Kinect has good ideas: but will it appeal to hardcore gamers?

First of all, hands up who has bought a Wii for their family for Christmas, played with it up till New Years, and then left it under their TV for the dust to settle until next Christmas? Yep, that's what I thought. This is because getting up in front of your TV, off the couch, and playing about with fun mini-games and activities is all family stuff. Lcukily, the Wii has other capabilities, as you can sit down to play games, and it has its own library of non-family, violent or single player games. Now, we move onto the sudden motion control war that has been rampaging around forums for almost a whole year. There is no question that Sony and Microsoft noticed how much the Wii has outsold the two consoles, and has decided to follow in their footsteps: Sony, by a lot, and Microsoft thought they would step it up a notch by skipping the "control" part of things, and use no controller at all. However, this may lead to the same fate as your Christmas-time Wii.

What Kinect is missing is what the Wii was missing until they created it: games that aren't made for families. It was easy for the Wii, and it helped them become the best-selling console of the three. All because they had a controller: the one thing Kinect can't do. We all know what's going to happen, so let me spell it out for ya: Kinect will come out in November, a LOT of people are going to avoid it, and wait until the Christmas sales since it is so close to December. All the little kiddies will want it for their Christmas, and they will get it. Then, on Christmas day, the entire family will sit down and have a laugh and be amazed at Kinect as the kids, parents and grand-parents swat aimlessly at air right before Christmas dinner. It will continue to be a hit with the family, and will repeat the same thing at New Years, then *poof!!* - it ends up on top of the kitchen cupboard, never to be played with until next Christmas, the main and possibly only time entire families gather.

I'm not dissing on Kinect, but it is true: well over 50% of gamers are hardcore gamers, and porbably most of them own an Xbox. It will be rare for some angsty teenager to choose dancing around his room, pathetic and alone, rather than shooting it up on MW2 with his mates, having a laugh. Kinect needs this: all we have seen from Kinect so far is family-type games - I mean, Kinectimals?? SERIOUSLY??? If they don't have any violent games at launch, there may be only children who own this great pinnacle of techology, it would be wasted on people who can't appriciate it. Playstation Move already has some non-family games to be available at launch, it seems as though it might be off to a head start. Kinect may not draw in people to buy an Xbox, but it will offer some fun in the long run for those who own it for the family games and social aspects. This is merely speculation based on past console failures and successes, I can't say for certain that hardcore gamers won't buy into Kinect. To say the least, it is worth checking out, and try not to let the price throw you off: this is a gamble, a test: whether casual gamers of hardcore gamers will accept motion control as the future of gaming...

So tell me, what audiences do you think Kinect will appeal to? What kind of games would make you want to buy Kinect?