Xbox One No Longer Requires Kinect to Function

[chozo_hybrid]

That's great!

Still not buying your PoS console Microsoft, ya fucking blew it.
You've already shown us your vision of the future, and I don't want it.

That's my stance as well, they've shown their true intentions and how they want things to work. Not something I want to be involved with.

 

[Gennadios]

Wonder how much of the game will work without the kinnect... they might force you to use it by building it in every games or almost...

This isn't Nintendo, XBone will have third party support. EA won't be putting in money to develop Kinect functionality for XBox titles since it won't really add to a cross-platform experience, why throw money into something that won't be marketable to Playstation players?

OT: MEH. I'm not really a gamer anymore. I just stay on Escapist so I can relive the good 'ol days, won't be shelling out money on a console anytime soon.

 

[Spiritmaster]

This just in, Xbox One no longer requires TV, controllers, a power source, or players! I agree it is looking a bit more appealing but man all this back-pedaling is kinda getting more pathetic as time goes on.

 

[WeepingAngels]

I'm relatively certain I'm going to be the only one thinking this but here it goes...

I like this. HOWEVER, shipping out a Kinect-free version would be a terrible mistake.

At this point, Microsoft has a lot of eggs in the Kinect basket. They need to either embrace the stupid thing fully or they need to cut the loss and abandon it. If they release a version of the system without the Kinect, they're going to end up with the original Kinect's problem; No one designing anything for it because it's an optional piece of equipment that no one bought.

Personally, I'd prefer them to just abandon it but I doubt that's going to happen.

By making it non mandatory, it is now an optional piece of equipment.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

This is all I'm currently hearing about the Xbone:

One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! One-eighty! Ad Nauseum...

So now at this point isn't it simply a more expansive PS4 with less features/features locked behind geo-blocking and pay walls?

The good news is that the console race is a little more open now. I would have preferred that MS kept their anti-consumer 'features' so the 180 would have crashed and burned, but competition is good for the market and lets face it, the WiiU isn't setting the world on fire at this point.

 

[w9496]

Yay?

I never understood the gripe about the Kinect(other than the spying stuff. I do understand that). Do people fear standing up when they play games?

10 bucks says that 90% of games with Kinect are just going to use it for voice commands mid-combat. I don't think you'll be forced to dodge incoming attacks with tactical rolls or anything.

 

[Akytalusia]

you may yet leave this battle alive, microsoft.
is it that you've decided against suicide, or is it that you finally realized the inevitable conclusion of your offensive momentum?
either way, your reputation is permanently scarred. you won't heal those wounds no matter how far you pull back.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Yay?

I never understood the gripe about the Kinect(other than the spying stuff. I do understand that). Do people fear standing up when they play games?

10 bucks says that 90% of games with Kinect are just going to use it for voice commands mid-combat. I don't think you'll be forced to dodge incoming attacks with tactical rolls or anything.

Remember all the Wii games that threw in motion controls just because they could. Maybe that's what worries people.

 

[Racecarlock]

"Sure, I fucked your wife. But I made you a cake."

 

[w9496]

Yay?

I never understood the gripe about the Kinect(other than the spying stuff. I do understand that). Do people fear standing up when they play games?

10 bucks says that 90% of games with Kinect are just going to use it for voice commands mid-combat. I don't think you'll be forced to dodge incoming attacks with tactical rolls or anything.

Remember all the Wii games that threw in motion controls just because they could. Maybe that's what worries people.

That's a good point, but can it really be compared to the Kinect? Sure they're both motion controllers, but one is handheld and the other uses actual bodies. Kinect would have to cover entire rooms from ceiling to floor to do that kind of stuff.

 

[lacktheknack]

I think Mattrick being replaced was the best thing they've done so far.

 

[RJ 17]

In theory making it to where you must by the Kinect with the x-bone was clever marketing--that way every home has a Kinect and it makes a good investment for devs and publishers.

I've got to disagree with you on that one. I'd imagine (or at the very least hope) that devs and publishers took the relative failure of the original Kinect to heart and realized that there aren't enough people interested in motion capture gameplay - that is, not enough people who actually bought a Kinect - to warrant investing into. Quite simply: since very few people bought Kinects, very few games were developed utilizing it. This is something that we all know.

Now that the Kinect is completely optional, that won't change the fact that people don't like dancing around like Loony Toons in their livingroom in order to play their games. I doubt (but obviously could easily be proven wrong as time passes) that there will be many "Kinect Centric" games, just look at the market data with the history of this device. The first one didn't sell enough units to warrant making games for, and the new one was so unappealing that it had to go from being mandatory to being optional in order to make the console itself more appealing. Quite clearly the market has spoken: there just is no interest in Kinect gaming.

Like I said, I'd have to hope that the devs and publishers aren't so blind that they can't read the writing on the wall. They might shoehorn in optional Kinect capabilities, the way Mass Effect 3 added in optional Kinect voice commands, but I just don't see many games coming out that have Kinect controls as the core gameplay mechanic. If the relative failure of the original Kinect wasn't a big enough message that there's no interest in this peripheral, then surely the fact that they've now made it completely optional is.

So in the end, I've gotta agree with tippy: they should have either gone all in with the thing and kept it mandatory, thus assuring game devs and publishers that not only would people have it but they'd have to use it, or they should have said "screw it" and abandoned the thing (at least as being bundled with the console) so they could drop the price of their console and use THAT as the means to put more consoles into more people's homes.

 

[Nazulu]

You know, this could be a trick to get you to buy the console and then they will make most of the games require the Kinnect after. Don't be fooled.

 

[Killclaw Kilrathi]

http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-wont-actually-need-kinect-plugged-in-microso-1113142909

Sorry, no Kinect free bundle for anyone. Still won't buy this console until it goes down in price. F U C K K I N E C T.

Also with the previous 180 and this 180, is the new system going to be called the Xbox 360 2?

I would have brought a kinectless Xbox, but nooooo stupid motion gimmick cost 100 dollars more.....I rather have another 100-200 gb for memory for a hundred bucks.

I guess I will have to roll with just a ps4, and use the Xbox money for saving up to a gaming pc.

A hundred bucks extra just for storage? I'd expect at least 1Tb, heck you can pick up 2Tb portable drives for less than that.

 

[Teoes]

It won't necessarily stop games themselves having mandatory Kinect functionality, just like MS switching off the online requirement won't stop games having the exact same requirements.

I wouldn't have bought one anyway as I will probably be sitting this console generation out but MS have just shown themselves up like politicians with all this policy reversal. It'll win them a few more votes but not mine because the 180 gets added to their lost of faults - it doesn't cancel off a previous entry.

 

[Raziel]

I'm relatively certain I'm going to be the only one thinking this but here it goes...

I like this. HOWEVER, shipping out a Kinect-free version would be a terrible mistake.

At this point, Microsoft has a lot of eggs in the Kinect basket. They need to either embrace the stupid thing fully or they need to cut the loss and abandon it. If they release a version of the system without the Kinect, they're going to end up with the original Kinect's problem; No one designing anything for it because it's an optional piece of equipment that no one bought.

Personally, I'd prefer them to just abandon it but I doubt that's going to happen.

Just how many of these stupid thing do they to have sold before people think its worth developing for? There are 24 million kinect 1 sold. Thats a pretty substantial install base when you consider 3 million copies of a game sold its pretty successful.

 

[RJ 17]

I think Mattrick being replaced was the best thing they've done so far.

And now he's the CEO of Zynga....

I swear, I'm STILL laughing over that bit of news. The biggest joke of a president in the gaming industry is now the head of the biggest joke of a company in the gaming industry. You can't think up comedy gold like that!

 

[jpoon]

Man, I really hope they're getting close to dropping the shit-heap kinect. Soon they'll relent and release a version without it. That's the only way I'm buying it at this point.
I am slightly interested in the bone, but not enough to put up with the crap they stuff in the box now.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Yay?

I never understood the gripe about the Kinect(other than the spying stuff. I do understand that). Do people fear standing up when they play games?

10 bucks says that 90% of games with Kinect are just going to use it for voice commands mid-combat. I don't think you'll be forced to dodge incoming attacks with tactical rolls or anything.

It's not a matter of fear, it's a matter of wanting to relax when playing games, as opposed to acting like a monkey to get the console to register your movements, and even then it's usually sketchy.

 

[The_Echo]

So now at this point isn't it simply a more expansive PS4 with less features/features locked behind geo-blocking and pay walls?

Sounds about right.

The good news is that the console race is a little more open now. I would have preferred that MS kept their anti-consumer 'features' so the 180 would have crashed and burned, but competition is good for the market and lets face it, the WiiU isn't setting the world on fire at this point.

Yeah, to be honest I'm a little disappointed MS didn't stick to their guns and go down with the ship. I kind of feel like it would be better for the industry if Microsoft bowed out. At least, from a creative standpoint.

And if it were down to just the PS4 and WiiU, I could see the WiiU gaining a foothold on its lower price alone.