Microsoft Kinect: World's Fastest-Selling Consumer Electronics Device

What device sold faster after its launch than the iPad, the iPhone or the Amazon Kindle? If you guessed the Microsoft Kinect, then you're right!

Guinness World Records announced on Wednesday that the Kinect, a controller-free gaming peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, is now the "Fastest-Selling Consumer Electronics Device" on the planet.

Aiming to make gameplay both more active and more immersive, the webcam-like Kinect captures and incorporates players' body movements in lieu of a traditional controller.

According to a Guinness blog post, customers purchased 8 million Kinect units during the product's first 60 days on the market (from 4 November 2010 through 3 January 2011)--that's a rate of 133,333 units per day!

"[N]o other consumer electronics device sold faster within a 60-day time span," said Gaz Deaves, editor of Guinness World Records 2011 Gamer's Edition, which will feature the Kinect in its next release.

According to figures released by Microsoft on March 11, the company has sold over 10 million Kinect devices.

Comments

[drewbob]

12:50 AM on 03/11/2011

Just waiting for Child of Eden to come out...and then go on one hell of a trip.

[Pandoras Folly]

03:05 PM on 03/11/2011

Enoch: El Shadaii. Anime version of the book of enoch. I can't wait for Child of eden either

[Knowledgeseeker]

08:44 PM on 03/10/2011

I wish PS3 had a Kinect sytem

[dalifemme77]

07:35 AM on 03/13/2011

What? No love for the "move"?

It's like the RoboStir of...RoboStirs.

X360 pwns ;)

[NHBill]

04:36 PM on 03/10/2011

How soon MS before this Kinect Tech tuns my PC into Tom Cruise in "Minority Report"?

[Pandoras Folly]

03:06 PM on 03/11/2011

some hackers already have done it.

[NHBill]

03:10 PM on 03/11/2011

soo cool.
Now all we need are holographic monitors.

[J0E1]

03:44 PM on 03/10/2011

Kinect iz racist

[GringoMex82]

07:21 AM on 03/11/2011

In what way? It doesn't have a problem with me (white) or my black boyfriend.

[MaxPowerXP]

11:57 PM on 03/11/2011

heh. YouTube search "Kinect is racist" and find out.

[drosa1991]

03:34 PM on 03/10/2011

Kinect breaks record http://bit.ly/gVn5T5

[mkaleborn]

03:00 PM on 03/10/2011

I'm more interested in if the people who bought it actually use it on a regular basis. I like the concept, but the kiddie-focussed games they put out left me feeling a bit cold on the implementation.

There needs to be a surge in other motion-control accessories to go along with it. I still want to hold a 'gun' in my hand and pull a trigger rather then just point my fingers and shout 'pew pew'. But having an actual gun controller, using voice commands to AI team-mates, throwing hand grenades as far as the force of your arm can making a throwing motion (after placing your hand up to your face and 'yanking out the pin' with your teeth) is a nice way to *complement* a game. Don't press a button to 'duck' and 'lean', you duck and lean in real life. On the 'gun' controller would be movement sticks to facilitate traditional forward, back, side-to-side movement. Jumping is done in real life.

It's the Kinect's *complimentary* benefits to traditional controller-based gaming that need to be exploited more.

[Pandoras Folly]

03:08 PM on 03/11/2011

Two words: Steel Battalion, check it out. Kinect controlled Mechs. the old game was so serious it came with a $235 price tag and a controller with 40 buttons two joysticks the foot pedals and a startup sequence.

[Pandoras Folly]

03:18 PM on 03/11/2011

O i forgot some people have put monitors onto toy guns and built the necessary sensors and buttons so this can happen. so you just swing the gun around to point it and look and the screen changes depending on where you look.

[GeorgieMark]

02:55 PM on 03/10/2011

This is a great showing for Microsoft.

Their hardware is more often than naught under-appreciated despite being very capable and solid builds (i.e. Zune).

This is the 1st time in the history of gaming that console makers keep adding features to hardware you bought 5-6 years ago.

Xbox 360 started off its career as a gaming device geared towards Racing, Shooting, Combat loving video game fans, Microsoft has been slowly building it up to a formidable all media hub.

A few years ago video games were another male bastion (girls were excluded), with this slew of new features the sex divide has almost evaporated.

[MaxPowerXP]

11:58 PM on 03/11/2011

"This is the 1st time in the history of gaming that console makers keep adding features to hardware you bought 5-6 years ago."

Not true! Remember the Sega 32X?
Yeah, me neither.

[GeorgieMark]

05:10 AM on 03/12/2011

I do remember the 32 X (and the Mega CD add on) however it is one of those things worthy of memory repression.

[Krek]

02:19 PM on 03/10/2011

Seems like Wii on the Xbox. Hopefully the games aren't as bad.

[andyg]

11:08 PM on 03/12/2011

It's far better than the Wii, you don't need a controller, you use your own body.

[SofaKing22]

12:52 PM on 03/10/2011

It's good since it gets people off their butts intead of just slouching in their couches, with both hands on a controller, one hand reaching into a deep fried snack bag in between games.

[Jason Pope]

11:59 AM on 03/10/2011

Its fun. Its cute. It gets you off of the couch and playing games with the family. I recommend it.

[edgemo]

11:41 AM on 03/10/2011

Sorry, but they sold 8 million items in 60 days of a unit they only produced a little over 3 million of in preparation for the holiday season. Sounds like interesting sales accounting to me..... More like: 'based on perceived demand, retailers ordered 8 million units..." Forgetting that many of the people looking for the product looked in more than one place.....simulating a higher demand than was really there. Now 44 months in, total into channel of 10 million (still a good number, especially if they are actually selling the things) supports my view since the 2 million added to sales in the last 2 months represents a 75% drop in sales in just 2 months....

[edgemo]

11:43 AM on 03/10/2011

"Now 44 months in"

4 Months..... sorry...

[Adam Story]

11:30 AM on 03/10/2011

This is one of the few products that I own that I can not recommend. The technology is awesome; the games aren't. The coolest thing about it is watching espn3 and changing games with voices and gestures.

[iisguy]

03:38 PM on 03/10/2011

patience padawaan.

[Bpeirce]

09:47 AM on 03/10/2011

Kinect works great if your able to stand and move on your own. Won't work if you sit or in a Wheelchair.

[Angelus2007]

11:25 AM on 03/10/2011

On that issue, it would be nice if there was something those in a wheelchair to do with Kinect. As far was sitting, if you want to sit (by choice) why would you use a Kinect.

[NHBill]

04:38 PM on 03/10/2011

Wii is popular in nursing homes because you can sit down.

[llabesab1234]

09:38 AM on 03/10/2011

This is not the world's best selling gadget. That honor goes to the "home kit" which can be used to detect if one carries the "Lying Gene" which has just been discovered by the same team of scientists who "discovered" the Obesity Gene.

Becuase of their propensity to carry the gene, Democrats and Liberals may qualify, under Obamacare, for a discounted cost.

Scientists, first alerted to the existence of the gene by Obama's flip-flopping, were motivated to increase lab research. They used as evidence of Democrat susceptibility, Obama's speeches on Gitmo, "..With one stroke of my pen we will close Gitmo and bring all the troops home.". Some of the scientists also cited, "..I did not have sex with tha women", "SlicK Willy", and "..Today, I have ordered America's armed forces to attack Saddam Hussein's laboratories where he is manufacturing biological, chemical and nuclear weapons of mass destruction", Slick Willy Clinton, December 17,1998.

[Bpeirce]

09:44 AM on 03/10/2011

You my friend are a fool, What are you talkin about? You need to get out once in a while.

[Aaron Johnson]

10:27 AM on 03/10/2011

^ Another fine example of persona management (sock puppet) software in action. This conservative Borg mind still has some grammatical and punctuation bugs to work out. Thank goodness it's only capable of cutting and pasting unoriginal quotes circa 1997.

[DCmykl]

07:52 AM on 03/10/2011

Of my 11 immediate coworkers, I think at least seven of us have one of these units.