Kinect for Xbox 360

It has finally been settled. After a lot of speculation Microsoft has officially announced pricing for the new hands free controller for your Xbox 360.

The Kinect for Xbox 360 will retail for $149.99 as a stand alone product and according to Microsoft it will work on every Xbox 360 console that is already in homes across the world so no issues with compatability.

Microsoft also used the same press release to announce a new Xbox 360 bundle that will allow consumers to get the redesigned Xbox 360 4GB model along with the Kinect for Xbox 360 hands free controller and one of the Kinect specific games called Kinect Adventures. This bundle will retail for $299.

Starting today, consumers can pre-order Kinect for Xbox 360 and the Xbox 360 Kinect Console Bundle at most major retailers. Josh Hutto, director of product marketing for Xbox, said that Kinect represents a great value for new and existing Xbox 360 customers.

The press release also mentions the Kinect Experience Tour which we wrote about a few days ago.

There was one other tidbit to be extracted from this press release and that is the price of some of the other games Microsoft has developed for the Kinect for Xbox 360:

Additional games, including “Kinectimals,” “Kinect Sports,” and “Kinect JoyRide,” will retail for US$49 each.

That is $10 less than other pre-release prices I have seen on those games and the typical initial release price of $59.99.

So which is it? Are you adding a Kinect for Xbox 360 to your Xbox 360, buying the bundle or keeping a wireless controller in your hands?

Read Kinect Pricing, All-in-One Bundle Announced Press Release

Update: It seems I missed the fact that the Kinect Adventures game will also be sold with the Kinect for Xbox 360 as a bundle for $149. With the retail price of the Microsoft Kinect games at $49 that puts the controller at a cost of just $100. I think that makes it a pretty decent deal. I was planning to buy before but this makes it an even better purchase.