The negative side of an Xbox One without Kinect

GameZone: "It’s always interesting to see how the opinion of breaking news changes a couple of days after the fact. In the case of Microsoft’s announcement that they’re selling the Xbox One without Kinect, the initial reaction seemed to be nothing but positive. The console was cheaper, the worries about an always-on camera were gone, and people could get excited about the games.
It’s not all sunshine and ponies, though."

[Septic]

An obvious negative is functionality. How would you, for instance, record the 30 second clips without the voice command, "Xbox Record That" ?

[ats1992]

Im pretty sure Microsoft is going to change the UI to make it easier to do everything with a controller but also keep everything easy to do with kinect.

[Mikelarry]

"Im pretty sure Microsoft is going to change the UI to make it easier to do everything "

i agree it only makes sense as. just got my one today and i must say kinect is quite useful from what i have used it for

[miyamoto]

millions of R&D money will go down the drain
potential applications nay never see the light of day

Kinect 3 is questionable

there goes the casual gamers and M$ plan to make Xbox one like a Wii

this may send a negative message about Kinect's importance on Xbox One and MS itself

May send a message to gamers that M$ is dropping Kinect altogether

Developers may not bother including Kinect functionality as added elements of their multiplat games BECAUSE OF THE fragMENTED NATURE OF Xbox One

A Kinectless Xbox One SKU may cause a spike in sales but not guarantee it for the long run as gamers know it may have been price dropped but still less powerful than PS4

[alexkoepp]

Everything is negative, except saving $100. Kinect is awesome, too bad some people probably now will never truly know what the Kinect adds to the x1 experience.

can't easily record clips
can't turn on your tv
can't turn on your audio reciever
can't change volume levels
can't mute
can't use gesture controls
can't read heartbeat
can't do headtracking
can't auto sign in users
can't change television channels
can't rwd/fwd/pause dvr
can't jump to apps/games without navigation

basically it dumbs down the system to ps4 levels

[No_Limit]

Well, I think the Kinectless Sku is for people that just want to game and having no need or interest in other social functions such as video upload or Skype. I think they can add the camera later if they really wanted to use that feature.

[Chevalier]

What actual game features or games can't be done without a kinect camera? You have an expensive camera for a game system, but, no killer game to prove it is any improvement to traditional gameplay.

[darthv72]

the biggest potential negative i can see is those who were saying they would get one, if it didnt come with kinect, still choose to not get one.

lets face it. Kinect made for an easy out for these gamers. With that being an option now, they have to find another reason to shun it. I feel bad for the xb1 just as i feel bad for the wiiu. Both are just trying to appeal to gamers with good games but the bad choices by the parent companies leads to them paying the ultimate price and that is.....poor sales.

It happened to sega. No matter how many good things sega did with the dreamcast it was still shunned by the majority of gamers. Who, only after it was pulled from the market, realized the DC is a great platform. sega was looking for a chance at redemption but we wouldnt listen until it was too late.

[HacSawJimThugin]

"Kinect made for an easy out for these gamers. With that being an option now, they have to find another reason to shun it."

^^This...so true.

[rainslacker]

I think MS gave us plenty of reasons to not want the XB1. Just because they changed some things, it doesn't mean that the bitter taste is gone from some people's mouths.

I for one will get an XB1 when there is a must have game/s for it, and if I feel the time is right. Lately I've been stocking up on 360 games on the cheap for my collection, and will get a 360 when I feel the time is right...likely after the next price drop.

I'll probably get a XB1 with a Kinect, because I actually enjoy programming for the Kinect 1.0 hardware, and wouldn't mind doing it with the Kinect 2.0. So unless must have games come out for the system first, I'm just waiting on Kinect 2.0 being usable on the PC.

MS is just doing everything they can to entice people to buy an XB1. They have an obligation to their shareholders to sell their system and make the XBox division profitable. If their original Kinect vision wasn't doing that, then they have to change what they're doing. If they don't, then they go down the drain, just like Sega did when they failed to ignite sales of their systems.

I think that maybe you are missing the point that MS may not be trying to get those people that are saying they would buy one without Kinect(but likely won't), but are trying to get the people that see the PS4's $399 price point as much more attractive.

[Baccra17]

You can't use the headphones for that?

[brbobcat]

The only negative in my opinion is that you can't control TV with your voice. Games for Kinect suck. It's as simple as that.

[XiSasukeUchiha]

The negative i guess is searching for item on the search bar :(

[Belasco]

I have been tempted to sell my Kinect and do away with it all together, but I find myself using voice functionality and Skype too often.

[incendy35]

Kinect is awesome, so not having one will always be a negative. Luckily you can still buy an X1 with Kinect though, so not really a problem.

Should also be pointed out that on Amazon, the version of X1 with Kinect is outselling the new cheaper SKU 5 to 1. So really nothing has changed, except we can now stop listening to haters complain about it being forced.

[UnHoly_One]

In fairness, that's not really an accurate comparison, as one of those products could be shipped and received tomorrow while the other won't be released for three weeks.

I don't think we'll see how the sales of each will truly balance out until they are both out in the wild and neither of them requires a wait.

[rainslacker]

I think it goes without saying that the cheaper one will sell more. I believe the cheaper arcade version of the 360 outsold the pro version. The cheaper PS3 outsold the more expensive one. It's just cheaper, and offers a better price for entry for more people. For a lot of consumers, long term value of the more expensive models is rarely a consideration. It's never going to be easy to discern who's buying it because it's just cheaper, and who's buying it just because it doesn't have Kinect.

[Mikethejew]

xbox is on life support, the only thing that will save it is 399 bundled with all 4 halos this holiday. Microsoft has already played all their cards, now it's just games left. I wouldn't touch an xbox after all the 180s they pulled. I'm sure they will eventually 180 on the cloud and we'll still be living in p2p matchmaking.

[UnHoly_One]

"now it's just games left"

And who would want to play great games, right???

/s

[Mikethejew]

i'm still waiting for a "great" next gen game. So far the closest has been infamous.

[UnHoly_One]

That's because you don't have an Xbox One. lol

You're missing out on a number of great next gen games.

[cruzngta]

So glad kinect is not mandatory. Giving people a choice is what it should always be about. At least Phil Spencer is terying to clean up the mess and stench MAttrick left.

[Ghost_Nappa]

The downside is.....is...... Well fuck, can't think of any.

[InTheLab]

Forgive my ignorance but do you really NEED kinect for voice commands? I mean, can't a set of headphones communicate with the X1?

Also, show me where anyone but the usual kinect devs were working on some new brilliant game that was for kinect.

Again, kinect being optional is the best thing to happen to MS Xbox since Donny left to ruin another company.

[shammgod]

worst thing is people that bought the kinect bundle for $500 and didnt want the kinect in the first place.

Especially recent purchases...like right before they made the announcement.