Topic: Microsoft's Xbox Kinect - Nov 4th 2010

[BlackNMild2k1]

But neither I nor the GS guy were talking revenue or money spent(that was TJ Spyke) and are strickly talking about how many homes are gonna be Kinect enabled vs Move enabled. According to sales at GameStops, Kinect is the bigger draw for customers and therefore there will be more 360's Kinect'd than PS3's will be Move'd come this holiday season.

I'm not sure how things got confused.

[Chozo Ghost]

But I honestly didn't know **** about it

You said you're against kids playing M rated games, but apparently you have no problem using M rated language on a site where kids might have read that (had it not been filtered out). I'm just saying...

[Ian Sane]

You said you're against kids playing M rated games, but apparently you have no problem using M rated language on a site where kids might have read that (had it not been filtered out). I'm just saying...

Are there seriously any kids on this forum?  Like elementary school age kids?  Plus this is the internet which I see largely as an anarchaic wasteland.  Any kid on the internet can access footage of people having some really perverted sex and terrorists decapitating people.
 
... unless their parents put in the proper content filters, like this site has that censors the swear words.  So no harm done.

[KDR_11k]

Yeah, this site filters swearing so anyone who sees it chose to see it. Also kids aren't going to be scared of strong language.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Kinect's BOM roughly $56, teardown finds
That means close to $100 profit margin for every unit sold

SAN FRANCISCO—Microsoft Corp.'s Kinect motion-gaming add on for its Xbox 360 gaming platform carries a bill-of-materials (BOM) of roughly $56 and features chips made by PrimeSense Ltd., Marvell Technology Group Ltd., Texas Instruments Inc. and STMicroelectronics NV, according to a teardown analysis performed by UBM TechInsights.
[...]
SAN FRANCISCO—Microsoft Corp.'s Kinect motion-gaming add on for its Xbox 360 gaming platform carries a bill-of-materials (BOM) of roughly $56 and features chips made by PrimeSense Ltd., Marvell Technology Group Ltd., Texas Instruments Inc. and STMicroelectronics NV, according to a teardown analysis performed by UBM TechInsights.


A listing of the major parts found by UBM TechInsights within Kinect:

PrimeSense PS1080-A2 - PS1080 SoC image sensor processor (works with CMOS image sensor and an IR light source)
Marvell 88AP1-BJD2 – Possible Marvell camera interface controller
Elpida E5116AJBG-6E-E - 70nm DDR2 SDRAM (SI#18324)
(2) Marvell G39 00A1P
H1025519 XBOX1001 X851716-006 GEPP – Serial EEPROM for Marvell Controller
Fairchild Semiconductor FDS8984 - N-Channel PowerTrench MOSFET
NEC uPD720114 - USB 2.0 hub controller
(2) Wolfson Microelectronics WM8737G - Stereo ADC with microphone preamp (one for every two microphones)
STMicroelectronics 25P16V6G - M25P16 - 16 Mbit, low voltage, Serial Flash memory with 50 MHz SPI bus interface
STMicroelectronics H28A 9017
WT245 – Texas Instruments SN74AVC4T245RGYR - 4-bit noninverting dual-supply bus transceiver
Texas Instruments 70530-08T-AVF4 –  TPS3705-30 - Processor Supervisory Circuits with Power-Fail
Texas Instruments TAS1020B - universal serial bus (USB) peripheral interface device
Kionix KXSD9 – 3-axis accelerometer
(2) Analog Devices AD8694 - Quad, Low Cost, Low Noise, CMOS Rail-to-Rail Output Operational Amplifier
TI ADS7830I - 8-Bit, 8-Channel Sampling A/D Converter with I2C Interface
Allegro Microsystems A3906 - Low Voltage Stepper and Single/Dual DC Motor Driver
STMicroelectronics M29W800DB - 8 Mbit (1Mb x8 or 512Kb x16) NV Flash Memory

$100 x 5 million units sold (projection) = $500million marketing campaign.

Of course I'm sure none of this includes manufacture , packaging, shipping or R&D, but now I see how MS planned on making up that $500million dollar marketing budget.

[MegaByte]

Interesting that there's an accelerometer in there.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I'm really surprised that all of that only cost $56.

and didn't MS scale back on something that was in Kinect?
I know it was rumored that they took out the Primesense chip, but that's obviously in there, but I'm almost certain there was something else that they supposedly took out due to cost concerns. Looks like they had a little room in the profit margin to keep whatever it was.

[Kytim89]

How is Kinect fairing in sales and quality of titles so far?

[Guitar Smasher]

Interesting that there's an accelerometer in there.

Really doesn't make any sense.

Unless it somehow responded to vibrations in the floor, caused by jumping up and down.  But I can't imagine it being that sensitive.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I'm sure the accelerometer is so that Kinect knows when it is tilted forward or sitting up straight and can always realign it self to the default upright position.

[SixthAngel]

This is pretty much expected with Microsoft pouring money into the advertising of connect  and it is Christmas so its going to have a strong start.  Next year I see it falling fast.  A quick look online shows next year's lineup to be pathetic and I don't think the current lineup is going to keep an add-on selling so much.

I think the reviews are hilarious.  They are obviously hedging there bets because they remember when they **** all over Wii Sports and they all looked like complete fools.  They seem to be giving a lot of middle ground for the scores and as oohhboy said, the reviews seem a bit schizophrenic.  I think the ones that really despise the whole "casual" thing are just biting their tongues in case Kinect is huge.

To those who have it: What do you think the strongest game is?

[KDR_11k]

Dance Central. It's like Just Dance (including the not-terribly-accurate detection) with more emphasis on DLC.

[Stratos]

Dance Central. It's like Just Dance (including the not-terribly-accurate detection) with more emphasis on DLC.

Yay DLC!...

[Ian Sane]

I think the reviews are hilarious.  They are obviously hedging there bets because they remember when they **** all over Wii Sports and they all looked like complete fools.  They seem to be giving a lot of middle ground for the scores and as oohhboy said, the reviews seem a bit schizophrenic.

That makes for pretty useless reviews.  If you think a game sucks then state that.  How popular a game ends up being or how well it sells is irrelevant.  I want the honest opinion of the reviewers.  I personally agreed with a lot of the reviews of Wii Sports as the game just didn't really do it for me.  The fact that's it is one of the most popular games ever does not change my opinion on that, and it should not affect that of any decent reviewer.
 
The sites should try to not assign someone with an obvious chip on their shoulder about motion control or casual gaming or Kinect.  You might want someone with less of a bias going in.  But it should be the real opinion not the expected opinion of the site's audience or the expected opinion of the casual players who would like it.  Just tell me what the reviewer honestly thinks and the site should be smart enough to employ reviewers with tastes similar to that of their audience.

[bustin98]

Dance Central is.... actually kinda boring. The music generally sucks. It helps to have tunes that people are familiar with. Yeah, I'm not much into discos or raves, but please, there are more song genres to dance to than the pop trash thats on the disc. Yes, its cool to learn the moves and learn to move in a rhythm, but its not cool to be forced to listen to Lady Gaga not once but twice.

Kinect Adventures is a good time, especially as a party game. It gets you up and moving all over the place. And it takes embarrasing photos of unsuspecting players.

I haven't tried any of the other games.

[ShyGuy]

I choked down a whopper from Burger King, just to try and win a Connect bundle, but they screwed me and I got a wrapper without a code.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Sounds like you are just really out of touch with what the mass population of youth at large consider popular music that they like to dance to. I'm not into most of the music ( if any) in the game, but the track list sounds like a winner to me.

[TJ Spyke]

I choked down a whopper from Burger King, just to try and win a Connect bundle, but they screwed me and I got a wrapper without a code.

No they didn't, you don't get anything from the sandwich (which, BTW, is easily the best tasting fast food sanwich). You have to buy the whopper value meal. Medium will get you one chance (on the fries), while large will get you two (on the drink cup).

Kytim, every game is getting either terrible or mediocre scores, nothing that justifies the $150 price of Kinect.

[ShyGuy]

I got the medium fries, there was no code on the paper container that I could see. It's Kinetc themed but no prize code.

[bustin98]

Sounds like you are just really out of touch with what the mass population of youth at large consider popular music that they like to dance to. I'm not into most of the music ( if any) in the game, but the track list sounds like a winner to me.

I don't doubt it. And I don't have much of a taste for R&B or Rap, with exception to the songs from the 80s. I guess I didn't think about the song selection first.

[SixthAngel]

Dance Central. It's like Just Dance (including the not-terribly-accurate detection) with more emphasis on DLC.

Thats the worst thing I've heard all week.
You're talking to a guy who never once bought any DLC though.

[KDR_11k]

Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson tried toolboxing Dance Central to test the detection, apparently it worked pretty well.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Microsoft says sells 1 million Kinect devices
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AE4EQ20101115

(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Monday it has sold more than 1 million of its new hands-free Kinect gaming systems in the first 10 days since launch, putting it on track to beat its target of 5 million sales by the end of the year.
[...]
"It's a strong start," said Don Mattrick, head of Microsoft's game unit, in a telephone interview on Monday. "Consumers are loving it."

[NWR_insanolord]

The PS3 sold out at launch too. Anything can launch big; selling consistently long-term is a different matter.

[Chozo Ghost]

He's saying consumers love it based on the strong initial sales, but lets give it some time and see how much consumers "love it" once they've taken it home and begin the difficult task of getting it set up/working.