Microsoft Xbox One: Kinectless SKU for $399

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Well good, glad they're continuing to get rid of the silly stuff (or at least give us more choices). Maybe I'll get an XB1 after all.

 

They've just thrown away the only thing that made them unique, now there the same console with lesser power and some different games.
What an idiotic move. They should've been using Kinect in better ways, but back tracking on a REQUIRED item released 7 or so months ago, that was announced a year ago that said it was a priority to the experience... nah, this is balls.

 

Cool, they're pleasing the very loud vocal minority.

With this as an available purchase, I still expect the Kinect bundle to sell more. Kinect is the fastest selling electronic device in history and people really do love the peripheral.[DOUBLEPOST=1400026637][/DOUBLEPOST]

It's never been required. Kinect can be unplugged and the X1 will function the same.

 

I think he meant you were required to buy it, therefore to own it. Now that owning one is not a given the devs will be much more reluctant to implement it, or even bother with it at all.

Just compare how many PS games are Move compatible and how many Wii games are Wiimote compatible. Or just look how many Wii/WiiU games are actually compatible with the classic pad. Can' t get more true and tested than a good ol' fashioned classic pad right ? Yet of all the Wii games I' ve had only a couple were actually compatible.

Now that the Kinnect is optional it will probably be treated as such. Unless the number of people not buying one remains neglectible, which seems doubtful.

 

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You guys are freaking me out, the very second I posted my previous comment the site warned me it was already quoted twice. Are you both the Flash hidden sons or something ? XD

Over 50% isn' t exactly neglectible if you ask me. I' m not saying it will suddenly cease to receive any love, just that the Xbone can' t be the Kinnect centric experience they claimed to want it to be anymore. Which if memory serves is also what PaW wanted it to be (much like the WiiU is with its ... whatever it' s called).

 

I might buy an xbox one later this year now that they made these changes...key word is "might"...

 

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It was required, until they back tracked before release. It was also required to be dedicated online and the price was higher mere months ago. But there's more backtracking on that. I wouldn't be surprised if their whole cloud gaming stuff is just ****ed by this point and won't work.
This console was designed to be something totally different to what it is now. It's maddening to see it become more like the PS4, but effectively a lesser version, like it's lost its identity.

Yeah, pretty much my thoughts on Kinect's priority now. Since its announcement, it was researched and designed to be a necessity on a console centred around online connectivity, voice commands, motion controlling, media integration and digital shared gaming. Effectively, it was aiming for the future of gaming technology will go in, even if it was in a slightly wonky way of explaining it. But now it's just so backwards, so boring that it's no longer innovative or potentially exciting. The games will come and go, as normal, but the hardware is always a staple of years to come. Consoles are designed to live for 5-10 years these days, and it's hard to see how this will happen now (unless they tank the price) since it's a less powerful system at the same price and nothing now distinguishing it.
So studios already working on Kinect games, they'll likely no longer make the projected sales. It is a lot like the Wii, which had a lot of potential for innovation in how you interact with games and deal with problems, but it was never utilised really We never saw proper lightsaber battles, detective games or anything that could have been great Wii games that all types of gamers would have loved. Even the DS had more innovation, puzzles and interactive games that had you manipulating the game by how you used the console in a non-traditional sense like flipping the screen or turning it upside down. Stuff like Metal Gear Solid games that had you putting the controller in another port or scanning your save games. That's what the Kinect had the potential for, this hardware that could track your movements and manipulate the gaming world and even read your facial expressions and react accordingly. The tech has this capability of being more than just a camera if you look at the innovations its been used for in every other field of tech but gaming! Hospital equipment research, University science teams, eyes for robots, prototype vehicles that detect collisions and danger, used as a learning device for autistic kids and so much more has been reported over the years of the initial Kinect's release This sequel effectively, could've been so much more as an established piece of tech for the console since it was required and included in the bundle, but what now?

 

So since it was never required for any consumer, it was never required.

 

Yes, but we're not any old blind consumers. I'd hope most people discussing this would know or want to know about the in depth side of the console. Which was that Kinect 2.0 was designed alongside the console, integrated and made to work with it, with the software also designed around it. The amount of developers told that any game they were going to build would be supported by Kinect capability, especially Kinect based games, were keeping it in mind. Now, it's nothing, no one will bother to do it any more and the only surviving Kinect stuff will probably be fitness and kid games.
So is it required to use? No, but neither was the dedicated online features, yet the console still requires a day one patch. It's the fact it was designed for the Kinect and has just thrown it away. It was required and then it wasn't. That appears wrong, to discard what 'requirement' even means to Microsoft makes me doubt the console's capability, like it's some unloved child whose trying to fit in with the cool kids so somebody will love him. It no longer has its own identity, and it's weaker for it in my mind. Not saying the PS4 is perfect, but it's kept to its aims and identity, it's not fluttering about trying to impress since for many it's not.

 

That's preposterous. Just because we know what it used to require is a lot different than what it did as a shipped product. That's like saying that Ocarina of Time required the N64DD because at point it was originally designed for it. You can't just treat these events like they happened on the consumer side. We almost had a DRM console, we almost had one with required Kinect, we almost had a Zelda game where you could jump on your own, we almost had GunValkyrie on the Dreamcast. We can't treat these things like they happened though- because they didn't.

What you're suggesting is that the Kinect might as well not exist because it's optional. By that logic, the Wiimotes might as well not be sold for Wii U and no game should work with it because it's optional, even if it's the most popular controller for the console. Activision and Harmonix never should've made games around optional peripherals- no one will buy those for the games they come with. That's just ridiculous. What we have here is the option for a more controller based experience for people who want that. The interface still works better with Kinect, and anyone without the Kinect is missing out, but that's not to say that people shouldn't have the option. IN FACT, it's the exact option available now for the Xbox 360. You know, that console with the world record peripheral and tons of games to go with it. You can be cynical, but Microsoft kept up support of the original Kinect just fine, despite it being more expensive. They're not ditching their identity. They didn't have an identity from a paywall or DRM. Those things were only ways to gatekeep the consumer and make a console without a life beyond its generation- they weren't an identity. Trust me, I want consoles with identity. That's why I own a Wii U. That's why it's going to take me a loooooong time to get a PS4, and why it already took me a long time to get a PS3 (I still haven't!). The X1 still has identity. It's the only console where you can use your mobile device to interact with the game world (no, the original smartglass.... no), it's the only console to make it so I don't need to switch inputs on the TV in order to catch a show, it's the only one where I can skype chat while watching TV, it's the only console besides its predecessor with such a wide range in possible control types. The identity the X1 created is around a seamless, online experience and they really did it from what I can see. In fact, you could even say Titanfall is the game to act out that theme in a game world. This paragraph seems like a deviation, but I want to show you that the X1 didn't ditch any feature that was there for the consumer- they didn't take away anything from the consumer, they only added. As for the Kinect, according to Libre we have 5 million of them out there. Maybe history will repeat and the bundles will continue to to make a good install base. Maybe they'll sell it separately and those who don't get the bundle will get one later. It's way too early to make a call like that. But acting like IT'S OVER! KINECT CAN'T EXIST NOW is just silly. Saying that the experience for the Kinect users will be worsened because they could've got it Kinectless is also silly. They still have their motion controller, their webcam, their voice assistant, and their touchscreen-like interface. They have the ability to navigate in a much more relaxed manner. A lot of this is what people paid for with the Kinect originally besides the chances to have virtual balls thrown at their head.

 

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