Microsoft Pleased with Kinect, Won't Neglect Hardcore Gamers

Microsoft, following some huge sales recorded by its new Kinect motion detection peripheral, has once again pledged its support for hardcore gamers who kept the Xbox 360 on top all these years.

Microsoft's Kinect is surpassing even the company's own sales expectations, managing to ship more than five million units during its first two months on the market.

This, coupled with statements that said that Microsoft would be making 2011 the year of the Kinect through new experiences and services, made core gamers feel a bit neglected by the company.

That's not true, at least according to David Dennis, PR manager for Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, who talked with IGN about Kinect and hardcore gamers.

"Obviously we're very excited by the success of Kinect. But we have no intention of abandoning the Xbox 360 audience that bought in originally.

"We're very aware of the key role the enthusiastic core audience played in making the Xbox 360 what it is, and we'll continue to support and develop (titles) like Halo and Gears of War," he added.

Microsoft said, earlier this month, that it would be investing in new exclusive titles this year, and even promised at the end of 2010 that more hardcore Kinect experiences would be launched this year, in order to draw in people who have yet to pick up the motion detection peripheral.

Even if the Kinect is selling a lot of units, which means that more custom titles will be developed for it, it's nice to hear that Microsoft isn't forgetting about the legions of Halo, Gears of War or Forza fans that have driven the Xbox 360 to impressive sales, even if they didn't manage to touch on the Nintendo Wii's massive success.

Among the big, core exclusive titles set to appear this year, we have Gears of War 3, Forza Motorsport 4, Crytek's Codename: Kingdoms or XCOM, from 2K Games.