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More like 70%, but the numbers dont really matter.

By leave in the mic, you mean just the bundled cheap headset? Even the voice commands that everyone has no interest in would be less useful having to wear a headset all the time.

But the ultimate point is true, if MS is unable to take the losses from cutting the price while keeping Kinect, then just drop Kinect.

 

No, just attach a mic to the Xbox, like every laptop has. 

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No, just attach a mic to the Xbox, like every laptop has.

The mic alone isn't what makes it so good at what it does. It uses the camera to determine who's playing and who's talking and what to do. Just throw in a mic and you're going to end up with a crappy experience Interestingly you can see this with Xbox one - in my experience my success rate with commands decreases a fair amount if I'm not in kinect's fov, but I think that's because its programmed to listen better if it sees you talking, which could be changed.

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It does more than that, but I get your point. whatever it is doing now does no interest you. You represent the majority opinion. This platform just gets more and more depressing :laugh:

 

What else does it do? Or are you talking about potential? NFS rivals is notorious for having the Kinect intrude on game-play; I anticipate more stories like that in the future.

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What does the Kinect do outside of gaming?  Everyone knows the voice commands, the auto-login, Skype, now twitch if you're into that.  It ties into the video upload app if you want to do that.  Other little things is, tracking who's playing with what controller, the connect of which controller is "player 1" is gone now with Kinect keeping track of who has what controller in their hand and what side they're sitting on relevant to the TV.  Also when it sees you put the controller down and aren't playing it will turn it off IIRC, so it doesn't use power sitting there, then resync when you pick it up.

 

As far as games go, developers need to do what they do and come up with ways to use it.  The project spark guys use it to let you record motion capture that you can then map to characters in the game you're making, that's pretty damn cool IMO.   For a technology that's always getting better which ships for a system that will be on the market for at least 6-7 years to have people moaning about it's lack of use 4 months into things is pointless.   Instead of expecting them to drop it, a year later, after spending so much on it, is also a pipe dream.  They'll drop the price, when the time comes, and when it's $399 or $349 or even $299, the argument that it's "adding too much" to the price or "I don't want it" is moot.  If you don't want to use it then just don't, but I see it no different from buying other thins that come with other stuff that people don't use much.  My tablet has a camera on the back, I've never took a photo with it, didn't stop me from buying the thing though.

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So it does voice stuff, mostly for convenience, and some novelty tracking? I'm still not seeing a great revolution in gaming & certainly not at the price point they are selling them for. Maybe in the future that will change and so will my opinion, but if the last Kinect and the content that was available for it was anything to go by. . .

 

 

 

 They'll drop the price, when the time comes, and when it's $399 or $349 or even $299, the argument that it's "adding too much" to the price or "I don't want it" is moot. 

 

 

Except in the mean time consumers will buy your competitor's device. I think it will be awhile before we see price drops of that magnitude.

 

 

 

My tablet has a camera on the back, I've never took a photo with it, didn't stop me from buying the thing though.

 

 

Which would be a fair comparison if the tablet you own was the only one that came with a camera & you had to pay extra for. All tablets come with cameras, it's not an extra that only yours comes with. The Kinect is an extra that consumers have to pay for.

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So it does voice stuff, mostly for convenience, and some novelty tracking? I'm still not seeing a great revolution in gaming & certainly not at the price point they are selling them for. Maybe in the future that will change and so will my opinion, but if the last Kinect and the content that was available for it was anything to go by. . .

 

 

 

Except in the mean time consumers will buy your competitor's device. I think it will be awhile before we see price drops of that magnitude.

 

 

 

Which would be a fair comparison if the tablet you own was the only one that came with a camera & you had to pay extra for. All tablets come with cameras, it's not an extra that only yours comes with. The Kinect is an extra that consumers have to pay for.

 

 

The price will come down quicker than people think, it's part of the reason they're using more standard hardware than before,  The Xbox One going to $449 or even $399 by this holiday shouldn't be impossible.  Part of the reason sales drops took longer in the past is because the initial sales of hardware and content was lower than at the rates they're going so far now.  With both systems already way ahead of their previous systems the need to keep the price higher is less of an issue.  When you already have 4million+ out not even half a year into the life of the system, compared to before when it would take 2years, give or take, then you can start to look at price cuts once the hardware can come down, with AMD doing it all now that shouldn't take long.

 

As far as the camera goes, how about I flip it and go with a front facing camera on my phone?  I could just get a phone without one, for a good chunk less money, but I haven't.    You can try to argue about how it's not wanted or how it's adding to the price, and for now that's more or less true depending on each persons opinion on it.  But the argument falls apart, quickly, when the price comes down.  Some have said how retailers, in the UK, are already pricing it lower, at 399 or less, around the PS4 price.  So if that's the case then I don't see how the "take it out cuz it's adding too much to the price", excuse holds up anymore.

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Hardware pricing is killing them. 20% more for a larger unit with more clearly unneeded gizmos (titanfall use kinect for much of anything?), which has weaker technical specs, more expensive online subscription (+$10 difference here) and no real exclusives. They have to compete and stating they won't be for the first year will push people away. With no major exclusives like halo until 2015 and most of the games being multi-platform now and even extending to the 360/ps3 devices, it'd be stupid to buy an xbox one right now. You know good titles are a year away and you know a price cut is there also. Irregardless when you adopt, you'll see from there out you probably got the worst deal going.. These things only depreciate in value.

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So it does voice stuff, mostly for convenience, and some novelty tracking? I'm still not seeing a great revolution in gaming & certainly not at the price point they are selling them for. Maybe in the future that will change and so will my opinion, but if the last Kinect and the content that was available for it was anything to go by. . .

 

 

 

Except in the mean time consumers will buy your competitor's device. I think it will be awhile before we see price drops of that magnitude.

 

 

 

Which would be a fair comparison if the tablet you own was the only one that came with a camera & you had to pay extra for. All tablets come with cameras, it's not an extra that only yours comes with. The Kinect is an extra that consumers have to pay for.

That novelty also gives excellent battery life compared to PS4 controller, which at 7-8 hrs is just bad.

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No, just attach a mic to the Xbox, like every laptop has.

As others have pointed out. Just adding a mic would mean a less reliable experience based on what the camera is used for.

Not saying it can't be done, but it might be more difficult then just adding a mic. Plus, I am pretty sure people would get pretty upset if a mic was physically built into the box. People want these things separate.

 

 

What else does it do? Or are you talking about potential? NFS rivals is notorious for having the Kinect intrude on game-play; I anticipate more stories like that in the future.

 

 

Good lord no, not potential.

This is why I'm tired of even talking about it.

As I said before, the things it does probably would not change your mind anyway, so I'm not going to waste your time laying them out. They are not just voice commands. You want a gaming revolution and it does not offer that, so it really doesn't matter what it does otherwise.

MS has failed to change the tone of expectations. If they really wanted Kinect to no longer be looked at as a gaming device, but as something just built in that was used for various pieces of the experience, they failed to achieve that so far.

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The price will come down quicker than people think, it's part of the reason they're using more standard hardware than before,  The Xbox One going to $449 or even $399 by this holiday shouldn't be impossible.  Part of the reason sales drops took longer in the past is because the initial sales of hardware and content was lower than at the rates they're going so far now.  With both systems already way ahead of their previous systems the need to keep the price higher is less of an issue.  When you already have 4million+ out not even half a year into the life of the system, compared to before when it would take 2years, give or take, then you can start to look at price cuts once the hardware can come down, with AMD doing it all now that shouldn't take long.

 

As far as the camera goes, how about I flip it and go with a front facing camera on my phone?  I could just get a phone without one, for a good chunk less money, but I haven't.    You can try to argue about how it's not wanted or how it's adding to the price, and for now that's more or less true depending on each persons opinion on it.  But the argument falls apart, quickly, when the price comes down.  Some have said how retailers, in the UK, are already pricing it lower, at 399 or less, around the PS4 price.  So if that's the case then I don't see how the "take it out cuz it's adding too much to the price", excuse holds up anymore.

 

You might be right about the price drop, but I imagine Sony will follow or (or lead the dropping) and a PS4 will still be cheaper. Also, as time passes people will expect more of the Kinect and if it still hasn't archived any more than voice commands and some novelty controls in some games people mightn't be willing to part with the extra money for one.

 

I didn't know front-facing cameras added that much more to the price of a phone. The argument is still irrelevant for phones because of the extent of the choice you have as a consumer to buy a phone to fit your needs. Buying a console with a peripheral that you mightn't use or don't need is its own unique problem.

 

 

That novelty also gives excellent battery life compared to PS4 controller, which at 7-8 hrs is just bad.

 

Are you talking about if you put the controller down the Kinect detects it and shuts the controller off until you pick it back up? Who puts their controller down for hours? I put my controller down for 5 minutes. Even if you're watching movies you can set the controller to auto-shut off after X amount of time. Still a novelty. A clever one, but a Novelty nonetheless.

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That novelty also gives excellent battery life compared to PS4 controller, which at 7-8 hrs is just bad.

 

Not sure if this even has anything to do with Kinect, but the battery life on the X1 controller is uncanny. Not a super frequent gamer, let's say 5-10 hours weekly, though with Titanfall that will likely double. Still, a pair of AA's lasts a good month at this usage level, which is impressive.

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You might be right about the price drop, but I imagine Sony will follow or (or lead the dropping) and a PS4 will still be cheaper. Also, as time passes people will expect more of the Kinect and if it still hasn't archived any more than voice commands and some novelty controls in some games people mightn't be willing to part with the extra money for one.

 

I didn't know front-facing cameras added that much more to the price of a phone. The argument is still irrelevant for phones because of the extent of the choice you have as a consumer to buy a phone to fit your needs. Buying a console with a peripheral that you mightn't use or don't need is its own unique problem.

 

 

 

Are you talking about if you put the controller down the Kinect detects it and shuts the controller off until you pick it back up? Who puts their controller down for hours? I put my controller down for 5 minutes. Even if you're watching movies you can set the controller to auto-shut off after X amount of time. Still a novelty. A clever one, but a Novelty nonetheless.

 

Sure, Sony can do the same, if they want, but they're in worse shape by a long mile compared to MS.   Just look at the two companies as a whole and see who can go into it if we're talking price war here.   That's not to say they'll race to the bottom but if we're betting on who will cut the price first then I'd say the safe bet is MS.  And besides, the point was that when the price is lower, even with the Kinect and if you want to use it or not, you're getting more as a whole package compared to the PS4 alone.   If they were both $399 right now, all over, the whole Kinect argument would have no leg to stand on if we're talking price.  The only reason people keep bringing it up now is the price difference.  

 

Only time will tell, but since history likes to repeat itself when it comes to technology,  they'll both end up around the same price at some point.  If the XB1 still has Kinect and allows for all the voice and media control through it (Kinect is also the IR blaster that controls your TV, and audio equipment in the process), then it's the better value choice IMO.

 

For now Titanfall is doing it's thing and sales have picked up for them, if they have another games coming in a few months that can do the same then they'll keep the price around the same otherwise once titanfall dies down and sales slow again they'll cut the price soon.   Selling over 4million so far for even or maybe a tiny profit should be enough to take a hit on the next few and drop the price at least by $50 across the board.   Retailers can cut the price more to draw people into their shops like they always do, they never make money from the consoles anyways, never have and never will, it's all from those 2-3 games or whatever the XB1s attach-rate is at right now that makes them money.

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You might be right about the price drop, but I imagine Sony will follow or (or lead the dropping) and a PS4 will still be cheaper. Also, as time passes people will expect more of the Kinect and if it still hasn't archived any more than voice commands and some novelty controls in some games people mightn't be willing to part with the extra money for one.

Even more reason to drop the thing or eat losses to leap frog Sony's price dropping ability.

MS could, if they really wanted, treat X1 pricing as if Kinect was not there, effectively negating Sony's ability to stay ahead of that. I kind of doubt they would do that right now, but if the cost of Kinect drops quick enough, maybe they would.

 

Are you talking about if you put the controller down the Kinect detects it and shuts the controller off until you pick it back up? Who puts their controller down for hours? I put my controller down for 5 minutes. Even if you're watching movies you can set the controller to auto-shut off after X amount of time. Still a novelty. A clever one, but a Novelty nonetheless.

At some point, all of these little 'novelties' add up to something more. The issue is that most people are not aware. MS needs to find a way to communicate that.

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So Xbox One sales continue to increase and dominate it's previous gen console, offers a price cut in the UK, has some of the best games this gen....with a back log for many...including the much anticipated Titanfall (and highly reviewed), gets dashboard updates that have resolved almost all of the gamers requests (with external HDD support coming), great reliability, and unparalleled support for it's core camera, and it's a bad thing now?

 

Sweet.

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Are you talking about if you put the controller down the Kinect detects it and shuts the controller off until you pick it back up? Who puts their controller down for hours? I put my controller down for 5 minutes. Even if you're watching movies you can set the controller to auto-shut off after X amount of time. Still a novelty. A clever one, but a Novelty nonetheless.

*raises hand*

I use my 360 controller+chatpad for my non-gaming activities such as netflix and youtube. I am sure I am not the only one who does it. At some point you have start accepting features as they are designed. Kinect improves battery life of the controller and that's been experienced by many who have it.

I do the auto/manual shut-off dance right now but I would be really happy if the system is smart enough to do it for me. It's called convenience. It's also the reason we have gaming consoles that do much more than just gaming.

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Are you talking about if you put the controller down the Kinect detects it and shuts the controller off until you pick it back up? Who puts their controller down for hours? I put my controller down for 5 minutes. Even if you're watching movies you can set the controller to auto-shut off after X amount of time. Still a novelty. A clever one, but a Novelty nonetheless.

 

**raises hand as well**....I do that all the time. I might be playing a game, then I might run to take my son to soccer, go make dinner in the kitchen, you name it. I set it down, and I am good to go. It's slick.

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The Kinect just makes the whole experience a much smoother one. Even those tiny things like knowing who's got the pad add a certain dimension. 

One thing i find odd though is how the Kinect isn't the IR receiver for the media remote and the actual console is. Not that big a deal though unless you shut the box away... but why do that? It's sooo beeeauuutiifullll

 

I can sum up in three words why it will never sell without Kinect:

 

"Xbox, record that!"

 

I've not done this yet. But many of my friends swear by it!

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The Kinect just makes the whole experience a much smoother one. Even those tiny things like knowing who's got the pad add a certain dimension. 

One thing i find odd though is how the Kinect isn't the IR receiver for the media remote and the actual console is. Not that big a deal though unless you shut the box away... but why do that? It's sooo beeeauuutiifullll

 

 

I've not done this yet. But many of my friends swear by it!

I hear people say that in their mic's during multiplayer matches. It's funny, I hear them say "Xbox Snap...or Xbox UnSnap this or that". They probably hear me to then.

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*raises hand*

I use my 360 controller+chatpad for my non-gaming activities such as netflix and youtube. I am sure I am not the only one who does it. At some point you have start accepting features as they are designed. Kinect improves battery life of the controller and that's been experienced by many who have it.

I do the auto/manual shut-off dance right now but I would be really happy if the system is smart enough to do it for me. It's called convenience. It's also the reason we have gaming consoles that do much more than just gaming.

 

 

**raises hand as well**....I do that all the time. I might be playing a game, then I might run to take my son to soccer, go make dinner in the kitchen, you name it. I set it down, and I am good to go. It's slick.

 

 

And as a convenience it is fine, I'm pro convenience. It is a nice feature, but I think you might both be exaggerating just how much battery it preserves over the auto shut-off feature that last-gen console controllers had.

 

The command and tracking stuff is cool, what impact or influence it will have on gaming is unknown. There aren't enough games that use it for anything interesting. As far as I can tell the games which use the Kinect so far are dancing or fitness games. The tech is substantially better this time around so maybe it will be better utilised. But that remains to be seen.

 

What would be interesting to know is if the Kinect wasn't bundled how many Xbox One buyers would have shelled out the extra money on an optional peripheral for the voice and tracking stuff? We'll never know for sure because it is bundled so it exists with 100% of purchases.

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Kinect will never be unbundled. MS doesn't need another 180 on something that I want to be standard. It's really too late to unbundle it anyways. Why doesn't Sony remake the DS4 to not included that damning blue light on unusefullness? It's too late. It's not like the price of these machines won't go down anyways. People forget that the PS3 was $500 and $600 at release...it didn't harm them in the long run. The Kinect will stay.

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What would be interesting to know is if the Kinect wasn't bundled how many Xbox One buyers would have shelled out the extra money on an optional peripheral for the voice and tracking stuff? We'll never know for sure because it is bundled so it exists with 100% of purchases.

That's easy. It would be less then 100%. You could try to take a head count online and guess that it might be as low as %10 adoption or as high as %60. Big range, but its hard to say otherwise.

No need to beat around the bush here. Optional peripherals sell poorly historically anyway, then add on the very strong dislike of Kinect from many online and you can paint a picture of lower adoption then today.

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I can sum up in three words why it will never sell without Kinect:

 

"Xbox, record that!"

Precisely.

 

That can be used to record snippets of anything either received directly or connected (via HDMI inline - such as an STB or Tivo).  Note - this is something that my Tivo - or any Tivo - simply can't do at all - even with the remote.  But being able to record snippets hands-free?  Let alone being able to do it at a cost of none.

 

It's not MIcrosoft's fault that gamers - like all too many folks in general - refuse to satisfy their curiousity and venture outside the comfort zone even a little bit!

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Kinect will never be unbundled. MS doesn't need another 180 on something that I want to be standard. It's really too late to unbundle it anyways. Why doesn't Sony remake the DS4 to not included that damning blue light on unusefullness? It's too late. It's not like the price of these machines won't go down anyways. People forget that the PS3 was $500 and $600 at release...it didn't harm them in the long run. The Kinect will stay.

 

That's not how I remember it! The PS3 didn't take off sales wise until 2009 with the introduction of the Slim and price cut.

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That's not how I remember it! The PS3 didn't take off sales wise until 2009 with the introduction of the Slim and price cut.

 

Yea...in the long run. A price cut and a smaller XB1 may be all that's needed, not taking away the Kinect. What i'm saying is that the price is the only reason why people are pouting...not the Kinect. If it was the same price, people wouldn't be as ######.

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