When the original Rock Band came out I payed $170, this is what Stephen Totilo has told me anyway, for an instrument bundle so that I could play every part of the full game. Granted, you could have had a guitar or two by this point, and if you had any interest in this genre you probably did, but the bundle was still the entry part for a lot of newcomers and veterans of the rhythm genre alike. I don't think that a lot of people saw this price as unreasonable, especially not with Rock Band 3 or even with Rock Band 2's release, and we were happy to pony up at the time so that we could have this new experience. 
 
And then there is Kinect.
 
Kinect, by itself, is $150. Dance Central is $50. That's a combined total of $200, just $30 more than the original Rock Band bundle. Probably.
 
So the question is, would you purchase a Kinect if it had been developed solely for use with Dance Central and it's successors? Obviously there is the question of a lack of content and gameplay options with Dance Central when compared to something like Rock Band 3, but we aren't comparing it to Rock Band 3. We're comparing it to Rock Band 1. A game that, by all accounts, that lacked in many of these same areas, especially when put shoulder to shoulder with its current incarnation. 
 
So Giant Bomb, what do you think?  
 
Would Kinect be a justifiable purchase if it was solely to be used with Dance Central?  
 
And Dance Hero: The Black Eyed Peas?

To be honest I always thought that all the complaints over the price of the Kinect were very odd. As you have pointed out, people have been paying that amount for peripherals solely for use with one genre of games (the aforementioned Rock Band/Guitar Hero packs) for years now. Yet when the Kinect was announced, promising support for games across multiple genres, from many developers, people cried foul. 
 
I guess the argument for the rhythm game peripheral pricing could be that people knew the games they were specifically buying them for, and  had already decided that those games were of sufficient quality so as to justify the cost. People knew what they were getting in to and took the hit accordingly. With the Kinect, at launch in particular, we had no idea what quality the games would be and so the high price was harder to justify. 
  
For me personally, Kinect is not a justifiable purchase for use solely with Dance Central, I do not want the game that badly. However I have always found the outcry over its price from the gaming public to fall somewhat flat, given the past success of expensive hardware in the industry as a whole. If someone is willing to pay the quoted price for something, then that is its worth to them, far be it from someone else to tell them otherwise.

Dance Central can get some people around a TV, and I pretty much did buy the Kinect solely for Dance Central (and YourShape), but I feel it would have to be able to recognize two people simultaneously for it to be a limited use peripheral.  The full Rock Band kit was 170, but remember that a lot of people just bought the guitar and game pack.
 
Maybe if the current Kinect and Dance Central software was 110, and an upgraded version that could register a bunch of people dancing was 170, that would be easier to swallow.

you mean its not?

The way the Kinect game market looks currently, yeah this is somewhat accurate. I think there will be more great games with time though.

I wouldn't dance, even if you gave me $200.

Dance Central is a great party game and the girls love it. Dance Central sold me on the Kinect experience. Biggest loser is also pretty good for a work out program. I can't wait to see what else they do for the Kinect.

I can't say it justifies the price enough for me. Dance Central looks great and all and is the killer app/proof of concept that Kinect needs, but I'm not entirely sure that would fly.

Maybe if the game was more feature-rich.  I really want Dance Central badly, but not enough to spend 200 dollars on it.  Hopefully they'll make a sequel, improve on the formula, etc.  and maybe the Kinect will be cheaper by the time that comes out.