With the current topic of various motion controllers and their pricing gaining a lot of attention, just how much will everything cost and is Microsoft’s rumoured Kinect pricing too large?
It’s a hard question to answer considering the price of Kinect has still to be announced by Microsoft, but, going by the current favourite of $150, I’ve attempted to look at the overall cost for those wanting to become an owner of all the technology needed.
The following information is based on average prices on the internet. Cheaper versions may well exist if you shop around but this is based on people that would normally only use the larger retailers to buy from. Please note that the Kinect pricing is completely based on estimations at this time.
Single Player:
First off, let’s look at the single player. Perhaps living the batchelor/batchelorette life or perhaps the only person in a household interested in gaming. How much will it set him/her back?
| Prices for a Single Player Set up | ||
| Xbox 360 Slim | PlayStation 3 Slim | |
| 250 GB Console (incl. 1 controller) | £199.99 | £279.99 |
| Full Motion Control | £125* (Kinect) | £79.98 (PSEye, Move Controller and Sub Controller) |
| Online Gaming | £34.99 | FREE |
| Total | £359.98 | £359.97 |
| *Price for Kinect is estimated based on the current rumoured price of $150. Allowed for currency conversion and any additional charges that Microsoft may apply. | ||
Two Players:
Perhaps a young couple, perhaps two siblings, perhaps a single player and a friend, how much does it cost in this instance?
| Prices for a Two Player Set up | ||
| Xbox 360 Slim | PlayStation 3 Slim | |
| 250 GB Console (incl. 1 controller) | £199.99 | £279.99 |
| Full Motion Control | £125* (Kinect) | £149.96 (PSEye, Move Controller and Sub Controller) |
| Online Gaming (based on 2 separate accounts) | £69.98 | FREE |
| Additional Official Controller (s) (1 per player) | £29.99 | £34.99 |
| Total | £424.96 | £464.94 |
| *Price for Kinect is estimated based on the current rumoured price of $150. Allowed for currency conversion and any additional charges that Microsoft may apply. | ||
The Family:
Seeing as I doubt the Mafia will be sitting around waving their arms, the ‘Family’ of course refers to an average family of 4 or perhaps even a shared house where each resident wants to get involved. How will the prices be affected by multiple gamers?
| Prices for a Four Player Set up | ||
| Xbox 360 Slim | PlayStation 3 Slim | |
| 250 GB Console (incl. 1 controller) | £199.99 | £279.99 |
| Full Motion Control | £125* (Kinect) | £289.92** (PSEye, Move Controller and Sub Controller) |
| Online Gaming | £69.99*** | FREE |
| Additional Official Controller (s) (1 per player) | £89.97 | £104.97 |
| Total | £489.96 | £674.88** |
| *Price for Kinect is estimated based on the current rumoured price of $150. Allowed for currency conversion and any additional charges that Microsoft may apply. | ||
| **Based on 4 players playing at the same time using full controller set up. | ||
| ***Based on Microsoft’s recently announced Family Pack (4 Gold accounts using one Xbox in one household). | ||
So the PlayStation 3 actually costs more across 2 of these examples and only beats the Xbox 360 on price by a penny on the other, although it’s only fair to point out that the PS3 does include a Blu-Ray player as well. There are still arguments over which motion tech is the most accurate, but, either way, Microsoft appear to have the advantage.
This is complete speculation until the Kinect price is 100% officially confirmed by Microsoft. My estimations are logical but by no means should be taken as read. Kinect’s actual pricing could render all of the above incorrect!
I am also aware that Sony revealed a PS3 + PSEye + Move Controller bundle for $399.99, so, converted and allowing for a little extra, this is likely to be around £350. Kinect bundles may also drop the price of the combined units, too. Due to this uncertainty I have purposely not included bundles.
UPDATE:
Okay, it seems that some of you are seeing this as some kind of ‘attack’ on Sony. It’s not. I no longer own a 360 and doubt I will any time soon, unless I come into some money and can afford to pay for luxury items again. No, this is purely an attempt at providing some realistic numbers to soon-to-be-realeased technology. Things seem to have become a little confusing. So, in an effort to maintain my point and cut some confusion, let’s re-evaluate using a basic set up. Let’s work on the basis that the PlayStation Move can not handle 4 Move controllers and 4 Sub controllers by limiting it to 4 Move Controllers and 2 Sub controllers. Let’s also get rid of the additional official controllers as keep it just about motion, shall we?
| Prices for a Four Player Set up | ||
| Xbox 360 Slim | PlayStation 3 Slim | |
| 250 GB Console (incl. 1 controller) | £199.99 | £279.99 |
| Full Motion Control | £125* (Kinect) | £229.94 (PSEye, 4 Move Controllers and 2 Sub Controllers) |
| Online Gaming | £69.99** | FREE |
| Total | £489.96 | £509.93 |
| *Price for Kinect is estimated based on the current rumoured price of $150. Allowed for currency conversion and any additional charges that Microsoft may apply. | ||
| **Based on Microsoft’s recently announced Family Pack (4 Gold accounts using one Xbox in one household). | ||
Things have become a little more even. You happy? As long as Move will never be able to handle 4 of each type of controller then here’s a rough guide to the price differences. Let’s get one thing straight, I’m actually not a fan of motion controllers and have only recently been even remotely interested in PS Move.
Mick939
I would like to summarise it, if you choose either console your out of pocket this Christmas but boy… Will you look a twat playing it :-)
smokeybeef
The ‘updated’ price doesn’t take off the cost of controllers for the Xbox 360.
Also, the PS3 slim with one controller is £249.99 isn’t it?
Mick939
Annnd if you got my place its 269 for a 250gb with a game.
stonyk
What about the price for batteries on the 360. They add up. Because I play my wii once every 6 months, the batteries has completely run dry and need replacing with a £5 pack, so, as with the 360 you should add £5 /month for batteries :-)
Andrew Wright
FYI Game has reduced the price of the move controllers to £35.
Charmed_Fanatic
GAME have reduced the MOVE controller to £35 now and not £40
Uhyve
This could be alittle nitpicky. But the 250GB PS3 is priced £269.99 pretty much everywhere at the moment. I can’t find it for any more than that (except for on Game where the PS3 on its own seems to be more than the bundles, crooks).
yami930
There should be one chart in which it states the essentials, where the Navigator (sub-controller) is not a necessity to play the PS3, as the Dualshock 3 can be used as an alternative. Also, in your UPDATE chart, why wouldn’t you just put 4 move controllers, as that’s all the PS3 can support at once, for 4 players, and all of this doesn’t take into account the idea of a friend or family member bringing their own move controllers.
Quinlank
I’m not saying that this article is an attack on Sony as the writer seems so concerned about it being seen as, but price comparisons like this really are nothing more than damage control for the exhorbitant price of Kinect.
Yes, Move costs more if you’re going to want to play local multiplayer with more than two people, but with consoles whose primary focus is online multiplayer, I don’t see the problem. Sure if you live with someone who wants to play two player or whatever you might need two Moves if you really HAVE to have the thing, but how common is this likely to be? Everyone I know(And I mean EVERYONE) has a Wii, and not a one of them has more than two controllers for it. This really does have the feeling of an issue being made out to be more important than it is to distract from the real issue at hand: The fact that Kinect sucks pretty hard as a gaming controller, has no worthwhile games, and is basically nothing more than Eyetoy meets Wii Fit but costs more than both put together ever did.
Besides, there’s still the issue of how many people can actually use a Kinect at once, and I’m not talking about how many people it can support, but how SAFE it would be to use when you’re talking about a controller whose sole method of control is seemingly flailing your limbs around. How are families meant to safely play something like that with their children? Especially if they don’t live in huge houses with tons of floor space. There are a lot of questions to be addressed here about Kinect.
Move is nothing more than a copy of the Wiimote, this is fact, but that means that people will know exactly what they’re getting with it. Kinect has so far offered little but the constant promise of ‘potential’ that, on mere observation of how it is used, simply does not seem to be there.
Paranoimia
I have only one issue with the article:
“There are still arguments over which motion tech is the most accurate”
After E3, there really aren’t. Or at least, there really shouldn’t be.