Ben-DutkaBoth PlayStation Move for the PlayStation 3 and Kinect for the Xbox 360 will be releasing this fall. It's nice to have competition, and consumers get a choice.
But Konami digital entertainment president Shinji Hirano says he's not sure the similar release windows are a good idea. In speaking to Forbes about both Move and Kinect, Hirano does have plenty of praise for both new pieces of technology. But with Move launching next month in both North America and Europe (Japan gets it in October) and Kinect following on its heels in November, he says that due to "price-sensitive" gamers, the release times are too close to one another. Said Hirano:
"It’s pretty good for the industry, but at this moment I don’t know why they’re being brought in at the same time. People cannot buy the two peripherals at the same time, especially now, when people are pretty price-sensitive."
He raises a valid point, even though both motion technologies are exclusive to a particular platform. Neither Move or Kinect is exactly cheap and if a gamer owns both the PS3 and 360 and they wish to partake of both motion experiences…well, that's a pricey endeavor, especially around the holidays when a ton of games hit the market. Perhaps it will have to come down to choice; i.e., which the buyer will choose, if they indeed have the option.
And that's an argument that can last for a while.