Microsoft Kinects With Consumers

Microsoft rolls out its TV ad campaign in Australia for Xbox 360's Kinect technology on Sunday. The spot features footage of "real" Australians of all ages trying out the equipment — which goes on sale in about three weeks time — in constrast to the actors hired for its now-airing U.S. campaign, which you can see after the jump. Are Aussies more influenced by real people? (Just asking!)

Kinect is scheduled to launch worldwide starting with North America on Nov.  4, followed by Europe on Nov. 10, Australia and New Zealand and Singapore on Nov. 18, and Japan on Nov. 20.

Kinect for Xbox 360, or simply Kinect (code named Project Natal) is a "controller-free gaming and entertainment experience" for the Xbox 360 video game platform. Its webcam-style add-on enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without touching a game controller, just by using gestures, spoken commands, or presented objects and images. Aimed at broadening the Xbox 360's audience beyond gamers, it will compete with the Wii Remote with Wii MotionPlus and PlayStation Move motion control for the PlayStation 3.

Here's the first official U.S. spot for Kinect (with the tagline "You are the controller") which broke this week with a lively track by LCD Soundsystem: