After a month of speculation (the E3 press conference was conspicuously silent on the issue), the pricing of Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox 360 has become official. The packages available at launch will be:

• The Kinect sensor will be bundled with Kinect Adventures for $149.99. This bundle is compatible with every Xbox 360 sold to date.
• A Kinect Holiday Bundle will combine the Kinect sensor, Kinect Adventures, and a new version of the Xbox that has the stylings of the “Slim” 360 with 4GB of internal memory for $299.99.
• The new Xbox without Kinect (currently dubbed the “Xbox 360 4GB”, but no official name has been announced to this successor to the Arcade) will be available this year for $199.99.

Anyone pre-ordering Kinect will get three free levels for Adventures and there will be 15 games available at launch. The three other games announced (Kinectimals, Kinect Sports, and Kinect Joy Ride) will be casual-priced (read:  Wii-priced) at $49.99. All of these prices are in line with previous expectations and seem to confirm that the device is aimed at the casual market.

But with the Kinect bundle with one game being priced nearly the same as the best selling console ever, will this be enough to win families over? And where are the hardcore games like Dance Central? Stay tuned for more news as Kinect’s November release comes closer.

[Via: Major Nelson]