Kinect Sensor becomes the highest selling accessory of 2010

By Julia on December 15, 2010, 4:00 pm

The Microsoft X-Box Kinect Sensor ($149.99, 4 stars) was propped up by a cardboard box placed behind a 46-inch plasma TV. Why? Microsoft, the company that created the Kinect, recommends that the sensor be placed two to six feet above the floor—and the closer to six the better. Since I didn’t have shelving above my HDTV and drilling holes into my drywall wasn’t an option, my choices were limited. One of them is PDP’s TV Mount for Kinect ($39.99 list), which has adjustable arms that screw into the VESA holes found in the back of most flat-panels (typically used for mounting the set on a wall). Assembly took about 15 minutes and the Kinect sensor locked securely to the mount. Though the PDP mount won’t fit all flat-panel HDTVs and is pricey compared to other solutions, it’s a clean concept and gets the job done.

Kinect – Top Selling Accessory Item on a Year-to-date basis

Canaccord said, “According to data compiled by NPD, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 was the best-selling game console in November, with sales up 68% from last year. More than 1.37 million Xboxes crossed the counter last month, ahead of Nintendo’s Wii at 1.27 million. Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) numbers were relatively dismal, with the PS3 recording sales of just 530,000. The Xbox 360 had five of the 10 best-selling accessories on the month, with the Kinect landing at number one. Microsoft launched the Kinect on November 4, and had sold 2.5 million units by the end of the month – twice the initial selling rate of Apple’s (Nasdaq:AAPL) iPad. In just one month, the Kinect is already the top-selling accessory in terms of dollar sales on a year-to- date basis. NPD said the Xbox 360, paired with the Kinect, is setting the tone for a promising end of year. Last month was the best November on record for the industry, beating November 2008 sales by about $30 million. Every category was up except portable hardware and software. ‘We expect a big jump in sales in November due to seasonality and the influence of holiday, but the change this November over October is bigger across most platforms than it was last November,’ commented one NPD analyst. ‘This could point to the impact of aggressive retail promotions during the critical Black Friday week.’”

Fun for the entire family

The Xbox 360 Kinect is ideal for all family members with gaming platforms tailored to children, young adults, parents and professionals. By requiring the player to be the controller, the Xbox 360 Kinect guarantees an engaging and physically active gaming experience that can be used for exercise, educational purposes such as teaching children how to look after virtual pets, and role play situations. All games can be played online with other Xbox 360 users.

Forza 4 hits the racks

There’s been an ongoing rivalry between diversified software giant Microsoft and Gran Turismo’s maker, Polyphony Digital when it comes to who makes the most realistic and exciting automotive racing game. While much of the rivalry has been neck and neck, the consensus so far has favored Grant Turismo series as the king of the racing game hill. Well, the heat just got turned up a notch as Microsoft recently announced the scheduled release of Forza Motorsport 4.

Kinect-ed to Forza 4

This mainly involved being able to look in and around the cars included in Forza but there was also a part of the tech demo shown where players were using Kinect to steer.  While the Kinect-enabled controller-less sterring may still be a part of the game, the spokesman goes on to make clear that it won’t be part of the core of Forza 4.

Motion Sensing is the “In” thing

Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo all have motion controllers on the market. The Wii shipped with motion sensing Wiimotes when it launched in 2006, and the PlayStation 3 received its own advanced take on the Wiimotes when its suite of Move controllers went on sale this September.

 

The success of Wii has paved a yellow brick road for Sony and Microsoft to follow and try and grab a chunk of this new audience, but they’ll need to do a lot more than just provide for the party gamers out there; Nintendo has been there and done that and I doubt anyone can do it better. Nevertheless, the novelty of waving a motion-controller around and watching my actions translate fairly accurately on screen has worn off considerably during the life cycle of Wii and, apart from playing Zelda and Super Mario Galaxy, my console stays unplugged for the majority of the time, only to be switched on when there’s a group of drunken people at my house keen to play one of the many competitive, party games. Kinect, however, with its new kind of motion-sensing experience may well get me back up off the sofa, off my backside and waggling my hips like Beyonce, or waving my arms around like a tic-tac man at the races. Only this time, it will actually pick up my movements and I won’t be able to cheat and cut-corners like do when playing Wii. I’m expecting to be totally immersed in the games thanks to this impressive technology.