I’m kind of annoyed that MS is coming out with a Kinect-less SKU. I wasn’t thrilled that it was mandatory when I bought mine at launch, and it didn’t work particularly well, but I figured, oh well, at least everyone will have one, so developers can plan around that. Now it appears that it was a complete and total waste of my money.
When Bloodborne comes out, I’m getting a PS4 and filling my XBone up with pennies.
I like Kinect but use it primarily for voice commands.
I wonder if they ever considered an Xbox One model where the Kinect’s audio functions were built into the system and the camera was sold separately?
mrbloo
5351
Yeah, the voice stuff is great, but I’ve never used the camera for anything useful.
We discussed this a couple dozen pages back. The kinect2’s microphone array is actually highly directional and aims right at your face-hole. It needs the cameras to know where your head is located in 3D space. That’s what allows it to work in a room full of background noise and other speakers. Or work as well as it does, anyway.
Of course you could always talk directly into a microphone in the gamepad or smartphone and that would work fine. But that’s not hands-free, which is the whole point of the matter.
JeffL
5353
Yeah, having a less expensive unit without the Kinect seems like it will really undermine the motivation of developers to program for it. They already had the issue of Kinect users being a subset of next gen users (i.e. PS4 and Xbox One) but now it is even more of a subset. It will be interesting to see what share of Xbox Ones are sold with and without the kinect.
They weren’t going to target the kinect anyway except for the (seemingly few this generation) exclusives which would be forced to provide token support for the kinect.
If microsoft wanted to have any chance this generation, they needed to abandon the kinect. Ideally they would have known what we all know before this generation and not done it in the first place, but oh well.
It sucks that you paid $100 for a paperweight, but absolutely nobody honestly believed that this would not happen. The only other possible chance was Microsoft eating the cost and including it anyway, but obviously that was unlikely.
JeffL
5355
It is always easy to tell someone else how they could do their job better, since we don’t face their real world issues and can deal purely in the theoretical. So easy, in fact, I’m gonna do that. ;)
If I was in charge of MS’s entertainment division/XBox division, I would have gone to some of the very biggest names in the console gaming world and paid whatever it took for them to have absolutely killer Kinect features in their A-list games. For example, a big MMO shooter like a Battlefield or COD or one of those that sell a billion in the first hour, and have some Kinect features that, after you play with them in the game, you don’t want to play without them. Same for a couple of huge sports games, like a Madden - Kinect features that don’t feel like an add-on, but make the game amazing. Do that for about 5-10 games. Pay whatever the hell it takes and make sure you bring in some hardcore gamers as your judge during development.
The problem with that strategy is that less and less games seem to be going exclusive this generation so convincing a company like EA to add more than silly token support for kinect to a multi platform game is likely impossible.
Instead it seems more likely to result in a repeat of last generations kinect where a small number of games add token support than nobody likes at the urging of Microsoft.
Instead, they killed the Steel Battalion franchise [sic]. As if Capcom hadn’t done enough damage to it already!
The problem is there are no such features unless you deliberately gimp your game. The Kinect solves problems that don’t exist. Any implementation of Kinect technology that isn’t Dance Central is simply going to exist for the sake of the Kinect. See, for example, Dead Rising 3. There are a handful of features in that game that don’t work without the Kinect, not because there’s no good way to make them work, but because Microsoft wants you to use your Kinect.
-Tom
Yep, we have had several years now for those killer kinect (and motion) features to surface and there have been surprisingly few that don’t just work better when implemented with traditional control mechanisms. Maybe there is too much risk for AAA devs to devote resources exploring new control schemes or gameplay that revolves around that functionality. In which case there is almost certainly way too much risk for small devs to do so. And it’s just never going to happen with multi-platform titles.
If MS wanted uptake, they needed to lead from the front and have their own studios exploring the space, yet even Rare was not churning out anything radical or revolutionary.
Another reversal! This time, it’s not really a positive. Remember that big feature they touted that would let any retail Xbox One unit turn into a dev kit via a software update for indies to use? NOT HAPPENING.
“We were in the early stages of Xbox One looking at the idea of a retail kit that could be turned into a development kit, and vice versa,” he told Digital Spy and other attendees at Develop conference in Brighton.
“In the end, although that was a very admirable goal, it hasn’t happened unfortunately. Can’t tell you the specifics of exactly why not.”
When asked to elaborate on whether the feature would arrive eventually, Fuller replied: “As far as I’m aware there are no plans. I’m not aware of the reason why we didn’t manage to do that.”
Devs that apply to the ID@Xbox program will get two Xbox One dev kits shipped to them for free instead. The dev kits will need to be returned after the development period.
It makes sense. Dev kits usually have extra overhead that retail boxes don’t have because, well, you need the overhead for all the development stuff.
That’s not such a issue for a lot of indy games which don’t push the kit to the max, mind you.
“Return after dev” is…mm.
(Sony loans devkits for free to Indies a lot on a minimum of a year, they only really charge the bigger studios who say want 30…)
LMN8R
5363
The story was horribly reported. Patrick Klepek and Jason Jason Schreier decided to, you know, actually ask Microsoft what was going on instead of regurgitating / plagiarizing a misreported story.
JoshL
5364
The killer app for kinect is Happy Action Theater, it was out two years ago, and it will probably never be topped. It’s for kids.
Harvey Eagle, the UK Xbox marketing honcho (with one of the greatest names ever) mirrors my thoughts on “resolutiongate”
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/471047/resolutiongate-a-perception-challenge-that-must-be-fixed-says-xbox-exec/
It’s important, certainly. It’s something the media has certainly picked up on. If that leads to the perception that one machine is more powerful than another, then it’s important, and we’re trying to allow developers to bring games to Xbox One at the highest resolution and frame rate as possible."
Really ? Even these thoughts?
“If you put third-party games side-by-side that are running at slightly different resolutions or frame rates, then unless you are using a screen that’s more than 60 inches big, I defy you to really see the difference. I personally struggle to see the difference.”
Because this might be some of the largest load of spinfest bullshit I have read from MS to date, and that is saying something.
stusser
5367
It depends upon the size of the screen and how close you sit to it. Generally, the more motion the less you notice lower resolution. I’m generally fine with 720p for movies and games without much text.
Teiman
5368
Would they release that thing for PS4 someday? Its the most amazing thing of the list of amazing things I have seen ever.
