170°

Kinect for Xbox 360 now listed for $150 at Microsofts own online store.

Listen Microsoft, we know you've been wanting to stay absolutely mum on Kinect's price since its official E3 unveiling, even as GameStop and Walmart say $149.99. Included is the Kinect sensor itself, power supply cable, manual, and WiFi extension cable (huh?), and it shows up in our virtual shopping cart just fine. So, now that your own official online store is giving that price tag on a pre-order page, don't ya think this guy deserves something akin to a legitimate press release for its MSRP?

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engadget.com
ingiomar5076d ago

I think this is only a place-holder price why else would they deny it and then put it up on their own site..

Blaze9295076d ago

that's exactly what I'm saying. Likely just a placeholder to compete with retailers. it's why everyone is doing that 150 and started all at the same time - so they can start taking in pre-orders before one retailer nabs them all up.

Microsoft's site will be the first with the official price and people 'thinking' it's the cheapest option buy it straight from them until others catch up.

No point on having a listing as "Not Available" where people can't even pre-order yet and letting other retailers nab all the orders.

ActionBastard5076d ago

Hold a seat on the SS Denial...some of your buddies will be joining you shortly.

AridSpider5076d ago

http://www.gametrailers.com...

Don Mattrick: "I know the price. I think you are really going to like the price. We sat through the other competitive press briefings and people were very pleased with our position."

http://twitter.com/majornel...

Major Nelson: "BTW, we've not announced final#Kinect Pricing yet. I'll be sure to confirm a price when we do!"

so why do you, or any other idiot here, really believe $149.99 is the price?

Kyur4ThePain5076d ago (Edited 5076d ago )

"so why do you, or any other idiot here, really believe $149.99 is the price?"

Because MS' own site lists it for that price?
http://store.microsoft.com/...

So, why do you, or any other idiot (sic) here, really believe $149.99 is not the price?

Biggest5076d ago

Seriously? The company that makes the item has posted the wrong price for said item to compete with people that get the proper sale price from the company that makes the item. That is one strange company. Or the price is actually $149.99.

Briefcase Joe5076d ago

Denial.

p.s. Sorry about the bad joke.

morganfell5075d ago (Edited 5075d ago )

Bubbles Action. A good laugh is a great way to start the day. It's 0435 here and that was a great way to wakeup.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 5075d ago
AAACE55076d ago

If true, I guess it's better to wait until they have the holiday bundle for $300-$400.

If the price is true, it kinda puts them all on the same level. Kinect would cost $150, PS Move would cost about $160 (2 Move controllers $50 each and 2 Sub controllers $30 each). I can't count the Wii, because you get a controller set as default.

Rainstorm815076d ago

So you guys think in order to get people to buy it they put a price up thats above the real price.

Damn yall are reall drinking the MS kool aid huh?

Bottom line its on MS site so its 150 until otherwise

Just like David Jaffe he denyed working on TM. Now tell me is he working on it?

badz1495076d ago

you do realize that M$ itself is making the thing and thus no matter where people buy Kinect, M$ still gets the money, right?

shqype5075d ago

Look at videogames. They have an MSRP of $59.99, but the retailers pay (I believe) $37 for them (or was it $47?). Either way, there is a definite markup there for the retailers to make money.

If Microsoft acts as the retailer (through its MS Store), it not only gets the same amount of money it would get by any other retailer purchasing its game with intent to sell, but it would also get the extra markup that another retailer would normally make. Thus they get more profit.

In any case, Microsoft listing Kinect for $149 does not mean that will be the final say on the price. If it was, it would definitely be a move in true Microsoft fashion. However, given what Sony is charging, and the comments Microsoft has made, I wouldn't be surprised if Kinect went for $129 instead. If Microsoft really wanted to be aggressive, the $99 price point would be the sweet spot for the device.

To those who question why Microsoft would put an incorrect price on their own store:

I see two reasons.
1) As mentioned above, most retailers have the $149 price, so Microsoft doesn't want others to "show them up." They should be the definitive place to look for MS products. Pre-orders are now possible too.
2) To add to this, once Microsoft does in fact reveal its "real" price, it will add to the shock value. "WHOA! I thought it was going to be $149. Now it's $129/$99! Didn't see that coming!"

So we wait and see. I fully expect Microsoft to milk as much money from its consumers as it possibly can, but I'm just pointing out that just because Microsoft lists Kinect for $149 on its store, does not mean that is the final price.

Bnet3435076d ago

StepTo, Xbox Live admin:

http://twitter.com/Stepto/s...

They haven't announced a price yet, so why get all riled up about this.

ActionBastard5076d ago

Why not use $1 as a place holder?

KingKionic 5076d ago (Edited 5076d ago )

Its placeholder according to xbl director of enforcement .

http://twitter.com/Stepto/s...

ThanatosDMC5076d ago (Edited 5076d ago )

Looks like they're testing the waters for the over priced camera. It should be less than $80.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 5075d ago
AridSpider5076d ago (Edited 5076d ago )

just a placeholder

SilverSlug5076d ago

Really? The price everyone has guessed is placed as a place holder? Could they have put 'Price coming soon'?

ProA0075076d ago

How do you place an order with "price coming soon"? How stupid is that?

Spenok5076d ago

I used to work for Gamecrazy, and they had placeholder prices ALL the time in order to take preorders. Hell at one point when Zelda Phantom Hourglass was just announced, they put it in our system at $888.88 so we could preorder it. They wouldnt ALL be the same price. This is not a coincidence. Kinect $150 here it comes.

Tony-A5076d ago

Hey, here's a simple solution!

"Kinect: $149.99*

*Pricing is not official. May vary upon release."

Still not good enough? I don't think something as simple as that would be stupid at all.

ChronoJoe5076d ago

Doubt it's a guess, retailers often get to know pricing ahead of scedule. Just because Microsoft don't release an official price to the press, everyone thinks the retailed made there's up, probably not the case though.

eggbert5076d ago

*Xbox LIVE Gold membership required.

**175 MB of memory required.

So does this mean xbox 360 arcade owners are not able to use Kinect. And why is a LIVE Gold membership REQUIRED? Doesn't XBL take up disk space as well?

BubbleSystemSuck5076d ago

you dont read the description dont you?

Bigpappy5076d ago

You can also use up to 2 x 16Gig flash cards.

Dorwrath5076d ago

Well my wife bought a refurbished 360 and it has like 200mb inside it already. Remove the HDD and it says there is a 214MB memory card installed. It's gotta be inside.

My cousin bought an Arcade and he has the same.

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130°

Microsoft's Absurd Antics Have Me Scared For Dishonored And Arkane Lyon's Future

With Arkane Austin no more and Lyon living for who knows how long, the superb Dishonored is in serious danger; Microsoft cannot be trusted.

Relientk771d 2h ago

I love the Dishonored series so much and really want Dishonored 3. Microsoft better not screw this up.

JEECE23h ago

I mean, I think the fans will probably kill Arkane Lyon by cooking up reasons to hate whatever they do next without playing it. I've never seen a game so artificially disliked as Deathloop.

thesoftware73023h ago

Lol, why don't we just say, we are worried about all studios owned by MS now. They will keep closing studios until they have none left ...🙄

Skuletor20h ago

Just merge them all into a single studio, have it churn out a single Call of Duty every year and call it a day, lol.

Barlos20h ago

Don't be scared, you'll be fine.

Skuletor20h ago

It's exputer, fine is one word I would not associate with them.

Profchaos20h ago

I think it's becoming clear based on matt bootys comments there's no future for any IP that can't sell above 10 million within the launch window. But is also a small game that gives them prestige

/S it's beyond a joke right now

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290°

More Job Losses At Xbox, “There’s More To Come”: Paul Thurrott

Paul Thurrott in a recent episode commented on the on-going Microsoft fiasco hinting at more job losses and that "there's more to come".

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spieltimes.com
Sonic18813d ago (Edited 3d ago )

There won't be no more acquiring game publishers from Microsoft in the future . Xbox has to pay Microsoft back. It might take two decades to do that.

sagapo3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

I don’t understand what you’re saying. Xbox IS microsoft so there’s no “paying back “.
And MS gross profit in 2023 was over 140 billion dollars so forget your 2 decades.

Unless you mean the money MS invested in Xbox (acquisitions included) and the time it will take for xbox as a brand to gain that money back on it’s own, then yeah, that could take a while.

romulus232d ago

The better term to use might be return on investment, xbox is simply a division of Microsoft one that MS can easily do away with if profit margins are not met. So in that regard he's right, if xbox isn't showing the expected return on investment the higher ups are expecting than it's unlikely Microsoft will acquire any other studios any time soon, especially if they are spending billions buying developers just to shut them down in the end.

MrBaskerville2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Xbox is a division that they discussed shutting down but doubled down on after Gamepass was pitched.

It needs to make money at some point. Big money.

rokos2d ago

According to Statista the net income of Microsoft is about $72.4 billion dollars which is a bit lower than last year profit. That is almost as much as Activision's acquisition but I assume that would be a one off since it costs so much plus I see how their focus has been shifted to AI, thus any major future investments will probably be in that area.

Markusb332d ago

i think you are really missing the point

VariantAEC1d 22h ago

@romulus23
That is not why MS buys studios. They might continue to buy because it's about taking that sweet sweet IP out of the corporate husks of their acquisitions.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 1d 22h ago
SonyStyled3d ago

“There won't be no more acquiring game publishers from Microsoft in the future”

No bro, there do be is for Microsoft not acquiring for what is now if not what it be is 😂

2d ago Replies(2)
ChasterMies2d ago

Xbox isn’t a separate company from Microsoft. It’s all Microsoft.

Abear212d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Let’s be real, this is the media spinning all the acquisitions and liquidations of said developers and spinning it to make M$ the villain.

This was bound to happen, a bigger slice of pie and cut costs, when the games come they stand to make more and that’s their agenda—it was the writing on the wall when the sales went through and legally all those who approved the sale and mergers knew this would happen.

Snowflakes need to realize business is ugly and you can cry all you want but this is how capitalism works. And it works.

That said, M$ needs to steer the narrative and grab hold of all this, make their plans known, hype the hell out of all those dead IP’s they plan to revive, and be honest about the timeline. This is likely to involve mobile and IP on other consoles, and most people realize that.

The problem is this company is incapable of being transparent and seems to often want to dissuade and confuse is customer base. The lack of E3 has hurt Microsoft and I don’t think they know how to properly or effectively market their brand anymore.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 1d 22h ago
jwillj2k43d ago

There really needs to be a class action lawsuit here. You buy these companies just to put people out of jobs. And it’s not like something happened to derail their plans this WAS the plan. Microsoft has no business in this space at all.

franwex3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

Microsoft has been doing this for years. They simply want the IPs. Look at Nokia. Look at Skype. This time it simply expanded to games. Gaming is not as important to Microsoft’s executives as it was to the founders too. Bill Gates was willing to sell the og Xbox at a loss. Steve Balmer approved the red ring of death fiasco. This CEO isn’t really a gamer.

-Foxtrot3d ago

Maybe it's time though to put a stop to it and use a big giant like Microsoft as a huge example to the rest of these big companies.

There has to be a line drawn somewhere.

People like the FTC and the like went against Microsoft yet their Actvision deal was still allowed to go through yet look what's happened...it's not even Acitivisions studios aswell, it's Bethesdas.

VariantAEC1d 22h ago

Years?

Try several decades, and in the gaming space 2.3 decades.

Jon615862d ago

You do realize this happens in ALL industries? Or are you just saying this because it is Microsoft? In any case I feel for those that are being let go but the trch industry is suffering right now.

jwillj2k42d ago (Edited 2d ago )

This absolutely does NOT happen all the time. Let me know the last time 1 company with a terrible product track record spent 100 billion onto acquire MULTIPLE successful companies in under a year only to shut them down and stop making their products regardless of how successful they were. Not merge them, completely shut them down.

And you can’t use Microsoft in your example.

Notellin2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Class action lawsuit? The law is on their side and protects them at all costs. There are no rules to protect the people at the bottom.

jwillj2k42d ago

Not true when it comes to mass layoff do your research.

RNTody3d ago

Ninja Theory, Perfect Dark, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Wolfenstein 3, Dishonored, Prey, Doom, Quake... something tells me that bad things are going to happen to these entities under Microsoft.

MrDead2d ago

ID software, the makers of Doom and Wolfenstein that have been with us since 1991 could be gone and MS will keep the IPs.

I hope some of these studios can buy their freedom from MS otherwise this is going to be even more devastating for the industry and gamers.

Yui_Suzumiya2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

That's exactly what I'm worried about. I've been a fan of id since Wolfenstein 3D and I'm honestly afraid.

lodossrage2d ago

Toys for Bob saw the writing on the wall and bought themselves out.

Wouldn't be the first time a company did that under MS either. Bungie and Twisted Pixel did the same. Considering what just happened, I can see some other devs trying to buy themselves out too.

anast3d ago

Good thing the bosses of all those small studios made their money.

glenn19793d ago

they cant do it right now they will get burned

XiNatsuDragnel2d ago

Phil and his team need to be gone

lodossrage2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Won't make a difference.

The whole structure needs to be overhauled. Anyone that replaces Phil will be no different than him, Mattrick, or anyone else.

Until the company changes how they go about business, nothing will change

glenn19792d ago

I just don't have any idea what they would do , they have done sooo much damage on their xbox brand, they have a show at July or June I think, but will it even matter even they show amazing games, idkn

lodossrage2d ago

True,

But they may as well get it over with. Whether it happens now or later, the burning is going to hit the same.

Reality is the ONE move that can alleviate a lot of this is the one move they can't make. Remove day 1 from gamepass.

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90°

Microsoft Opening Xbox Mobile Game Store in July

The Xbox brand is expanding, as an Xbox mobile game store is opening this coming July where Microsoft will brings its "first-party portfolio."

Jin_Sakai4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

“Bond adds that they will start on the web”

This will go nowhere.

Nice knowing you Xbox. This is what happens when the house never gets cleaned.

MrDead4d ago

The only this MS is expanding is the amount of feculence it sprays on everyone who just want to enjoy gaming and make games.

The best thing MS can do for the gaming industry is leave and never return.

XiNatsuDragnel4d ago

Good luck with this even it might not succeed.

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