Microsoft on Wednesday boosted its sales forecast for its motion-detection game console the Kinect, with the company now expecting to sell 5 million units in the quarter rather than the 3 million it had predicted earlier.
The upbeat prediction, given in an interview with Bloomberg News, came after pre—orders for the unit had sold out even before the Kinect officially goes on sale Thursday.
The device uses a sophisticated motion capture system to allow players to control games with their natural body movement, without the need for any controllers. The Kinect works in conjunction with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console. It costs 150 dollars by itself, or 300 dollars when bought in conjunction with the Xbox 360.
Microsoft has 17 Kinect-enabled games at launch, with five more scheduled for release before the end of the year.
The Kinect will be launched on November 10 in Europe, on November 18 in Australia and on November 20 in Japan.
Analysts expect the device to help Microsoft attract more casual gamers to the Xbox 360 platform in its competition with the Nintendo Wii and Sony’s Playstation.
