Xbox One's Kinect Can Actually Be Turned Off

[Yuuki]

Isn't it hilariously paradoxical that we're expected to be grateful about something like this?

It's like there's a long "retard checklist" for anything new that enters the game industry and the majority of the "positive" features involve listing ways it WON'T piss you off.

> It WON'T be always-online! (half truth)
> It WILL let you play used games! (for a fee)
> You can control your TV with it! (region specific)
> Kinect can be turned off!

Oh boy Microsoft, all those features are getting me so hyped! /sarcasm

Christ, these are fucking funny times we live in...in a tragic kind of way...

 

[roushutsu]

"It is not always watching or always listening," the spokesperson explains. "You can turn the system completely off. This would use no power and turn everything off. We'll share more details about how it all works later."

Why can't you share them now? It can't take more than 2 minutes to explain such a simple function...right? Oh, just unplug it? Well...that defeats the purpose of the damn console now, doesn't it?

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

A piece of hardware that requires daily phone home to function has no place in my house. Of course the even without that the subscription fee to play multiplayer, and the advertising on the intro page would also prevent it from entering my house.

 

[st0pnsw0p]

"It is not always watching or always listening," the spokesperson explains. "You can turn the system completely off. This would use no power and turn everything off. We'll share more details about how it all works later."

What sort of "details" is Microsoft planning to reveal about turning off the XBOne? How is that something we need details about? What can they possibly be hiding about turning off the console, for god's sake?

 

[MrWunderful]

Why can't you share them now? It can't take more than 2 minutes to explain such a simple function...right? Oh, just unplug it? Well...that defeats the purpose of the damn console now, doesn't it?

Im starting to believe its all part of the plan. "Lets whip all these keyboard critics into a tizzy then make them all look stupid. Sure we might loose a couple of sales to some eliteists, but we will sell many, many, more to a bunch of other people!"

Not the way I would have done it, but then again I am not head of marketing for a multi-billion dollar company.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

"You can turn the system completely off. This would use no power and turn everything off. We'll share more details about how it all works later."

Welcome to the future, where we need in-depth and detailed technical explanations about turning things off.

 

[kburns10]

I guess standby mode is day one DLC? It's a little scary that we need an official statement on how to turn the system off. Definitely doesn't ease my concerns about it always watching.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Of course you can turn it off. You can turn it off at the power. By unplugging it, presumably.

What we're talking about - the traditional "off" - is actually stand-by. Will the Kinect be watching and listening when, for example, the Xbox is downloading content in its semi-asleep, semi-off mode? Cos I'm not interested, that being the case, in outright powering down the whole thing, am I?

 

[IronMit]

Turn the system off.....so it's not even on standby mode?

 

[lacktheknack]

So, Microsoft, why did you not say this earlier?

It would have knee-capped one of the big talking points that reduced the announcement to the unmitigated disaster that it became. Speed in an element of success.

Also, this still doesn't clarify why I NEED Kinect to have an Xbox One. You've got a hell of an E3 ahead of you, Microsoft.

 

[J Tyran]

Still doesn't address the fact Kinect will be required for games, users will still have to put up with shoddy crammed in features which judging by the state of motion controls and voice commands will be unreliable and slow. Anyone without space for the Kinect are still out of luck.

 

[Erttheking]

Microsoft, you're not making any damn sense. Frankly you just can't make up your fucking mind about this thing, and if I buy it I'm concerned that when I try to play a game it'll explode.

 

[SageRuffin]

What? The article doesn't say that I can turn the Kinect off separately, it says that I can turn my entire system off, which - surprise surprise - I can do, right now with my 360 as I type this post, just by extending my left arm and pressing the fucking power button.

I don't want the piece of shit (which my Marine friend seems to have quite the difficult time understanding). At least let me not have to use it if I must physically have it.

What the fuck, Microsoft. Again, all you had to do was maybe take a whole 5 minutes to dispel some of the more damning rumors, and instead you kick almost your entire consumer base - the ones who could give all manners of fucks less about CoD at least - in the crotch and tell them to fuck off.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Good news and all but... Why the hell didn't they say anything sooner!?

Wtf PR?

 

[Formica Archonis]

Wow. I don't know who looks worse. Group X for complaining about the always-on or group Y for saying "Nothing has an off button these days!"

Still doesn't invalidate my concerns about their promises that the video stream is "always available" to code running on the box. Because the exact same thing happens on my computoh wait (unplugs USB webcam).

And we knew how many freakin' transistors it had within half an hour but it took a whole week for them to mention a power button. 'Cause when I buy a house I want to know how many 2x4s were used, but the fact that no light switch is in the room where its light is is secondary.

 

[Koshok]

"It is not always watching or always listening," the spokesperson explains. "You can turn the system completely off. This would use no power and turn everything off. We'll share more details about how it all works later."

This is like some kind of sketch comedy joke.
"Of course you can buy used games. You just have to pay extra for them."
"Of course it's not always online. Only when we want it to be online."
"Of course it's not always watching you. It can't do it without power."

The Onion would be hard pressed to come up with something better.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Good news and all but... Why the hell didn't they say anything sooner!?

Wtf PR?

This isn't good news at all. He basically said that if you unplug the Xbox from the wall, the Kinect doesn't have its own magical power source to continue watching and listening. If you turn it on, you still need the Kinect plugged in.

At least that's my understanding of it, every "official" announcement to come out of these people has been incredibly cryptic and vague, followed by a request to wait for further clarification (to see how much damage control they can put together, I presume).

 

[Negatempest]

Anyone else notice that it didn't answer the real question. "Is Kinect always going to be on while I play a video game, or can it be individual turned off?"

 

[-Dragmire-]

Good news and all but... Why the hell didn't they say anything sooner!?

Wtf PR?

This isn't good news at all. He basically said that if you unplug the Xbox from the wall, the Kinect doesn't have its own magical power source to continue watching and listening. If you turn it on, you still need the Kinect plugged in.

At least that's my understanding of it, every "official" announcement to come out of these people has been incredibly cryptic and vague, followed by a request to wait for further clarification (to see how much damage control they can put together, I presume).

I suppose I'm looking at it and comparing it to previous announcements. Sadly, this is about the best they've done by virtue of not being as terrible as previous announcements.

 

[Reyalsfeihc]

You know what's really sad? This information is a week old. A FULL. WEEK. OLD. And yet no game journalism sites have picked it up. You know why? Sensationalism. It's absolutely terrible. And it isn't even an obscure source.

Here's the article for those of you who will obviously want a source.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57585620-75/microsoft-talks-xbox-one-naming-privacy-and-more-q-a/