While many industry experts elsewhere are willing to admit that the jury is still out on which of the new motion control formats - Sony's Move and Microsoft's Kinect - will emerge victorious during the upcoming holiday season, Australian video games retailer Gametraders has declared that it is backing the former to clean up at Christmas.
“Based on store feedback, the Move is going to be bigger than the Kinect,” said Rob Jenkins, national marketing manager at Gametraders. He went on to explain that Microsoft's platform had proved to be something of a turn-off during test demonstrations, with Move getting a more positive response. “I think the Kinect is a bit clunky and I don’t think it will work properly so I think the Move will have a better initial push and will be received better."
He also added that public perception in Australia seems to favour Sony's machine right now: "I could be wrong, but in some people’s eyes, the 360 is seen as an older technology in some ways. We are finding the PlayStation 3 is starting to pick up in sales because Blu-rays are cheaper and more accepted now. I think there is almost this psychological feel the PlayStation 3 is newer technology and I think that is part of [why the Move will be more popular].”
The good news for Sony didn't end there, however. Aussie Games distributor AFA Interactive - which has distribution agreements with both Sony and Microsoft - also backed Move.
“The feeling we are getting from a lot of our customers is the Move will be more successful than the Kinect,” commented AFA product and marketing manager, Karl Vosgerau. "With the Move, it’s kind of like the Wii controls but it will be much more realistic and responsive whereas the Kinect is completely driven by your body. We get the feeling that – from what we’re told – it sounds like this can really limit what the possibilities are [for gameplay].”
According to both Gametraders and AFA, the PlayStation 3 is selling very well Down Under, eclipsing the retail performance of Microsoft's console. “Over the past year, if a game is coming out on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 comes out as the stronger platform,” adds Vosgerau. “That was different from when I started here four years ago when the PlayStation 3 just came out where you would sell more games on the Xbox 360. Now it’s the other way around.”
Such robust commercial performance certainly bodes well for Move, which will launch in the region on September 16th.
[source arnnet.com.au]
Comments 8
I caught it during the kinect demo at e3. Kinect is limited by the lack of a controller. I realised it by the racing games having auto acceleration. It has since been confirmed as well.
In the end though, both will have success I'm sure.
Bold words from our friends down under. I do think both Move and Kinect have the potential to be a huge success, but at the moment it's really up for grabs isn't it?
Both systems have great tech, so it's gonna come down to the quality of the games and how well they use the motion sensing wizardry on offer.
I personally believe that Xbox Kinect will sell more due to Microsoft's expensive and clever ways of selling their products.
Move will have more advantages however.
This is gonna be very interesting come this fall holiday season.
@sean, i agree with you. Also, that store looks pretty cool.
I agree with Sean007s, but who knows? Nice site guys, personally I don't like the Move but I'd be happy to hear what you have to say.
I think Kinect is the next Wii for the casual gamers and it will sell by the bucket loads. That doesn't necessarily mean it'll be good, but it'll have enough gimmicks to keep it moving of the shelves. I expect Move will be good for a wider rang of gamers and I see it having more modest success.
@Sean: Kinect is trying to take the Wii audience, which is more of a challenge than Nintendo appealing to everyone
Move.
Australian for...beer?
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...