Microsoft Sells 2.5 Million Kinects

Kinect And XboX 360

Microsoft’s Kinect started shipping towards stores at the beginning of this month. For those who aren’t yet familiar with the device, it’s an add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console which will allow users to get a controller-free gaming and entertainment experience. For short, instead of sitting on the couch and playing the same games in the same way, you’ll have to sit up, jump around, move your hands and legs to control what’s going on in the game. If back in the day gamers could be described as passive, with the Kinect that’s really not the case anymore.

After a short while of availability on the market, it looks like the KInect is doing quite well. On Tuesday Microsoft announced that it has sold over 2.5 million Kinect for Xbox 360 units worldwide in a 25 day timeframe. According to AFP, the Redmond-based company has set a goal of selling five million Kinect devices by the end of this year. They’ve recorded half the sales already and we still have one month to go before the year is over. Don Mattrick, president of Interactive Entertainment Business at the US software giant believes that the company is on track to achieving this goal it has set. We are thrilled about the consumer response to Kinect, and are working hard with our retail and manufacturing partners to expedite production and shipments of Kinect to restock shelves as fast as possible to keep up with demand,” Mattrick said.

As I’ve explained before, the Kinect makes use of a 3D camera and motion recognition software to detect users’ movement and allow them to control what’s happening on screen through natural body movements and voice commands instead of the typical controllers that can be held in the hand. The Kinect by itself with a game bundled costs $150 in stores while a Kinect paired with a 4GB Xbox 360 console and the “Kinect Adventures” game will sell for $299.

Microsoft mentioned that at this time the Kinect is available through over 60,000 retailers in over 38 countries. I’ll have to admit that the Kinect is definitely one of the few exciting new gadgets you can find in stores. The difference between it and Sony’s Move is that you don’t need to hold any sort of controller. You become the controller. Kinect has become even more interesting in the past few weeks because several people managed to hack it and make it work with a computer. Initially Microsoft claimed it was against any modification made to its product and warned that it would work closely with law enforcement. At a later date Alex Kipman, director of incubation for Xbox denied that the Kinect was hacked and basically mentioned that it was ok for people to come up with innovative uses for the motion-sensing peripheral. So there you go, even more reason for you to run to stores and buy one. You can use it with a PC and Microsoft won’t mind.11