The Xbone

[Dwood]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but it would seem that they are using a proprietary connection for the Kinect to XBone. I knew something like that would happen. For shame.

Edit: Here, I found a source:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/0...t-work-on-pcs/

[Warsaw]

The old Kinect had a proprietary connector. The USB adapter was only there because older Xbox 360s didn't have that proprietary connection port, only USB. They don't want people using the new one on Windows like last time, they want them to pay the $400 for the Windows version. Of course, I'd be willing to bet that some will simply splice a USB connector onto the Xbone version.

[Zeph]

Gonna laugh if this is the case, but are the two connectors on the different versions the same?

[=sw=warlord]

Nope, different from what I can tell, at least by dimensions.

[Dwood]

I WAS about to say that the XBOne Kinect was just going to be using something like a firewire connection or Thunderbolt, but I realized that they are using USB 3.0 and there's no point in them mixing the two types (I figure it would be cheaper for them to just use all USB 3.0's if possible).

I'm going with Zeph on this one. I give it a week to a month from release of XBone that someone splices a non-proprietary connection onto the sucker. If I'm wrong? IDK. Let's take bets.

[Btcc22]

Probably end up finding out that it is indeed just a USB connection, again. It's not as if they're going to invent their own standard, surely.



Image resize functionality is broken. Oh well.

[ODX]

Are you fucking happy now? Kinect is No Longer Mandatory Because Everyone is a Whiny Bitch

Why this is Bad for Everyone

"It's simple: As a standard-issue, always-on-and-enabled FEATURE of the Xbox One, Kinect was something that had a hugely better chance (not a guarantee, but a good chance) of being developed for in a meaningful way....But as an optional feature, there's far less incentive for developers to take advantage of everything the new Kinect can do. It's actually a really impressive device, and maybe some of that still comes through. There's a good chance it does, actually. It's just much lower than it would have been otherwise."

Pretty much, these cool features that the Xbox One had are now being destroyed (although the always-online was maybe a little too early to have since Wifi isn't that globally stable yet). I don't understand why everyone seems to hate Kinect though, it seems like a really awesome device. Demos and all.

[Btcc22]

Just because you don't need it plugged in doesn't suddenly mean that it isn't being bundled with every console. You can unplug your controllers and drives too but it doesn't mean developers are compelled to make them optional accessories.

Besides, I'm yet to be impressed by any Kinect applications and it isn't exactly new by this point.

[=sw=warlord]

because not everyone wants a camera staring at them the entire time they're playing a video game and having said camera decide how much to skewer prices when it comes to renting movies and shows based on how many people are in the room.

[Kornman00]

Just because you don't need it plugged in doesn't suddenly mean that it isn't being bundled with every console. You can unplug your controllers and drives too but it doesn't mean developers are compelled to make them optional accessories.

Besides, I'm yet to be impressed by any Kinect applications and it isn't exactly new by this point.

Bit-coin-currency22 pretty much nailed it. If you're going to bitch about people bitching, at least try and hear them out first before...well bitching.

Making it mandatory to even fucking use the Xbox was fucking stupid. If I'm not using the goddamn thing to do anything, why must I have the damn thing plugged in?

The Kinect's connector is also seemingly proprietary. So no hacking it up on the PC (apparently the Xbox version is essentially subsidized, the PC version to come later IIRC will be priced in the hundreds).

In other news, I pondered the idea of switching my preorder of the PS4 to Xbone today while at gamestop (thanks in part to the many 180s they've pulled, the new controller, my disgust with Sony's PSN, and some future upcoming work). Apparently neither system is no longer preorder-able. So yeah, decided to keep my order for the time being.