Microsoft drops Kinect from Xbox One.
Discussion
At last. I might consider buying One now.
The Indipendent said:
Microsoft has announced that it will sell its Xbox One console without the Kinect sensor from 9 June.
The company said that unbundling the motion sensor will give gamers “more options”. The Xbox One will be sold for $399 in the US and £350 in the UK – the same price as Sony’s rival PS4.
The announcement marks a significant change in Microsoft’s strategy, having previously insisted that the Kinect was an integral part of the gaming experience for the Xbox.
However, bundling the motion sensor as standard meant that Sony could undercut the Xbox One on price – a factor that will have contributed at least partly to the PS4’s current lead in sales.
Sony has sold more than seven million PlayStation 4s since its launch last year while Microsoft has shipped more than five million in the same time period.
A standalone Kinect sensor for the Xbox One will go on sale later this Autumn.
The Kinect, which was originally introduced for the Xbox 360 in 2010, was praised for its innovative approach to gaming but failed to take off with customers - an outcome which some blame on the lack of fully-formed Kinect games, with developers unwilling to commit to creating titles for an audience that might not own the right equipment.
Bundling the Kinect with the Xbox One was intended to fix this uncertainty but it seems the plan has at least partly failed. Microsoft says the motion sensor remains an “important part” of the company’s vision, noting that more than 80 per cent of Xbox One owners use it regularly – issuing 120 voice commands per month per console.
“We will continue to offer a premium Xbox One with Kinect bundle to deliver voice and gesture controls, biometric sign-in, instant personalisation, instant scanning of QR codes, and enhanced features only available with Kinect in games such as Kinect Sports Rivals, Just Dance 2014, Project Spark and more,” said the company in a blog post.
The company said that unbundling the motion sensor will give gamers “more options”. The Xbox One will be sold for $399 in the US and £350 in the UK – the same price as Sony’s rival PS4.
The announcement marks a significant change in Microsoft’s strategy, having previously insisted that the Kinect was an integral part of the gaming experience for the Xbox.
However, bundling the motion sensor as standard meant that Sony could undercut the Xbox One on price – a factor that will have contributed at least partly to the PS4’s current lead in sales.
Sony has sold more than seven million PlayStation 4s since its launch last year while Microsoft has shipped more than five million in the same time period.
A standalone Kinect sensor for the Xbox One will go on sale later this Autumn.
The Kinect, which was originally introduced for the Xbox 360 in 2010, was praised for its innovative approach to gaming but failed to take off with customers - an outcome which some blame on the lack of fully-formed Kinect games, with developers unwilling to commit to creating titles for an audience that might not own the right equipment.
Bundling the Kinect with the Xbox One was intended to fix this uncertainty but it seems the plan has at least partly failed. Microsoft says the motion sensor remains an “important part” of the company’s vision, noting that more than 80 per cent of Xbox One owners use it regularly – issuing 120 voice commands per month per console.
“We will continue to offer a premium Xbox One with Kinect bundle to deliver voice and gesture controls, biometric sign-in, instant personalisation, instant scanning of QR codes, and enhanced features only available with Kinect in games such as Kinect Sports Rivals, Just Dance 2014, Project Spark and more,” said the company in a blog post.
Oakey said:
Why would this make you buy one? If the Xbox One WITH Kinect AND Titanfall for £349 didn't make you buy one then why would an Xbox One WITHOUT a Kinect for £350 change your mind? You could have already had one at this price point and left the Kinect in the box.
I suppose the retail price will be inline with the retail price of the 'full one' shortly. I guess the RRP of the package you mention is higher than the actual retail price. I'm hoping Sony will follow suit and drop the price of the PS4, not that I'm in much of a rush, I've not heard legions of people spunking about it yet - needs a big RockStar title to get me interested really.
Oakey said:
Why would this make you buy one? If the Xbox One WITH Kinect AND Titanfall for £349 didn't make you buy one then why would an Xbox One WITHOUT a Kinect for £350 change your mind? You could have already had one at this price point and left the Kinect in the box.
Because MS will be watching him!! WOOOOooooOOOOOooooO!!! NSA!!! lolWills2 said:
They are also moving the entertainment apps like Netflix and i.e in front of the pay wall so you no longer need gold to use them, which is a lot better.
I read that on the dashboard yesterday, also seems they are rolling out 'Games with Gold' to Xbox One too, so should be able to pick up some freebies - will be interesting to see how it works considering there isn't much content wise at the moment.Seems MS are indeed listening to the feedback and making changes very swifty - even if the catalyst is because they apparently dropped the ball.
Just goes to show competition with PS is a good thing, the consumer wins.
Oakey said:
Why would this make you buy one? If the Xbox One WITH Kinect AND Titanfall for £349 didn't make you buy one then why would an Xbox One WITHOUT a Kinect for £350 change your mind? You could have already had one at this price point and left the Kinect in the box.
I said 'I might consider buying One now'. Not that I would. It will depend on what bundles or offers come along. At least dropping Kinect has put the Xbox One in the same ball park as the PS4.Another view on the unbundling - which I somewhat agree with
http://www.cnet.com/news/why-the-death-of-microsof...
http://www.cnet.com/news/why-the-death-of-microsof...
ConcreteBuffalo said:
Wills2 said:
They are also moving the entertainment apps like Netflix and i.e in front of the pay wall so you no longer need gold to use them, which is a lot better.
I read that on the dashboard yesterday, also seems they are rolling out 'Games with Gold' to Xbox One too, so should be able to pick up some freebies - will be interesting to see how it works considering there isn't much content wise at the moment.Seems MS are indeed listening to the feedback and making changes very swifty - even if the catalyst is because they apparently dropped the ball.
Just goes to show competition with PS is a good thing, the consumer wins.
When Tesco/ASDA and Amazon did the £350 on the Titanfall bundle the sales went through the roof so demand is there, and as you say the competition is good for the consumer.
I'm looking forward to the peak season should be some cracking games and deals out there.
EK993 said:
Another view on the unbundling - which I somewhat agree with
http://www.cnet.com/news/why-the-death-of-microsof...
I agree with the above. The hardware is / was there, I just don't think anyone had really tapped the potential of Kinect yet. It has not really been utilised in games, and it's implementation for navigating menus has been poorly executed - not so much a failing of the Kinect but a failure of what I believe is Microsoft's biggest mistake with the XB1, the terrible dashboard. http://www.cnet.com/news/why-the-death-of-microsof...
The 360 had a clean, easy to navigate and fast dash system, you could open menus and looks at achievements for example, without having to lose sight of the game, handy for doing things while games were loading. Now, to do anything, you have to come out of the game (which runs in the background, where you can't see it) and launch other apps to do anything. Everything is a f
king app, and it's slower and clunkier than it needs to be. Looking at achievements as you earn them now is an absolute chore, taking twice as long as it did on the 360 and breaking game immersion that much more. And to know that of the two core processor units of the XB1, one is using half it's power to run all these background apps is just insulting. So we get a hamstrung gaming machine, which is admittedly still very capable of stunning graphics and allows some amazing game designs to be realised, but the fact that it uses all that power to run something which is a massive step back from the 360 in terms of ease of use is a massive kick in the balls. It's like having a V8 and being told that only 6 cylinders work and there is nothing you can do to change that.Wills2 said:
They are also moving the entertainment apps like Netflix and i.e in front of the pay wall so you no longer need gold to use them, which is a lot better.
That is more like something they HAD to do anyway, not a goodwill gesture. You don't pay for a subscription to use your Smart TV in that way afterall do you?I'm still disapointed that the new Kinect doesn't even meet the expectations set for the First Gen. Being able to fully control the Xbox vocally was what impressed me... but it never came to fruition.
Still on the fence as to whether I should get this generation of systems let alone which one.
GT Kodiak said:
That is more like something they HAD to do anyway, not a goodwill gesture. You don't pay for a subscription to use your Smart TV in that way afterall do you?
I'm still disapointed that the new Kinect doesn't even meet the expectations set for the First Gen. Being able to fully control the Xbox vocally was what impressed me... but it never came to fruition.
Still on the fence as to whether I should get this generation of systems let alone which one.
I pretty much use voice commands for everything, providing you don't mumble it works pretty much all of the time. Its pretty invaluable when it comes to navigating the OS and using the media features. I'm still disapointed that the new Kinect doesn't even meet the expectations set for the First Gen. Being able to fully control the Xbox vocally was what impressed me... but it never came to fruition.
Still on the fence as to whether I should get this generation of systems let alone which one.
Am I missing something fundamental here? You could recently buy the XB1 with Kinnect for £349 with a bundled copy of Titanfall, now MS have taken away Kinnect and and advertised the price as £350?
I'm not sure I see the incentive, even if there is additional discount to be offered by the retailer they still aren't giving it a headline price drop that's going to attract those people like me who are still sitting on the fence. If I were Microsoft I'd drop the price by a huge amount, even maybe sell the console at a loss just to get the market penetration they need to sell high volumes of games, that's got to be where the money is in the long term.
They are going to have to do better than this to convince me to buy one, I'm currently enjoying all the lower priced 360 games that I missed first time around. When I do jump (still waiting for that killer title...) current front runner for me is PS4.
I'm not sure I see the incentive, even if there is additional discount to be offered by the retailer they still aren't giving it a headline price drop that's going to attract those people like me who are still sitting on the fence. If I were Microsoft I'd drop the price by a huge amount, even maybe sell the console at a loss just to get the market penetration they need to sell high volumes of games, that's got to be where the money is in the long term.
They are going to have to do better than this to convince me to buy one, I'm currently enjoying all the lower priced 360 games that I missed first time around. When I do jump (still waiting for that killer title...) current front runner for me is PS4.
As far as I'm aware they aren't interchangeable, the Kinect 2.0 on the XB1 is significantly more advanced that the 1.0 for the 360. I didn't own the 1.0 but I think they didn't bother making them interchangeable because the theory at the time was every XB1 would be sold with one anyway.
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