X1 Now available with Less Kinect...

http://kotaku.com/microsoft-announces-xbox-one-without-kinect-shipping-j-1575644372

But is that a good thing?  $100 cheaper, that's good I guess but sale prices already lowered the gap so that's not really a selling point IMO.  But my real question is would you guys buy the full version or the Kinect-less version if you had it to do all over again?  I remember reading that some of you complained about navigating the UI without Kinect.  So is this a good thing?  If I were to buy an X1, which SKU would you recommend?

No, not a good thing IMO.  Why bother with a $399 XB1 when you can get a more powerful $399 PS4?  They should sell it for $349.

The problem is they should have started off w/out the kinect and a more powerful box in the first place.  It doesn't make sense to take out the kinect now as they've made it a centerpiece of the entire experience.  I belive it's a bad move.

My bet is that MS will realize what happened this time around and make a much more powerful system next time and not require the kinect with the outrage that has been shown this time around and the lower performance of the XB1 gaming wise.

OneBadHuskerFan wrote:No, not a good thing IMO.  Why bother with a $399 XB1 when you can get a more powerful $399 PS4?

The problem is they should have started off w/out the kinect and a more powerful box in the first place.  It doesn't make sense to take out the kinect now as they've made it a centerpiece of the entire experience.  I belive it's a bad move.

See that is what I was thinking too.  On a positive side, the general stupid consumer will see this as good news and I am sure it will boost sales.  That in the long run will help the console with things like exclusives etc...  I'd still like to hear what the rest of you think but I am pretty sure that when I buy one, it will have Kinect.

i for one have been really happy they pushed kinect on customer.

at first i was like every one else o kinect is stupid and is not worth it, But after being forced to use it i have come to love the stuff you are able to do with kinect...  

as far as in game headtracking is a nice thing to have in racing games like forza  in bf4 its quicker to say  "Need Ammo"  or  "Need Medic'' then it would be to hold LB  and scroll to what you want  doing it that way can get you killed.

non gaming   it is nice being able to invt friends to party  with few voice commands, snapping and unsnapping app and so on .then on netflix  logging in picking a movie all by voice.

Apps like Skype video chat in full HD with Tracking on that is also very nice !

If you can look past all the big Plus kinect has to offer  so far (let alone what it could do in the future ) and $100 bucks is really to hurting for you to put out then buy all means do it ..

i just think in the long run your better off buying xb1 with kinect as weird as that sounds

I don't have room to use the kinect right now, so it's a bit pointless for me given my current setup. That being said, it's a good way to even the price point.

This is how they should have started off and later offered bundles with the Kinect and games that fully utilize the Kinect or they should have bundled games like the Kinect Sports with the system at the $500 price to give it more value.  

Like the article said, it doesn't help that Titanfall doesn't use Kinect and that Forza doesn't seem to have the same fan base as 3 and 4 did.  That being said, I'd love to be able to verbally issue the BF4 commands rather than use the bumpers, but I haven't checked if you can issue them verbally on PS4.

S7 SockPuppet wrote:This is how they should have started off and later offered bundles with the Kinect and games that fully utilize the Kinect or they should have bundled games like the Kinect Sports with the system at the $500 price to give it more value.  

Like the article said, it doesn't help that Titanfall doesn't use Kinect and that Forza doesn't seem to have the same fan base as 3 and 4 did.  That being said, I'd love to be able to verbally issue the BF4 commands rather than use the bumpers, but I haven't checked if you can issue them verbally on PS4.

Neither have I but the PS4 does have voice commands and frankly they work remarkably well.  The problem is that you need a mic to issues commands and therefore you can not issue commands while in party chat (unless you had the PSEye).  So for us it is a moot point since we are pretty much always in party chat lol.  Unless you are solo, it's not very usable.

Now I disagree with you about Kinect.  They made a commitment to the tech going in and stuck to their gun while under fire for the price point.  The thing is that Kinect was designed for the system from day one and the whole thing revolves around the Kinect commands.  Taking it away now is like selling the system with a major piece missing.  Don't get me wrong now, I don't like Kinect for gaming.  At least not yet and I will not buy a Kinect-only type game anytime soon (like Kinect sports) but the voice commands alone almost seem worth the price of admission.  The UI is also setup for Kinect use as well.  I mean, can you even "snap" stuff without it?

@ Atrum - So would you buy a Kinect-less model today if you were doing it all over?

Kinect is a must have. 

I personally don't have space to play games like kinect sports, but i'm talking about commands and recognition. All the in game stuff is pretty great, if some games don't have them, well they we aren't losing anything we haven't ever been without before. Then there is the DVR stuff. I love being able to say xbox record that and record the epic stuff i do here and there. Just sitting down and not having to sign in. third world problems i know. But never the less i think its the future of gaming and the future of xbox one. There will be more games that implement the real use of the kinect and that's when you'll be sorry you didn't get it.

Nope, I'd still have grabbed the model with the kinect. I'm going to be moving fairly soon or I'd have already moved the XBO to a better spot to use kinect. The Kinect fitness and games are all pretty cool, so I've always been a little bummed I can't do them with the current setup.

That being said, I could care less if my 'serious' games have kinect implemented.

Casual or social games are a blast with it though. the voice commands are nice too for turning it on, changing channels, etc.

After using the Xbox one with kinect I do like it but if this option was out when I bought mine I would have gone kinect less. Today I would want the kinect as the voice and video features are cool

I'd purchase with Kinect again, no question.
As mentioned for all the things it allows you to do with ease-- channels, volume, XBL parties, pause, play videos, turn console on/off etc, etc.

BTW, just one real gaming example: You can't pull over to use GPS and map a route back to a safe-house when being chased at 170 Mph by the cops and helicopters in Need For Speed (there is no pause in the game at all)...but you can just say "GPS Safe-house" to get a quick route back to the nearest safe-house to avoid arrest   .

You can also disconnect the kinect at anytime and go back-and-forth with or without, whichever suits you.

The Kinect is cool, and I would get one with it if I had the choice (and the funds to spend the extra). With that being said, besides turning the Xbox on and off I rarely use it. I have all the button presses and menu nav down now. The big thing with no Kinect would be no, "Xbox Record That".

I figured this was coming when it was going to be released in China. I bet it will be Kinect-less, as programing the different dialect, let alone the 2 main languages, would be burdensome.

~mrmiller

Me no like Kinect. I have it turned off and duct tape over the cam eye.   

Kinect is essential for the reasons listed above.  Some other cool things are that it signs in the users it recognizes and pauses games etc if you jump up and leave the room.  Kinect has been a bright spot in the experience and from the near unanimous opinions above (from those that actually own one) it would be foolish to buy a stripped down console.  I like the social kinect games, but I love all the other ease of use options it brings with it.

Used last night:
Record That... awesome
Play/Pause... forgot how life changing this feels to not have to reach for a remote that has turned off due to inactivity.

Air7Cav wrote:Me no like Kinect. I have it turned off and duct tape over the cam eye.   

Paranoid much?  Is your phone and laptop also taped up? lol  

To be fair those NSA docs that leaked showed they were able to access any computer webcam in wifi range that was connected to a network.

AtrumX wrote:To be fair those NSA docs that leaked showed they were able to access any computer webcam in wifi range that was connected to a network.

That is my point.  Of all the devices the NSA has access to you are more likely to be spied on from your phone or web-cam.only 4-6 million people have an X1, billions have phones/web-cams.

What ever I have nothing to hide spy on me all day if it makes you happy NSA. 😝

If the NSA really wants so badly to see my playing video games on my couch sitting in my boxers more power to them, lol.

Voice functions still work without the camera, but I am hard wired anyway for performance reasons.  I also could not care less if the NSA watched me playing child of light in the buff for hours on end.

S7 Coolhand wrote:Voice functions still work without the camera, but I am hard wired anyway for performance reasons.  I also could not care less if the NSA watched me playing child of light in the buff for hours on end.

Speaking of, give us an update on Child of Light (preferably in the proper forum lol)

I hope they make a xbox one setting that disabled the kinect voice commands on the xb1 ui. The voice commands on the xb1 are pretty sh1tty imo they don't work half the time and other people shouting out commands while you play is freaking annoying.  Thw kinect is cool for kinect games and using voice commands in games to control ai and select ingame stuff. The kinect xb1 menu  interface is just as sh1tty as it has been, but slower. Friend's list on xb1 totally fail. As for the sign in without a button press meh only cool if your gonna watch shitflix or not game, could be cool for any tard that can't use a controller.  The record this function of the xbox could have just been a button u push instead of a voice command.  Entering in codes for games or xbox dl content is the best feature of the kinect 2 (lol) but it really is. I would still buy one for kinect for the kinect games and the in game voice command, since the headset mic will not work for those, which is stupid. Basically the xb1 user interface is sh1tty and the friends/party snap bullshit is the worst and pisses me off every f n time I use it. Overall the xb1 is a 360 with a sh1tty er interface, but its got my bros so thats all that really matters

Air7Cav wrote:Me no like Kinect. I have it turned off and duct tape over the cam eye.   

I don't think anyone wants to see you sitting in front of the tv wearing no shirt, silenced dog tags, and cammy shorts.
Rest assured sir, the NSA is not looking for you.

Security through obscurity.

Really any monitoring of video footage would make a lot more sense for Microsoft to use for marketing purposes. Use the kinect to see what's lying around the room, target ads toward that.