E3 Rewind: Microsoft’s 2010 sales pitch for Kinect

It’s 2010, and Microsoft has a new gadget that it needs to sell. The Kinect was a motion-tracking camera for the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft’s answer to the Wii’s motion controls. And it was coming out that fall.

So at E3 2010, much of Microsoft’s focus was on the Kinect. It makes the show fascinating to watch today, as it brings us back to an era when so many thought that the future of gaming depended on expanding these more casual experiences. Now, to be fair, it worked for a bit. The Kinect was an initial success, and it helped give the Xbox 360 a boost late in its life. However, Microsoft would fumble when it tried to make the Kinect an integral part of its next console, the Xbox One.