Wal-Mart Offers $199 Kinect Bundle

Wal-Mart’s website added a Kinect bundle in addition to their existing listing for the Microsoft Kinect today. The bundle includes the Kinect with Kinect Sports, an additional game, and a $30 Walmart.com eGift Card. The additional card can be chosen from Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows, Dance Central, Joy Ride, Kinectimals, Kinect Sports (again, for some reason), and Kinect Adventures.

This further substantiates that the Kinect will cost $150, but more than that, implicitly addresses the cost of the games. The page gives options to add additional Kinect titles to the bundle while showing the cost. Though Harry Potter will retail for $50, the other titles are currently listed at the 360 standard of $60.

While this is speculative, setting the games at $60 would be a very bad idea, especially if Microsoft is trying to poach some of the Wii’s user base. Casual gamers largely don’t care about graphical fidelity. Comparing a $60 Joy Ride to a $50 Mario Kart Wii will be an easy decision to a parent buying a Christmas gift or a new console buyer.  Microsoft must be hoping that the novelty of not holding a controller will be worth $10 to the layperson. That case will be easier to make if Microsoft sets up demo units in retail stores, but otherwise they might be fighting an uphill battle against sticker shock.

[Wal-Mart Website via Joystiq]