Oct 21, 2010 19:01 GMT  ·  By

Report has suggested that hardware video game maker Microsoft is set to spend about 500 million dollars in order to provide marketing for Kinect, its Xbox 360 based motion tracking system, which is set to be launched on November 4 in the United States.

A news item in the New York Post says that the company has been working with Steven Spielberg on the pre launch media strategy.

The company has been enlisting companies like soft drink giant Pepsi, fast food chain Burger King and cereal brand Kellogg's to help the promotional effort.

At the moment the advertising effort is aimed at Nickelodeon, the Disney family channels and YouTube and the same advertising company which has created the “DeliverHope” short film for Halo: Reach is creating specific ads that will be aired during popular shows like “Glee” and “Dancing with the Stars”.

Print efforts will also focus on People and InStyle, which are magazines aimed at non gamers.

The huge effort was expected after Microsoft executives repeatedly said that they were treating the launch of the Kinect as a sort of second launch for the Xbox 360, with the stated aim being to extend its life span by about five years.

The device has been criticized for the restrictions it places upon possible players, with a certain amount of space needed so that motion tracking can work properly.

Kinect delivers motion tracking without the use of any physical controller and Microsoft has released a list of 19 video games which will accompany the launch and offers dancing, sports and fitness experiences.

Kinect's biggest rival is the PlayStation Move from Sony, which uses a controller and the Eye camera to track the movements of gamers and launched with a smaller bang in the middle of September.

Both Microsoft and Sony hope to attract the more casual audience which has until now been gaming on the Nintendo Wii.