Microsoft allays the fears of its hardcore Xbox 360 gamers, says Kinect will eventually be for them too

Microsoft, perhaps sensing that it was losing control of the story, has gone on record as saying, essentially, yes, the Kinect will initially be aimed toward a “casual” gaming audience, but after launch we are going to re-confirm our support for you “hardcores.” It’s going to take around 18 months for more hardcore-friendly-think Halo etc-to point out up.

Said Microsoft, speaking to online game industry site gamesindustry.biz:

I’ll say again, at the chance of sounding like a cracked record, that [Kinect initially being “casual”] doesn’t in any respect, shape or form represent us stepping faraway from the core – that is why, throughout the press conference at E3 for instance, we spent an excellent solid chunk of time around Halo Reach, Gears of War and Fable. And there might be more coming from us, and our third party partners.

I should hope so.

My concerns about Kinect are well-documented, if only because I increase an analogous point time and again: I truly am not partial to motion control. Give me a mouse and keyboard (or standard console controller if I\’m playing Mario 3 or whatever) over a motion controller any day of the week. I simply don\’t feel like I\’m fully in control once I flail about with any of these motion controllers.

I recognize my concerns aren\’t everyone\’s concerns. The Xbox 360 became popular on the backs of “hardcore” games like Halo and Gears of War, and lots of of these gamers don\’t necessarily like to see Microsoft divert attention from the gaming genres they like (FPS, action, etc.) toward family-friendly kiddie fare.

But on the grounds that Microsoft has now gone out of its solution to assure these “hardcore” gamers that they are going to not be forgotten, perhaps the right course of action is to let the “casuals” have their day within the Sun with the Kinect launch, then start clamoring for Halo: Kinect sometime next year?