Perhaps you’ve largely seen Microsoft’s full-body gesture recognition technology, Kinect, as something of little consequence, but Microsoft doesn’t reciprocate your doubt.

In an interview at the Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg said Kinect, behind a huge marketing effort, will sell 3 million units this holiday season.

“We believe this will be the biggest launch in our history, for Xbox. We will sell more Kinect sensors than we did [systems] at Xbox 360 launch,” Greenberg said.

“Our estimates that we will sell in excess of 3 million units this holiday,” he added. Further, Microsoft is spending “hundreds of millions” of dollars in marketing, “exceeding in what we did when we launched the original Xbox 360,” Greenberg claimed.

Kinect will launch with 15 titles, and while they seem pretty much aimed at the softcore gamer, according to Greenberg that’s good enough.

“The launch lineup, I think when they personally experience these titles, first-hand, I think people will be impressed with level of depth, the amount of skill required, and how immersive they are, not just for new users, but for existing owners.”

Additionally, Greenberg assures gamers that motion-based games are nowhere even close to Microsoft’s main gaming objective and that controller-based games are still king.

“As a platform all-up, I think you’ll continue to see the majority of titles controller-based. The core of our business is blockbuster games, and that will not change. We see this as additive,” he assures gamers.

What do we think about all of this? 3 million units isn’t that large a figure, considering the Xbox 360′s huge install base. I’m all for diversification, so long as it doesn’t come at the cost of my (controller-based) experience. Thoughts?

http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/2010/09/16/microsoft-believes-kinect-will-sell-3-million-units-this-holiday/

Posted: Sep 16, 2010 8:46 pm