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Microsoft Wants Kinect To Be A Game Changer
Microsoft has made a few strides in the past that haven't exactly garnered an overly positive reaction among consumers considering the failure rate of 360s, and unimpressive mobile phones and music players that can't compete with other offerings. Though with next month's launch of Kinect, and a company backing of a half billion dollars for its marketing blitz, Microsoft is confident of the new hardware's success.
“For me it is a big, big deal,” Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, tells the New York Times. “There’s nothing like it on the market.”
Microsoft hopes the technology will bring families together, similar to the ideology brought along with Nintendo Wii.
“This is an incredibly amazing, wonderful first step toward making interactivity in the living room available to everybody,” says Ballmer.
The hardware already has hand, voice, and facial recognition features right out the box with plenty of room to grow via updates. The NY Times reports the very first Kinect prototype cost $30K to make, and now with millions of dollars spent on crafting the device, Microsoft can offer it to consumers for $150 and still make a profit.
What do you think? Does Kinect have what it takes to change the way we think about gaming and controller-free technology?
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