Holy crap… Microsoft, as we all know, have more money than Jesus and Manchester City combined but it still comes as something of a shock to hear that over the coming months the company plans to spend over a billion dollars (or about €737 million) on marketing the Kinect motion control gaming system and the new mobile OS, Windows Phone 7.

"Kinect is the largest, most integrated marketing initiative in Xbox history."

Apparently, the overall spend will be broken down into $400 million on advertising for Windows Phone 7, with a half a billion dollars earmarked for marketing Kinect. Anything left over, we presume, is going on coffee for brainstorming sessions. Really good coffee mind.

The New York Post reported that Microsoft is planning a “a major movie-style marketing blitz” next month, something which they obviously hope will sway those choosing between the Wii, PlayStation Move and the Kinect.

In keeping with that movie theme the man who brought us ‘ET’, ‘Jaws’ and three excellent ‘Indiana Jones’ movies, Steven Spielberg has reportedly been involved in the planning for next month’s Kinect launch extravaganza, with over 7,000 midnight openings scheduled for the US market.

TechRadar commented that in addition to straightforward advertising on TV, print and online, the marketing cash is expected to be spent on cross-promotions with brands such as Kellogg’s cereals, Burger King and Pepsi. Microsoft is also planning a YouTube homepage takeover, and there will also be a major Times Square launch event, presumably overseen by Speilberg.

Kinect launches in the this part of the world on 10 November. “Kinect is the largest, most integrated marketing initiative in Xbox history, bigger than [the Xbox 360's] launch,” said general manager of global marketing communications at Xbox Robert Matthews. “We are going to be spending millions to launch this globally.”

Will it all be worth it? Are people even still excited by motion control gaming? Here’s hoping we get a free smartphone running Windows Phone 7 in our Corn Flakes at the very least.