Microsoft has announced several new product bundles that will be coming to market in the coming weeks and months. Even better, the company has finally offered an official price on both the stand-alone Kinect sensor and a bundled version that comes with a new Xbox 360. There's a lot of info here, so let's get right to it.
First up, the price. Kinect will have a suggested retail price of $149.99 (£129.99/€149.99 in Europe), as many online retailers have recently guessed. The news is that Kinect will be bundled with a free game, Kinect Adventures. All first-party Kinect games will have a suggested retail price of $49.99 (£39.99 in the UK) and Microsoft expects that to be the standard, though it is leaving third-party pricing up to those publishers.
Kinect on its own comes with a game for $150.
At least one third-party game will follow that standard. Microsoft has announced that Dance Central, from Harmonix and MTV Games, will also retail for $49.99/£39.99.
For those new to Xbox 360, Microsoft will have a special Kinect console bundle available at the November 4 launch of the sensor. For $299 (or £249.99/€299.99 in Europe), the bundle will include an Xbox 360 console, the Kinect sensor and Kinect Adventures. The Xbox 360 will be the previously confirmed $199 redesigned Xbox 360, not the 250 GB model that has spurred sales in the past month.
Microsoft has also announced the full details on that new Xbox 360 console model, which will be available August 3 in North America, August 20 in the UK and later in the month around the world. This version will have a 4GB internal flash memory, but no 250 GB hard drive. It still has a built in Wi-Fi N adapter, as well as all of the other bells and whistles of the 250 GB Xbox 360. The internal hard drive bay will remain, but will be empty at purchase. You'll be able to tell the difference between this new 4GB console and the 250 GB version as the 4GB model will have a black matte finish as opposed to the glossy finish on the more expensive model. Again, this 4GB model will cost $199 in the US.
Currently, there are no plans to sell the 250 GB hard drive that comes with the recently launched "slim" model separately.
Aaron Greenberg, Director of Product Management of Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, explained the pricing and bundle choices to IGN during a pre-announcement news briefing.
"We don't really make pricing decisions without doing a lot of research. We talked with thousands of consumers across a whole variety of audience segments, on a global scale. What we heard was that when people look at what they get with the Kinect sensor -- all the experiences it enables across entertainment, movies, music, using your voice to access your entertainment, your gestures navigating the dash, etc. plus all of the games coming to market -- our research shows that at $149 consumers feel like it's a great value for existing owners. And then for new buyers, the $299 bundle is extremely compelling."
"We're currently a full $100 less than the PS Move bundle which is $400, which is a single player experience. Obviously if you add a second player to that they get well over $500 pretty quickly."
As for why Microsoft chose Kinect Adventures as the free game to include, Greenberg said it had a lot to do with offering something new. "It's a great broad appeal game for existing and new buyers. It's got more than 20 game modes, everything from River Rush to Obstacle Course...We did a lot of testing with consumers and we really felt like this title had a great broad appeal. It's full body, it integrates voice. It's great jump-in jump-out multiplayer. We think it's a fun game to play for existing owners as well as new consumers...We thought about Kinect Sports, but we felt like Adventures was more new and unique."
Those who pre-order Kinect, either on its own or in the $299 bundle, will receive a download token for three additional exclusive levels for Kinect Adventures.
The $299 bundle allows new consumers to get Kinect at a cheaper cost than those that buy everything separately. Greenberg noted this in saying, "That's our primary focus, at least for launch, is the opportunity to expand the market."
What do you think of the Kinect and bundle pricing? Will you pick up any of the new products? Leave a comment and let us know what you think of Microsoft's decisions.
