Noen i teamet bak Xbox One deltok i natt på et nettmøte hos IGN som hadde den klokkeklare tittelen "Ask Microsoft Anything about Xbox One". Nettmøtet inneholder en rekke interessante opplysninger om den kommende konsollen, men kanskje mest interessant er svaret på dette spørsmålet om Kinect og Xbox One:
Since Kinect must be plugged in for the Xbox One to function, what happens if your Kinect breaks? Like if it falls off the top of your TV onto a hardwood floor or something? Will the console cease to function?
WHITTEN [CHIEF XBOX ONE PLATFORM ARCHITECT]: Xbox One is designed to work with Kinect plugged in. It makes gaming better in many ways – from the ability to say “Xbox On” and get right to your personalized homescreen, to the ability to control your TV through voice, Smartglass and more. Kinect allows you to search for your content, instantly move between games and your personalized dash and more with just your voice. Kinect helps you pick up and play by automatically knowing which controller you have in your hands. No more need to interrupt your friends game or navigate through multiple UI screens to sign in and tell the system which controller you are holding. It will even bind the controller to the console if its currently unbound – no searching for special buttons! Of course – these are just a few of the system wide benefits of having Kinect. Games use Kinect in a variety of amazing ways from adding voice to control your squad mates to adding lean and other simple controls beyond the controller to full immersive gameplay. That said, like online, the console will still function if Kinect isn’t plugged in, although you won’t be able to use any feature or experience that explicitly uses the sensor.
Dette er definitivt gode nyheter! For undertegnede synes det også å være den siste spikeren som blir trukket ut av Xbox One-kista etter den noe flaue fremvisningen av konsollen på E3 tidligere i år.
Oppdatert kl. 10:43: Kotaku har skaffet til veie flere detaljer om dette. Les videre for de sentrale sitatene.
En talsmann fra Microsoft sa følgende til Kotaku:
Can games that use Kinect for supplemental features and commands still be played without Kinect, or will any game that uses Kinect at *all* need the Kinect plugged in?
If Kinect is only used to enable supplemental features in a particular title, then you will still be able to play that game if Kinect is unplugged. Games where Kinect is required – like “Kinect Sports Rivals,” for example – will of course need the sensor to be plugged in.
Does Microsoft still have no intentions of selling a Kinect-free bundle?
Though we’ve changed this requirement, Kinect is still an essential and integrated part of the Xbox One platform. By having it as a consistent part of every Xbox One, game and entertainment creators can build experiences that assume the availability of voice, gesture and natural sensing, leading to unrivaled ease of use, premium experiences and interactivity for consumers. We also strongly believe that once you try the all-new Kinect and the game and entertainment experiences it enhances or enables, you won’t want to use your Xbox One without it.
Og i et innlegg på forumet NeoGAF sa den høyt rangerte Microsoft-lederen Albert Penello følgende:
We still believe in Kinect. We aren’t interested in splitting the development base. The more demos I’ve seen, the more I’ve used it – the more impressed I am. The team feels strongly about Kinect, and I hope we’re able to prove that when you use it.
We also have a ton of privacy settings to allow people to turn off the camera, or microphones, or put it in a state just for “Xbox On” and IR blasting – there will be a lot of user control for that.
The thing we all understood, and hence this change, is that there are some scenarios where people just may not be comfortable. We wanted people to be 100% comfortable, so we allow the sensor to be unplugged. And clearly the “it dropped” scenario is possible.
The most obvious thing is watching a DVD/BD, or streaming a movie, or HDMI pass-through, your experience isn’t impacted (except you miss voice and IR blasting)
There is no “gotcha”, but obviously, if there is a game that REQUIRES Kinect (like Rivals), or something where Kinect IS the experience (like Skype), those won’t work.
That said, for people who have privacy concerns there are user control settings, which we believe are great.
(Understrekningene ovenfor er selvfølgelig våre)