Xbox 180: Microsoft scraps mandatory Kinect policy In the wake of the NSA spying revelations, Microsoft has said gamers will no longer need to have an all-seeing, always-online eye and ear attached to their Xbox. Another day brings another reversal in Microsoft's summer of U-turns, and this time its the backtracking of Kinect being attached all the time. Microsoft's Xbox Live …
"PS3 currently does better graphics over Xbox, but that advantage will disappear with the next releases."
Nope - most games on both consoles have better graphics on the 360. The 360 has a more powerful GPU than the PS3...Best graphics of any game award last year went to HALO4 - an Xbox exclusive...
Plugged in, not plugged in. Set to on, set to off.
I'd like to know what difference it will make with a bit of duct tape or blu-tack over the camera.
I doubt any of the new generation of games-I-buy will be "Kinect only" as far as controlling the game goes. If they are, I won't buy them.
I also don't get this whole "teams" thing. It's like a bunch of teenagers arguing over fictional vampires being more attractive than fictional werewolves.
I currently own both a PS3 and an Xbox 360. I can't be alone.
I'll probably end up owning both of these too. Pretty much the only thing up for debate (from my POV) are which order to buy in and how fast.
Do we all have to pick sides? Or have a seriously misjudged the average age of readers here. At 30 I always ass-u-me-d I was amongst the youngest.
How many supporters of Kinect give it glowing reviews? Reviewers of Forza 4 and Mass Effect 3 basically state its a distracting gimmick that's been bolted on. Take Kinect with Forza 4, the game has to control the accelerator and brake-- WTF? Most console games are not Kinect sports titles either, they are FPS, RPG etc. So how does the Kinect enhance the overall gameplay experience? Merely adding voice commands doesn't cut it!
There seems to be a point in the evolution of big IT companies where they start treating customers as a commodity. They don't mind cheating/robbing/insulting their customers 'cause their corporate culture says that they are abundant and easily replaceable, so the big company -MS. in this study case- screws up too often. This particular Xbox SNAFU show that u-turns aren't enough to regain customer's confidence, as the public now is aware that they can't trust MS, and that any 'good' u-turn they perform now will probably be reversed in the future, when -supposedly- the public isn't paying attention.
Also, if you edit my former paragraph and substitute 'customers' with 'talent' - i.e. techies- you get the other side of the equation, that relates closely to Windows 8 and other similar SNAFUs. As 'talent' is commoditized it loses weight in the company's technical decisions, which is a sure way to disaster.
When both circumstances apply, the company in question becomes a dying husk, that is slowly devoured by its internal parasites, the money men, the bean-counters, the lawyers and its own management. It may take many years, but it's quite obvious MS will never recover from this.
....'where they start treating customers as a commodity'.. Its the ethos of US Corporations in general. They think if they screw up they can just hire Reputation Management PR law firms and it'll soon be business as unusual. We need to punish them to set an example...
...doesn't mean they'll make it easy for you to turn off, or that it will be easy to keep it turned off.
How many xbone owners will turn off the kinect if it requires surfing multiple menu levels down to find a scarily worded option which comes with a big *WARNING!* popup when you try to enable it? And how many of them will then KEEP it turned off if it must be turned back on for some common tasks, or if there's constant warning messages?
One percent? Less?
Microsoft can have their cake and eat it too, and I wouldn't put it past them to try.
Yet another huge step back for M$.
“Market leader dominates indiscriminately and dictates YOUR future of gaming”
“Gets kicked to the curb by the punters”
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
Now excuse me while I laugh all the way to the shops to buy a PS4, I don’t even want one, I just want to stick it to xbox, one more console sale further :D
The cheaper console will end up with the more annoying online players because parents will buy whichever is cheaper over anything else. This will cause all the annoying kids to be playing on the PS4 meaning I can play on the Xbox one without them annoying me.
Most parents won't have seen all this rubbish about DRM or always on Kinect so won't have any prejudice against the xbox, its just that it costs more that the ps4 so they buy that instead. Why do you think the Wii sold so well compared to the more powerful ps3 and xbox 360?
Most parents won't have seen all this rubbish about DRM or always on Kinect so won't have any prejudice against the xbox,
But the kids definitely have. If they were pissed off, they will ask for a PS4 even if it were more expensive than an XBone.
Why do you think the Wii sold so well compared to the more powerful ps3 and xbox 360?
Indeed it was cheaper and it sold most, but it wasn't the only reason it was a smash hit. The novelty of the controller stuff appealed to the non-gamer community so people that would usually not buy a gaming console bought up the Wii. And well, according to the previous logic, the Wiiverse should be full of shouty annoying kids, shouldn't it?
Another step-down by MS still to come? Most games and gamers don't use Kinect i.e. FPS, Driving games and RPG's. Those that do use gimmicks like Kinect for voice commands...
I'll be buying the Sony if they don't price match, and may buy Sony anyway because I now know the direction MS wants to push us towards. I was a loyal 360 owner before, in multiple regions, but no more! They've been trying to shaft us through this entire diabolical pre-launch process...
Too bad for Microsoft, a huge swath of gamers have already earmarked their money for Sony's PS4.
Personally, I don't trust Microsoft anymore. They could say the sky is blue, and I'd call it into question. They could say their stuff won't eavesdrop, but for all I know, their hardware will get up and walk over to the side of your bed, apply a liberal amount of lube, then have a go at your behind while saying, "my precious" in a gollum-like voice.
XBox One - Playstation Four, therefore Playstation wins ;)
Excellent news.
Now I am just waiting for the announcement that, since the Kinect is finally entirely optional to USE, it is also optional to BUY. That would be nice. Because, you know, paying for something you don't want and don't need kind of makes you feel like you're being taken for a ride.
What this whole series of changes has done is raised a question - do you punish MS for trying to screw us over in the first place (if that's your position) or do you reward their moves to listen to feedback and adjust accordingly?
I'm still not sure. I'm definitely going to get a PS4 so the question is do I get a 'bone as well?
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