Monday, October 18, 2010

Microsoft is Going MacroBig for Kinect

NyPo has the scoop:

Microsoft is gearing up for a massive marketing push to launch Kinect -- a controller-free Wii-killer for the Xbox -- and blow away the competition come Christmas.

Backed by a half-billion-dollar budget, the tech giant is rolling out a major movie-style marketing blitz aimed at driving its motion-sensing device to the top of holiday wish lists.

Like a much anticipated summer blockbuster, Kinect will appear on everything from soda cans to cereal boxes and will span television, magazines and the Internet...

"Kinect is the largest, most integrated marketing initiative in Xbox history, bigger than its launch," said Robert Matthews, general manager of global marketing communications for Xbox. "We are going to be spending millions to launch this globally."...

Microsoft launched Xbox in July 2000 with a $500 million marketing campaign, but part of that went to subsidies to make the hardware more affordable.

The company began planning the launch 18 months ago with the help of Hollywood producer Steven Spielberg.

This time around Microsoft has struck a promotional partnership with Burger King. Four million cans of Pepsi and Diet Pepsi will plug Kinect, along with 60 million cereal and snack boxes from Kellogg's.

Meanwhile, some 7,000 retailers will stay open past midnight on Nov. 4 -- the day Kinect goes on sale -- to stimulate demand.

Kinect uses a sensor, camera and microphone to detect players' movements and translate them into on-screen actions, such as kicking a ball, dancing and driving a race car. The device will also respond to voice commands, such as "play a movie."

Unlike with other consoles, including the Nintendo Wii, on which Kinect is modeled, there is no handset. As an Xbox attachment, Kinect costs $149 for just the sensor and $299 for the console and sensor bundle. 

4 comments:

  1. My 15-year old says he's not impressed, and neither are his xbox-playing, Nintendo-owning buddies. I guess MS is marketing "to those who feel young", Pepsi's most memorable phrase.

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  2. I think the "unimpressed" part comes from the fact that he did not try it? I had a chance and this IS a game changer (pun intended). I have mine on preorder for about 2 months now. :)

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  3. My 15-year old has to earn and save the $299 before he spends it on MS' new thing. Kinect doesn't rank high enough to forego everything else he wants during the period he's saving.
    Enter Pepsi, whose marketing figures improve as age goes up. My son's buddies' fathers are Kinect's likely marketing targets.

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  4. As an Xbox owner and xbox-live player, I'm pretty familiar with the way MS operates in the video game area, the price quoted seemed a little low, so I checked www.walmart.com and found at this price the game only has a 4gb hard drive (which is crazy small- and who knows how much space that Kinect will even take on the hard drive.) So tack on another $80-$150 bucks for a decent sized hard drive.

    But here is the reality, the majority of xbox owners, don't want to jump around, they are out of shape video game players....that's why they play madden instead of actually "playing" football in the park. Take a good look at the people standing in line for the "Modern Warfare Black Ops" Launch in a few weeks. Are they going to jump around for 6 hours playing the next HALO permutation? .....I don't think so.....

    Xbox has never been a "family console" (mostly because of the proprietary titles and price point) both the Wii and PS3 are WAY in front, typical of MS, a ham-fisted attempt to grab market share.

    Instead of focusing on making a super-bitchen HALO 3D they are sinking millions into a closet floor warmer.

    I grew up playing video games (atari 2600 anybody?) I'm old enough to be somebodies father, and I want nothing to do with garbage like this. Black Ops/Fallout New Vegas, yes, virtual ping pong with my mom....no.

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