News Xbox One will work without Kinect

^^ its what facebook do - announce changes , wait for uproar then roll back 2/3rds of them - .... to then add them back in slowly.


latest changes to FB are an example of that - they announced similar a year or so back , sheeple outcry , yet now its in - nothing.

 

are you people all ****ing stupid? this isnt testing the water strategy, this is out and out u turning due to consumer backlash

did you forget about Orth's "deal with" twitter tirade or matticks defending of their always online policies even telling consumers "tough **** get a 360 if you don't like our online policies"

I'm amazed people are even considering giving money to a company who thought it could get away with shitting in its consumers faces because of brand loyalty.

 

I feel terribly sorry for Adam Orth, a (semi)private sarcastic conversation gets him 'stepped down', then the real attitude of his paymasters turns out to be every bit as cartoonishly hostile as his joking with a friend portrayed, but he is still fired.

What a shitty way to lose your job.

 

What chances of a cheaper console without kinect?

 

Depends if they want games to require kinect if they do no chance. if they dont then a cheaper console is maybe a possibility.

but it means devs will not program for it they will just do what they do with current xbox and ignore it.

 

I think that you are overpersonalising this a bit. It seems to me that these decisions were made by engineers ("hey, this will allow us to do cool stuff") and suits ("hey, this will allow us to enforce DRM/make more money") without really considering how all these things will add up together and be experienced by the consumer. Stupid and short-sighted, yes. Dismissive of customers, no.

No company tries to piss off its customers, like no forum member person tries to piss off other forum members people. Sometimes they do, because they're being a bit stupid or stubborn or are seeing things only from their own point of view. Everybody makes mistakes and acts like a dick occasionally. The trick is to acknowledge it, make amends, learn from your mistakes and move on. But that's a trick that companies find as hard to master as people do.

 

Although I know its an anecdotal account. Gaijin Entertainment (the developers of War Thunder) seems to actively ignore and then piss off all their customers.

Fascinating practice really.

 

I prefer one that listens on both sides of the reveal/release timeline.

These have not been small tweaks. The online check in and always-on Kinect were presented to us as key features to improve the console experience and as advantages over the PS4 [and WiiU]. Now they've both been removed or reworked. To further the issue, these along with the now-removed DRM are not new complaints. Even a cursory review of gaming and tech media will find the huge backlashes against always-on "features" and DRM such as the Ubisoft ordeal and data mining concerns with Facebook and Google applicable to always-on Kinect, not to mention the common sense "it's a camera in your living room". Having been so far off the mark they'd do well to eat a slice of humble pie and quietly work on a dazzling launch.

 

The rumours were going around for months about kinect and the console being "always on" as well as the possibility of used games.

They knew people hated it yet they announced it anyway to see if they could get away with it. I'm guessing the pre-order numbers showed that they didn't so they did a 180.

Even days before they changed things they were saying that there would be no changes and that "this is the future".

All companies will try to make as much money as they can and will only take a step back if it's hurting their profits. It's what they do and it's up to the people to vote with their wallets.

I am surprised that the pre-order numbers are low though as these things usually fly off the shelves regardless. Maybe the PS4 price and the **** state of the economy are bigger factors than I thought.

 

Or most people are just waiting, I don't see the point of getting either console early when there will be few games and they will all be at a price I don't want to pay, whereas my 360 and ps3 both have large catalogs of games I have yet to play and are a more sensible price.

 

The decision to change this was taken after several people had expressed concern over this feature, being uncomfortable with the idea that the Xbox One would always be watching and listening to them, even if the Kinect was not being used.

'The thing we all understood and hence this change, is that there are some scenarios where people just may not be comfortable. We wanted people to be 100 percent comfortable, so we allow the sensor to be unplugged,' Microsoft senior executive Albert Penello wrote on NeoGAF.

I'd say that was them listening to feedback. Stalking me again? Some would say we are in love

 

I didnt get the arguments against it in the first place but then I am a pc gamer and have used to and love the fact that I can install games and then put the disc away and forget about it ( or just go the digital download route)

The used game ideas I admit was a big decision as was the once every 24 hours check, they were neccessary as part of the original plan though and while I was perfectly fine with it, a lot of people dont have solid connections and dont keep games once they've been through them so for them the back track was needed.
Ive pre-ordered mine and get it regardless and i've moved away from my pc now as I rarely use it these days and my self spending more time on my 360.

One thing that bothers me though, how many people complaining about the kinect have web cams hooked up to their pc's and switch on permanently?

 

Good question Chris and I think it's a valid question as most moaning about everything XboxOne have been doing the exact same thing on PC for quite some time.

Why it's any different when it becomes a console, I don't really know but some think it's the end of the world or something.

 

Meanwhile, at Microsoft HQ:

 

Thats the exact reaction some are giving, kinect? camera...meh...microsoft made it....AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH INVASION OF MY PRIVACY....geeez grow up, get a life and stop watching eastenders is my answer.

 

Its not just the Kinetic/Camera, the problem comes when that Kinetic/Camera is always on, always connected to one company.
Kinetic is worlds apart from a web cam on your average PC.

1. Most web cams cant identify one person from another
2. Most web cams cant see in the dark
3. Most web cams cant measure your heart rate
4. Most web cams cant read your facial expressions
5. Most web cams don't listen to everything people say
6. Most web cams don't know how many people are in the room
7. Most web cams are not constantly connected to the internet
8. Most web cams stop working when the PC is turned of
9. Most web cams wont stop you watching a film if you have to many people in the room
10. Most web cams cant tell if you visit a friends house
11. Most web cams wont target advertising according to who's in front of it

 

I would dispute points 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10.

As long as the computer is switched on and hooked to the internet, a webcams hooked to it is eyes and ears into someone's room. Depending on the software used at the eavesdropper's end, it can do facial recognition, facial expression recognition, voice recognition etc. From there it is a small leap to targeted advertising, search profiling etc. If the eavesdropper is your ISP or the NSA, then it's one company, watching you, watching pr0n.

You forget that the Kinect is just a glorified webcam, microphone, IR and ultrasound sensor. It is the software behind it that does the magic stuff. Now place that software on a server somewhere, and give it access to a webcams with built-in mic and you're more than halfway there.

 

I'm not that into knowing how people eavesdrop on internet traffic, so i have no idea to be honest how easy it would be.
But something to bear in mind is how so much has been said about Microsoft collaborating with the NSA, even if that is just the people in tin foil hats talking, and Microsoft denying it. As they say there's no smoke without fire

Doesn't having a large unified system mean it becomes a bigger target, much in the same way people think Windows is less secure than other OS's simple because its on more systems than other OS's, so becomes a bigger target.

 

All companies have been working with the NSA.





Note the late addition of Apple. Jobs, for all his failings, has always vehemently resisted collaborating with government intelligence programmes. Tim Cook of course has fewer scruples.

I have always been preaching to people (as far back as 2003) that everything you post on the internet is effectively in the public domain. That means emails, messages, everything. There is no such thing as privacy. If you don't want strangers to know, don't put it on, or through, the internet.

 

Very true, its just a shame more people don't know, or realise it.