. Wii, between the 21st of November and the 1st of January, which is significantly less than 2 months, sold 7.9 million units. EDIT 2: Just to be clear, that's 21st of November, 2010, and 1st of January, 2011.

I have never seen hardware used in place of console on this site. I don't know where you are getting it from. I mean trying to argue its not hardware is pretty bad. Yes it is an accessory also, but that does not change the fact it is hardware. No way around that. It doesn't make the news more sexy it makes it more factual. Hardware is probably the best description to use as people keep arguing over the periphial/console terms.

They are talking launch numbers. Do you have numbers for how many wii motes were sold its the first months out? If so post them we can compare. It did outsell the wii its first few  months on the market.

They didn't say "fastest launch", they said "fastest selling hardware". Where in the term "fastest selling hardware" does it imply "launch"?

Note that, in the GamesRadar article, they compare it only to consoles. They do not even make an attempt to compare it to Wiimotes, or to Balance Boards, or to EyeToys.

Now, I don't have the numbers to compare Wiimote launch numbers with Kinect launch numbers - but the point is, neither do GamesRadar. And yet, they make the claim. They claim that it's the fastest-selling game hardware without actually having the data to back that claim up. Instead, they manufacture a justification for the claim by comparing apples with oranges, but only comparing this particular apple with oranges, and not including all apples in the comparison.