GameStop: Kinect, Move 'In Very Short Supply', Wii-Like Launch Environment

New motion control devices from Sony and Microsoft are flying off the shelves, says GameStop -- and the retailer says it's an environment that reminds it a lot of the Wii's game-changing launch. GameStop president Tony Bartel says customers should expect supply constraints over the holiday, and that Kinect in particular is helping drive console growth for the Xbox 360. Last month, Xbox 360 was the only console platform to see year-on-year growth, and Bartel expects that trend to continue thanks to Kinect. "We definitely do see a new customer coming into our stores," he told analysts on the company's financial results call to investors. "And it is selling hardware as well." Kinect's software attach rate thus far looks "very high" too, says Bartel. "Kinect Sports and Dance Central -- they're definitely the expanded-audience type games, and those are attaching extremely well." The company says it's "excited" to see the environment around both platform-holders' motion controls heading into the holiday season. "Not only are we excited with Kinect and Move in very short supply, but we also like the fact that they are bringing in an expanded audience," adds Bartel. The company's executive chairman, Dan DeMatteo, says customers are saying that Kinect has motivated them to bring their Xbox 360 "from the son's room down to the family room so they can use it as a family, which is a great indication of what's happened." At the launch of Wii, Bartel recalls, once the holidays came around "we had customers following the UPS truck to our stores. I think you're going to have the exact same thing with Move and Kinect... you're going to have customers following the UPS truck to our stores."