Xbox One Won't Be Sold Without Kinect, Confirms Microsoft | TechTree.com

Xbox One Won't Be Sold Without Kinect, Confirms Microsoft

Kills chances of cheaper variants sans the Kinect motion controller.

 

It's official. There's no way to give the Kinect motion controller a miss, when purchasing Microsoft's upcoming console. Microsoft corporate vice president Phil Harrison stated in an interview with CVG that the Xbox One will not be sold without Kinect. This explains the $100 disparity between the PS4 ($400) and Microsoft's next-gen console ($500). The revelation also rules out the possibility of any cheaper SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) that could have shipped as a barebones version sans the Kinect.

"Xbox One is Kinect. They are not separate systems. An Xbox One has chips, it has memory, it has Blu-ray, it has Kinect, it has a controller. These are all part of the platform ecosystem", explained Phil justifying the move to force the motion controller onto users. The statement brings forth the concerns gamers originally had with many plans Microsoft had envisioned to employ Kinect's camera and sensors to enforce DRM lockdowns and other restrictions. The ability to recognise faces and the number of people viewing content, for example, was speculated to be employed for purposes ranging from restricting leased content from being viewed by multiple people, to just locking games down to individuals.

This development comes as a blow to those tired of the largely boring and unimaginative Kinect games, who would ideally have wanted to opt out of purchasing the motion controller. This is especially true after Microsoft backtracked on its original Machiavellian plan to make Xbox One inoperable, once the Kinect is disconnected.

Having said that, Microsoft has rolled back unsavoury Xbox One features such as restriction on used games and the need for an always-online connection, so there's no saying that it will stick to this one as well if it engenders public outcry all over again. Then again, when a company yo-yos to this extent over crucial matters, it's hard to put your faith in the final product. The PS4, at the moment, seems like a safer, no-nonsense alternative instead. The fact that Sony has already has announced a specific launch date, whereas Microsoft has so far been mum on the specifics, doesn't help its case either.

If Phil is to be believed, it isn't as bad as it looks, though. "I have an Xbox One at home, and being able to walk in and say 'Xbox on,' and for the system to recognize me, launch and load my profile, and put my choices of content on the font page is a very magical experience", he evangelised. However, the magic just might wear off when the same system is used to track the number of people in the room and demand extra money to show the movie you just rented off Netflix. Worse yet, it could just be more Orwellian than we could have possibly imagined.


TAGS: Gaming, Microsoft, Xbox

 
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