Kinect in the wee hours afterwards, please share your story, either in comments or by sending email to joewilcox at gmail dot com. I would prefer email because you can be identified and I can more easily ask followup questions. If you're planning on Kinecting, particularly if you preordered, I ask you to share that story, too. Most importantly is why. Why Kinect?
The game controller's success is hugely important to Microsoft, which needs something more to reinvigorate its consumer brand image. Good start: Successful game titles like Halo Reach, next week's Windows Phone 7 U.S. launch and great TV commercials for Bing, Internet Explorer 8 and Windows 7. Kinect is about generating buzz by generating long lines of Xbox enthusiasts. From marketing and branding perspectives, the games begin outside stores before one controller is sold.
Ahead of today's launch, buzz spread across the InterWebs that Microsoft had upped its Kinect sales forecast by 2 million to 5 million units by year's end. While seemingly ambitious, Microsoft knows how many preorders are already in.Last night, I stopped by Microsoft Store San Diego, where employees prepared for Kinect launch festivities scheduled to start at 10 p.m. ahead of Midnight sales. Had I been on the East Coast in New York or Washington, D.C. instead of San Diego, or had there been a long line, I would have camped out and done a live report. But I figured the news would be over by more than three hours long before I could post. Hey, look, I was an energetic 20 year old three decades ago.
My colleague Tim Conneally stopped by a Baltimore, Md. GameStop around 12:30 a.m. EDT today. "I went out and there was nothing going on." I asked if there was a line, to which he responded "nope" but then qualified: "I'll be precise, the store was open and there were people there, but no lines. It wasn't like the Halo launches or anything."
Outside a real Microsoft Store, seven people waited for Kinect around 8 p.m. PDT last night. The line had doubled an hour later, when I gave up any pretense of hanging around for the fun and freebees. The first person in line wasn't even sure about buying Kinect, but she defied gamer stereotypes, and that could be good for Microsoft if it's a trend: African-American woman in her early twenties. She gladly spoke to me. The hardcores -- those stereotypical young and male Xboxers -- were too engrossed in playing games on cell phones.
Microsoft Store San Diego em
ployees prepare for Kinect launch
"I came here to find out about the new Kinect," said first-in-liner Katrina. "I heard about it and wanted to see what it was about." I asked if she planned to buy one. "I'm not sure. I'm really into Xbox, so I'm really contemplating about doing it." Katrina is into role-playing games. Favorite series include Sonic the Hedgehog and Spyro the Dragon. I asked if Katrina roleplayed with other gamers via Xbox Live. She tried but couldn't stick with it. "They're kind of mean online," she said. "But I'm starting to think about going back online. I'm in the military, so I don't have much time to really do that." I couldn't resist asking if she could justify buying Kinect as training. "Yes!" she exclaimed and laughed. "That's what I'm going to justify it as."
Next to Katrina waited a twenty-something couple, who had preordered the Kinect Bundle, which includes Xbox 360. Neither of them gave names, and I didn't ask. The male gamer expressed enthusiasm for the bundle, which he ordered about a month a ago. The female gamer pushed in and interrupted: "Your Shape Fitness for Kinect!" She was "excited" about the game. I warned him to be careful about answering my next question -- whether he was excited about her getting Your Shape Fitness Evolved for Connect. Weight and women can be touchy subjects for men. The male gamer gave even worse relationship answer than I expected: "I'm not excited as much as her, because once she gets it, she's going to post all her stats and everything on Facebook for the world to see." She interrupted with a condemning giggle: "No." By the way, the male gamer likes Madden, among other series. While the female gamer prefers less combative titles, she expressed: "I'm really excited about Kinect. It's a good thing for girls." I said that would be a good slogan for Microsoft to adopt in its Kinect marketing.
Further down the line -- and not really that far given the number of people waiting -- a mother prompted her younger son to answer questions. Mario was there with his brother, who also had preordered Kinect. I asked if the brother would share Kinect. "Yeah, he's pretty generous with his games." The teen plays his brother's action games, such as Halo 3. Mario is interested in Halo Reach, but his brother doesn't own that title. The brothers do Xbox Live, but I didn't hear much enthusiasm about it in the answer. Mario looked like a high schooler to me, but I've never been good at judging ages. So I asked if he goes to school. "Yeah." I wondered what he was doing in line for a Midnight sale on a school night. "I don't have a first period, so I start at 9:30." Lucky teenager.
How was the launch elsewhere? The answer is interesting, because it looks like if you missed the festivities last night there will be more -- as in schwag -- for you today. At TG Daily, Mike Luttrell writes this morning:
I'm still getting over my hangover from last night's festivities, but as I look over my more than a half dozen free t-shirts, umbrellas, beanie cap, ponchos, Burger King gift cards, Xbox Live Gold yearly membership, and two free Kinect games, I can only imagine how much money was poured into this illustrious event. Instead of taking my press pass and hanging out backstage with free food and drinks, I joined the throws of people waiting to get their hands on Kinect and, more importantly, free goodies. And boy were there a lot of them...
An event representative told me that Microsoft printed up no fewer than nine thousand t-shirts for the event. The first 3,000 people in line got two free Kinect games with their Kinect purchase. From what I heard, the total number of people didn't even come close to approaching that, so people this morning can assumedly still cash in on that deal.
Luttrell was lucky enough to catch the Kinect launch in New York City. Now it's your turn to share something. Did you Kinect? Will you Kinect? Why Kinect? Please answer in comments or e-mail joewilcox at gmail dot com.