Wow an 8? I never expected that.

This series has always created mixed emotions in me. On one hand you get to run around in gorgeously rendered sandboxes of the past which can be an absolute joy when your in the right mood.... but on the other hand you have the clunky "game" elements (missions, tasks, combat and mini games) which feel shoehorned in in an attempt to give it all some purpose.

Hmmmm. I'll maybe try this one.. or maybe not.

Fair enough.

Your actual point may be lost on me, but I still don't see how you can argue that Kinect could have been cheaper for us without knowing the ALL costs incurred by MS thus far in bringing Kinect to market.

The same could be said about any company releasing any product. I'm not defending MS, I'm just pointing out that it isn't possible to make a call on this with only one part of the picture. To do that is ludircous and that is my point really!

Anyways....

I think if Microsoft want to include Kinect compatibility as part of a free dashboard update then thats fine.

I think that its only right that people who enjoy Kinect cover the software R&D costs however, which we are assuming have been included in the RRP. I mean I don't not own a Kinect and so won't ever consume that piece of software in the free dashboard update but it's not doing me any harm.

Doing it in a dashboard update and not as a seperate install DVD with Kinect might have been the a) only way to do it to ensure everyones system compatibility over xbox live and b) the cheapest way to do it in terms of development costs (and therefore final Kinect RRP).

There no perfect way to do it and I think the way it has been done is probably the most graceful and the fairest.

Hardware components are only one part of the cost, as are marketing budgets.

The cost of developing the software for the kinect to speak to the 360 and vice versa has not been publicised and I imagine that in itself cost Microsoft millions of pounds in development costs.

Arron has said this above but you dont seem to have acknowledged that????

Multiplayer feels very similar to MW series from the weapon handling and physics right down to the ridiculous waddling running animations. But I guess that is more tactically correct as soldiers stopped running and started waddling around battlefields post WW2 :-P

I miss the weightier, cruder feel of WaW and this feels like a very conscious move to please the Infinity Ward lovers and fill the boots that may, or may not, be empty now.

But the new game modes are nice so spot on review.

I also think that the plot/Mason character has been heavily inspired by the Sympathy for the Devil lyrics!! Not literally, but the idea of an anonymous being influencing a number of important moments in history. Which is a nice idea.