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Kinect For Windows Releasing On February 1

Posted by Soulskill on from the press-any-key-or-flail-spastically-to-continue dept.

clinko writes "Microsoft has announced that the new Kinect for Windows hardware and accompanying software will be available on February 1st, 2012 in 12 countries, at a suggested retail price of US $249 ($149 for edu). Microsoft has chosen a hardware-only business model for Kinect for Windows; they will not be charging for the SDK or the runtime. These will be available free to developers and end-users respectively."

3 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Why So expensive? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can get a Xbox 360 with a Kinect for $200. So, why should I pay more for just the hardware? Wasn't the hardware just on sale for Christmas for like $99?

    1. Re:Why So expensive? by Wattos · · Score: 5, Insightful

      On the Xbox M$ gets a cut from every game sold (even if it was produced by a third party studio). On the PC, not so much.

      This means, that M$ can afford to sell the hardware at a lower price point, and then getting the money back in game sales. On the PC, this business model does not work, therefore the hardware price increases.

  2. Re:Why for Windows? by Sockatume · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There's nothing stopping you using it on any other OS, however there is no SDK for those platforms, and therefore no expectation of compatibility. Hence, "Kinect for Windows".

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?