Software giant Microsoft has announced its Kinnect video game system, which monitors the movement of a player’s entire body in order to control on-screen characters, will cost $199 in Australia.
The device has been heralded as a step-forward in motion-based gaming, coming about four years after Nintendo introduced the motion-controlled Wii console.
The system will be sold before Christmas, with retailers in the US beginning to sell the gadget in November.
The Kinnect sensor will work with existing Xbox 360 consoles, although the company is also pushing a slimmer version of the system, and is phasing out the older versions. A variety of games are also being designed for the system at launch.
Earlier this year, Microsoft confirmed its Xbox 360 console is only halfway through its shelf life, in order to attract more buyers who might have thought the system was nearing its end.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
