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Kinect preorders 'very low' - UK retailer

ShopTo calls for Microsoft to finalize motion-sensing peripheral at lower than widely rumored price, says customers aren't biting at current cost.

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Microsoft confirmed a November 4 launch for its Kinect motion-sensing camera peripheral at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, but it didn't nail down a price for the device. Despite the lack of official word, US retailers began taking preorders for Kinect at $150, and while Microsoft declined to make the number official, it opened up its own preorders at the same price point. Now one retailer is saying that price is too high, and preorders have suffered as a result.

ShopTo's CEO says customers aren't exactly clamoring for Kinect.
ShopTo's CEO says customers aren't exactly clamoring for Kinect.

In an interview with Eurogamer, ShopTo CEO Igor Cipolletta told the site the number of Kinect preorders the retail chain has received is "very low." As for the pricing, ShopTo currently offers the Kinect for €153.75 ($188), while the executive pointed out that a Wii can be had for just a little more. ShopTo's online site is currently sold out of Nintendo's hardware, but the Wii Sports Resort bundle ordinarily sells for €166 ($203).

"It's too high," Cipolletta said of the Kinect price. "We believe that with this current economy it should be around £70 ($105)."

When Kinect arrives, Microsoft expects 15 games to launch alongside the device. First-party offerings include Kinect Adventures, Kinectimals, Kinect Joy Ride, and Kinect Sports. A number of third parties are also on board, developing such titles as EA Sports Active 2, Konami's DanceMasters, and Sega's Sonic Freeriders. Publishers have also promised postlaunch support, such as a Star Wars game from LucasArts, Q?'s Child of Eden, and THQ's UFC Trainer.

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ewok9312

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I smell a Windows ME..

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90caliber

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ecko1o Posted Aug 7, 2010 12:07 am PT I smell an epic failure. My sentiments exactly. Imminent epic fail on deck.

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IslandBros15

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They actually expect you to have a huge living room.

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ecko1o

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I smell an epic failure.

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dkdk999

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yes its price is too high. their charging actual money for it.

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VendettaRed07

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Im proud of you english gamers

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reaper-1978

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Having just seen the price I have to say £130 is way too high even bundled with a game it's too much, this is yet another example of companies taking the pi$$ out of us just like the music/movie/game industry, take digital game downloads like steam most of the prices on there are a joke most games can be bought on disk from a shop with all there overheads like manufacturing/distribution costs, anyway back on track, with something like kinect yes there may have cost loads to develope but if it's priced right they will sell loads of them making a little less per unit but making a killing on the games and selling the rights for others to make games for it making much more money in the long run, GREED will wreck kinects chances I was going to get 3, 1 for me and one each for my 2 kids but @ £130 I don't think so. Microsoft get real this will only take off if you lower the price to something like £50-70 @ £130 I think it will become just another HD-DVD and having already been burnt once, well let's just say I won't be placing even one pre-order after Xmas it will more than likely be heavily discounted anyway...

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zskrabs24

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on a side note, did anyone see how dumb those demoers looked playing those games on stage? i mean you will always look dumb when playing just about any motion game but they seriously looked soooooooooo dumb. much more than usual. they didn't even really look like they were having fun. it seemed like they were pretending to be having fun. also if you notice in the kinectimals demo what the girl was doing on stage wasn't really corresponding with what was happening on screen. pay attention when she "pets" the tiger. the hands don't match at all. idk if they aren't supposed to or what but really makes you wonder about the aunthenticity of the tech and its responsiveness.

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zskrabs24

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how does microsoft expect to appeal to the harcore gaming crowd when it doesnt have a controller? sure you can use a regular 360 controller along with it but doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of the motion controls? developers are going to have to get seriously creative to make this worth it. $150 for a novelty is a lot of money. none of the launch titles look any good at all. none of those games will last more than 2 weeks after purchase. microsoft needs to get something taht will keep gamers coming back for more if they want this to succeed. a $150 voice controller for menus is all this is looking like right now. Sony has shown some serious hardcore gaming potential with their controller. Even in the early stages they are showing some seriously promising stuff beyond the typical motion sports games and mini-games. they are already showing that from day one it will be implemented into hardcore games from day one like socom 4, possibly killzone 3, littlebigplanet (not really hardcore but it adds another million possibilities to a game that already has an infinite amount to start with), and other games. sorcery shows the potential that the controller can have when being the main control for the game. i believe that motion control is the next inevitable step for gaming, then 3D and what not. Microsoft is gonna need some serious software support if they want this to work.

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Abberon

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I smell a flop.

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gbrading

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I think people are slightly confused as to what it is and does. Plus, the price point is troubling.

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education

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it looks like it has potential. But im not interested in stupid mini games. I'll wait for some decent games before deciding whether or not i want to move from a seated position to standing and waving to play games.

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zombiechopper

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Motion controls don't do it for me and none of my gamer friends have any interest in Move or Kinect irrelevant of price. I'm more interested in 3D games. If only I could afford a 3D tv sob.

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Tauu

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I guess Microsoft never got the memo that expensive console add-ons never do well.

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madmanjim

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if the rumour that it can only handle two players at one time is true, then why pretend that it does more than that?

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Dynamo11

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Agreed, I said to my mates it'd have to be £70-£100 for me to buy it

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Glade_Gnarr

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We've seen microsoft lose a lot of money before, maybe next gen they'll get it right.

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gamescottsman

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Sorry but pathetic PS3 vs MS comments below. Wow. They have over-priced it - should be cheaper.

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Dominicobaggio

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Xbox is dead, long live ps3 :P On a serious side, they should really have come up with adverts which were different to wii no? I mean they are not even trying to pretend to be different :/ Both motion controls are looking quite poor at the moment. I think analysts are right, wii is dying, and these 2 from sony and micro will do poorly in sales...

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Phil-teh-Pirate

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The Kinect is dead to gamers before its even begun selling. Hype hype hype hype HYPE...E3 2010!...Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh

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digi-demon

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Dont need to be an 'Einstein' to understand.... Lame Games = Epic Failure

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deactivated-64b7010800769

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Before I say this, I'd just like to point out that I paid less attention to E3 than usual this year, so if I missed any upcoming Xbox exclusives please let me know. But I can't help but feel like Microsoft is hitting a low point this year. Aside from Kinect (which is gonna flop - just calling it now), Halo Reach (after which the brand will finally die - 343 Industries probably won't make anything good), and Gears 3 (which, aside from 4-player co-op, seems to be more of the same - although the formula still holds up well, so that may or may not be bad), I'm not really sure whether Microsoft has anything significant coming down the pipe.

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wahyudil

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I hope some of my friends will buy this, so I can try it ... but I don't wanna buy it

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REVOLUTIONfreak

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If you really wanted this thing to gain momentum, Microsoft, you'd launch it with at least one notable franchise. Even Nintendo knew to play it safe by including a port of Twilight Princess in the Wii's launch library.

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-Deimos-

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*head on desk* what a killer line-up of games there.. *proceeds to gouge out eyeballs with a plastic spoon* Now I can truly see how smart the people working for Microsoft are.. ..Kinectimals.. *slides from chair onto the ground and dies*

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SirMordredX

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@kvan33 Yeah, the Wii was such a failure...right? I think not, but launching the Kinect with only some meager mini-games is a pretty weak thing to do. Maybe if they'd shown off Manhunt 3 for the Kinect, then it would have gotten a little bigger...

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Cloud-Zehro

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@blackace You have to admit, even if there wasn't games for the move that interested you, they have at least shown you that some bigger named games WILL be coming out on it, some that we actually already know. Not all this funky mini-game looking stuff these guys are choosing to do, the fact they have shown me anything seriously huge coming out on it, can really make you wonder as to how the device itself will work. Maybe it just can't handle the big named games yet? I guess only time will tell when one of us gives it a shot and tells the rest of the world if it's a yay, or nay.

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kvan33

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Wow, this actually be a bigger fail than I even thought possible. I eagerly await the death of motion control.

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ele975

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@Dahaka-UK This is exactly what the Wii was made fun of for months, this is no different.

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Traumerei112

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that video is unwatchable ...

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Traumerei112

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@ bladetrinity114 lol if u ve never been to europe .. they take the ratio 1:1 there in terms of games .. and I saw a copy of heavy rain sold for $115 in italy. oops . I meant 115 euros .

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krelmmaster

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This was the obvious outcome. When an add-on to a console costs more to buy than the console itself, what do you expect. People aren't stupid either, a camera and microphone is *not* worth anywhere close to $150, and that's essentially all it is. Well done Microsoft, you have failed. I expect a steep price cut in the near future :D

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BladeTrinity114

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Is there something I'm missing here? Because I'm pretty sure $150 doesn't equal to £150..

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Jesse-Ray

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I heard somewhere that the Kinect can be made for about 30 dollars a unit so it does seem suspect as to why the technology costs so much, guesses at Microsoft trying to repay it's capital development and the usual getting their fingers green. The reason I'm not pre-ordering or even going to buy it around it's release though is not the price, it's the speculation as to whether the hardware works properly using what seems to be advanced eye-toy technology. At least with the PS3's new peripheral it safely only uses gyroscope and obvious camera motion tracked hand-held devices which seems far more practical than full body monitored controls. Potentially Kinect could be very responsive and functional but having only seen game devs try out the technology it's a bit of a gamble.

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michaelmackie

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I would buy it at £70 regardless of the games, but £150 is far too much for what may only turn out to be a slightly improved Eyetoy.

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FallenOneX

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$150 is too much for me to pay to wait for the "good" games. At least the Wii launched with a Zelda game available.

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blackace

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cleo2525 what is state tax? we dont have that in the uk lol *********************************************************************** Yup, and that's what everything in the UK initially cost more then in the U.S. LOL!! Even with our tax, it's still more in the U.K..

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blackace

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coutcha__ @blackace the free 360 giveway... the needed people to make some noise and after the horrible conference that was the only way.... ************************************************************************ Yeah.. it wasn't the greatest conference. Definitely not enough games. Nintendo destroyed Sony and Microsoft at the E3 this year. Sony didn't do any better then Microsoft. Only difference was they showed a lot of multiplat games. Microsoft should have done the same thing. Both of their conferences weren't good. Still Sony didn't give anything away to their fans. I saw journalist falling asleep at their conference. ****************************************************************************** salvucci91 Not only does the price push me away, but the PlayStation Move is pulling at me also. ___________________________________________________ Besides Sorcery, The MOVE didn't have any games that interest me. I'll get it eventually, but probably not until next year.

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blackace

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The_Dragon_Born Microsoft has a history of radically overpricing its peripherals. I hope they figure it out soon or I'll buy me a ps3 because its options are cheaper. In fact the reason I chose 360 over ps3 originally was mostly the launch price. ************************************************************************ Well, that's a dumb reason to buy a game console. Even if a game consoles was $50, I wouldn't waste my money on it if the games all sucked. That was why I didn't initially buy a PS3. It was overpriced and didn't have any games worth playing for over a year. Plus it was way overpriced. I bought the XBox 360 at launch because it had a fairly decent price and there were at least 4 games on it that was worth getting. Two of them were "AAA" here on Gamespot.

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UnderQuarantine

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Off topic, but i really wish they'd kept the name "Natal". "Kinect" just sounds like a forced, cr@p play on words that feels wrong when i say it. Natal is just odd, and makes you think WTF is that? Sounds wierdly... intriguing... Kinect sounds like some sh*tty tamagochi. And my two cents on the price, your main target audience is students, college or school kids, right? 1. What parent would get their kid an accessory that you then need to spend more money on buying more games for it for £150? 2. What student on a budget will get one at that markup when we cant afford food? 3. ... well there is no 3 just i really dont see it selling too well... its an ACCESSORY. Yes, maybe a lot of time and groundbreaking technology has gone into it, but higher mark-up = less customers = less profit. Do the word math, MS.

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cleo2525

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why are people comparing kinect with the wii still, they are totally different in nearly every way

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GBPackersrule

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"I mean come on... who wants to pretend their hand is a gun? What is this? 3rd grade? Pew! Pew! Pew!" I quote Kevin Butler. *anticipates flaming fanboys to leap on this comment like a pack of wolves*

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Brilliant_R

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Look, as much as I love motion control... I've already got a Wii. And with the Wii, I also get the amazing first-party franchises that are made from Nintendo. And this great experience comes at a good price. Now, other than the motion... does Microsoft have any of that? No, and therefore, I don't see much reason to have interest in Kinect. I have one thing I wish to tell M$: Nintendo did it first. And imo, Nintendo does it a lot better (based on what we've seen of Kinect, anyway). Just sayin...

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cleo2525

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@bashers79 thats true but vat is already in the price we pay at the shop we dont go and say oh well this tv is £500 but theres the 20% vat to be added lol

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Bashers79

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@cleo2525 no we have VAT (and not the good kind like in Fallout3) currently at 17.5% soon to be 20%

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exiledsnake

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JanusStormsword: ShopTo wants it to be lower than the rumoured price which is 149.99 dollars. And he's selling it at a higher price because its in Euros. Any console or game in europe is much more expensive than it is in the US.

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JanusStormsword

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Let me get this straight, there isn't even an official MSRP for the Kinect, yet this guy is complaining that it's too high?? On top of that, he's actually selling it for almost 33% more than the price he said is too high...? Is there an ounce of grey matter in that guy's skull?

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nimmow

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Well my question is where are th killer apps for this camera? Right now I've seen nothing that makes me want a Kinect and I'm not really into sport games so if Kinect Sports was Microsoft's only good Kinect game then that pretty much rules me out. I do hope for Microsoft's sake that the Kinect performs well on first week sales as innovation can lead to wonderful things if the demand is there.

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TheWarpLynx

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@cleo2525 state tax in Massachusetts means that for every purchase (clothes, electronics, food, gasoline, medicine, etc.) there is a 6.25% tax. So, the new XBox costs $299.99 + $18.75 = $318.74 in Massachusetts.

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smokingrenade

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Darn. As if i didnt kind of hope this would happen when i saw it at E3. Too much concentration on casual gamers.

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