Report: MS to bundle Kinect with 360

By Tom Bramwell Published 21 June, 2010

And does plan to do $199 slim 360.

Microsoft does plan to release Kinect as part of bundles with the Xbox 360 console, and also plans to release a $199 version of the new Xbox 360.

That's according to an "internal marketing Q&A" uncovered by Kotaku, which noted that Kinect will be offered as "part of a bundle with the newly designed Xbox 360 console".

It also simply said, "We will offer a $199 Xbox 360 this fall." That's something that was mooted during E3 last week.

Prior to the launch of the new Xbox 360, Microsoft offered two models in the US - the Elite, featuring a 120GB hard disk, for $299, and the Arcade, with no hard disk, for $199. The launch of the new 360 saw both take a $50 price cut. Both will be discontinued once stock clears.

The same models are also sold in Europe, where the new 360 goes on sale on 16th July. However, UK Xbox boss Neil Thompson indicated to Eurogamer last week that the changeover will be slightly different.

"The Elite model we'll slowly phase out, but we're continuing with the Arcade model as it stands," he told us in a video interview you can watch below.

Xbox UK boss Neil Thompson speaks to Eurogamer TV during E3 2010.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • RodHull #1 2 years ago

    Nothing like complete consumer confusion to ensure the success of your product. Well done MS, well done.

  • MonkeyMagik #2 2 years ago

    what confusion, looks like a great idea to me, same as now ?!

  • tomjoadsghost #3 2 years ago

    I'm kinda interested at this stage whether internally Microsoft are planning to release the successor to the 360 with an emphasis on the kinnect branding rather than the xbox branding.

    that would kinda explain their willingness to accept the chaos which is potentially gonna erupt come Christmas time.

  • miiiguel #4 2 years ago

    chaos? Isn't that in 2012? The Oracle issued an update ?

  • Shinetop #5 2 years ago

    That kind of blows all those "Retailers are using $150 as a placeholder-price for Kinect so that's totally the official price now" reports out of the water. Unless the new Xbox retails for $50 without Kinect.

  • slippysloppy #6 2 years ago

    A year ago Project Natal seemed like a dream and blew Sony and Nintendo out of the water. A year later it's renamed Kinect and is going to cost £130 to play the type of games we've already got on the Wii. Oh dear Microsoft, you're like alchemists who who knew how to make gold but at the last minute decided to make turd instead.

  • RodHull #7 2 years ago

    @MonkeyMagik

    From what Mr Thompson isnproposing we'll have the "slim", the arcade and, for a while, the elite all being sold alongside. Mummy and daddy will go into Game to buy little Timmy a new xbox to make up for drunken uncle Brian vomiting on Timmys dialysis machine, thus incapacitating it and meaning Timmys kidneys will likely begin to shrivel and / or implode, and be so confused by the array of xboxes they'll buy a PS3 as only one model is available. This will be despite the fact that the PS3 is made by Sony, an employee of whom Timmys mummy had an amorous disappointment with in Leighton Buzzard which has left mummy untrusting toward anything to do with the Japanese megacorporation. This is perhaps the single aspect of mummys life that she shares with Mr George Michaels.

  • ignatiusjreilly #8 2 years ago

    @Shinetop

    Isn't the $199 price for the version without Kinect? Doesn't seem to contradict a $150 price for Kinect alone. Unless I've missed what you're saying there?

  • des #9 2 years ago

    I predict $299 Kinect bundle with a game.

  • davisorle #10 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • brseg #11 2 years ago

    Dont think $50 is a great saving on the old models.
    Also seems odd they have no Arcade model replacement yet. So, as @rodhull said above, I think it is a bit confusing.
    On noise level alone, they should confine the old hardware to history.

  • Skooch #12 2 years ago

    @slippysloppy

    So very true, I've played a lot of Wii and often turn it on using voice activation, navigate the menu system without a controller, play games that map my entire skeleton so you can't cheat, have four players playing at once using just the one device and no additional controllers, yeah, I remember many a fun day doing all of that.

    You turd.

  • slippysloppy #13 2 years ago

    @Skooch

    Oh dear, did mummy not love you very much.

  • mcmonkeyplc #14 2 years ago

    Report: Sun rises in the morning :p

  • Mkwone #15 2 years ago

    I think RodHull has some issues that need resolving. Come here, give me a hug.
    Edited by Mkwone at 21/06/10 @ 10:16

  • Mkwone #16 2 years ago

    That's presuming they still have an original 360 that's not Red lighted. :p

  • MiniAmin #17 2 years ago

    @Mkwone

    I think Rodhull is simply unfunny.

  • crazyhorse174 #18 2 years ago

    I'm sorry, but what exactly is the problem with the pricing? You dont have to buy it - you'll still be able too play all of your normal 360 games without it. And if you dont like the games that are coming out for it - the stuff similar to Wii games - then you probably were never going to buy it anyway, so why moan??

  • nuanimal #19 2 years ago

    Bigger issue...

    Microsoft will be offering two new boxed consoles, but one WITHOUT Kinect? I would have thought that it would form part of all new consoles, to ensure that there was a good base of users in order to push Kinect enhanced games, etc?

    I'm sure there are good and bad reasons both ways - but without making a control method essential to games, and highly available - you risk the success of it on your console. Smae point for Sony too - Move needs to become a standard controller.




  • vizzini #20 2 years ago

    I'm always a little suspicious of claims like “whisper quiet”, especially when exact empirical measurements aren't forthcoming, and the console isn't switched-on to allow the viewer to make up their own mind.

    The guy from Microsoft seemed affable enough, I just think he's just got a really hard job on his hands.

    The core gaming public are already tired of “me too” waggle controls, so there is a lot of work to be done by Microsoft, to convince people that a “no buttons” control method can create a good game experience.

    Whether the 150ms to acknowledge a body movement (ignoring fingers) will be a problem, is yet to play out.

    This interview was a missed opportunity for an impromptu switch-on, to let the interviewer give a candid reaction to the elite slim running noise and playing a Kinect game in a new compelling and responsive way, if that is true.

    Instead, with everything switched-off, unplugged, we just had to listen to words and “talk is cheap”; I'm still not convinced that Kinect isn't going to be a very expensive and embarrassing R&D exercise for Microsoft when real gamers get their hands on it.

    But hopefully not.

  • Frandroid #21 2 years ago

    @Vizzini "I'm always a little suspicious of claims like “whisper quiet”, especially when exact empirical measurements aren't forthcoming, and the console isn't switched-on to allow the viewer to make up their own mind."

    Apparently Kotaku pegged the change in volume as 51dB, down from 54dB. That would suggest it's roughly half as loud due to decibels having a logarithmic scale.

  • Paulie_P #22 2 years ago

    I have 20gb model so I think now might finally be the time for me to upgrade. The noise level sealed the deal plus oohh shiny black!