Blog Archives

E3 2016: New Xbox One S Doesn’t Come with Kinect Port

Jun 17

Posted by

kinect-adapter-e3-2016The Microsoft Kinect has been a bit of a laughing stock since it first launched. There weren’t many games that supported it, apart from voice commands, and those that did suffered from a variety of issues that made using a Kinect more of a detriment than a boost to gaming. People rolled their eyes when the Kinect was packaged with the Xbox One with launch and was planned to be required to be connected for the system to work. That was dialed back to the point where the Kinect was no longer sold with the Xbox One.

This week, Microsoft unveiled the second iteration of the Xbox One console, the Xbox One S. The Kinect has fallen so far down Microsoft’s priority list that the One S will require a special adaptor to plug the Kinect into the console.

Read the rest of this entry →

Advertisement

Posted in Games

Leave a comment

Tags: , , , , ,

Another Xbox One-80: Microsoft to Sell Console without Kinect

May 14

Posted by

xbox-one-no-kinect-headerAfter launching at a price point $100 higher than the PlayStation 4 and insisting that the Kinect was an integral part of the Xbox One and had to be connected for the console to work, Microsoft has completely walked back on all claims about the Kinect 2.0.

Microsoft announced that they will begin selling the Xbox One without the Kinect starting in June for $100 less than the original $499 asking price.

Read the rest of this entry →

Posted in Games

Leave a comment

Tags: , , , , ,

Building (Critical) Consensus: Fighter Within

Dec 2

Posted by

fighter-within-box-artBack when I did the Hype Train post about the Xbox One, I said that we had to wait for some games that used the Kinect as a motion controller before we could actually say whether the upgraded camera was worth the hype and extra $100 asking price. Well, little did I know that there was a fighting game that used the Kinect as a controller.

Well, Fighter Within was a third-party exclusive fighter for the Xbox One that was buried in the Xbox One launch line-up. It’s easy to see why it wasn’t promoted. This game just doesn’t work. Whether it’s a matter of the software not being programmed well enough to use the Kinect or whether the Kinect 2.0 isn’t any better as a controller won’t be determined until we get the next Kinect 2.0 game. For now, the consensus is that Fighter Within is awful and so is the Kinect 2.0.

Read the rest of this entry →

Posted in Games

Leave a comment

Tags: , , , ,

Xbox One Doesn’t Need a Kinect Connected to Work

Aug 14

Posted by

xbox-one-kinectI’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Microsoft is playing the PR long game with the Xbox One. After getting everyone mad at them when announcing the Xbox One, they’re going back on the “features” that gamers didn’t like and are turning the tide of the PR war by reverting to the status quo.

In a Q&A session, Microsoft’s Chief Xbox One Platform Architect, Marc Whitten, revealed that the Xbox One would still be able to function whether or not the Kinect was broken or plugged in.

Read the rest of this entry →

Posted in Games

Leave a comment

Tags: , , ,

Will The Xbox One Be Your Overly Attached Girlfriend?

Microsoft might have gotten rid of the online check-in DRM requirements for the Xbox One but doesn’t mean that it isn’t still watching you. We’ve all read that it’s built around advertising with the Kinect integral to making that advertising work better for advertisers. The Kinect always watching and Microsoft’s compliance in giving data to the NSA doesn’t make me feel better about it.

So is the Xbox One going to be like a clingy girlfriend? The folks at Kensington make that case in a handy infographic.

(more…)

Posted on | Image

Lewis Black is Worried About Future Technology

If there’s something happening in the news, chances are that Lewis Black has a smart, and likely angry, take on what’s happening. That includes what’s happening with the Xbox One’s Kinect. Microsoft might say it’s not a privacy concern but Lewis isn’t sold.

Posted on | Video

Kinect 2.0 Will Be Very Creepy

May 27

Posted by

xbox-one-kinectA recent report by Polygon suggests that the Xbox One could find new ways to annoy the hardcore gamer. While they’re humming and hawing over used games, Polygon’s sources are talking about the XBOne’s iteration of Kinect being a little bit like Apple’s Siri program. However, it seems to be that it’s a bit closer to HAL 9000 than Siri.

Read the rest of this entry →

Posted in Games

Leave a comment

Tags: , ,

Microsoft to Unveil the Next Xbox on May 21

Apr 25

Posted by

xbox-2013-announcement-bannerThe long wait for the third of the next-gen console will finally end on May 21st as Microsoft officially unveils their next generation of Xbox. And while we expected Microsoft to unveil the console before E3 so that show would focus on the games, we didn’t think that Microsoft would come into this announcement having spent the last three or so months losing the PR battle.

Read the rest of this entry →

Posted in Games

Leave a comment

Tags: , , ,

%d bloggers like this: