XBox One with no Kinect for $399. No more paywall for media services (Netflix, Hulu, etc)

[Keith Wallace]

Since they made this announcement prior to E3, I think they must have some HUGE announcements to make.... This could have stolen the show

I think it's about doing it when the competition has nothing to announce, meaning you get all of the media attention. Then, to add on, they really want to push the console as a gaming console at E3, since last year was a lot about the other stuff. This gets them good P.R. headed into E3, it gets the spotlight on them, then they get a chance to show off the games themselves.

 

[trainplane]

The ps3 was more "powerfull" then the 360, and it had no impact on sales. Exclusives sell hardware, and my money is with MS this time around.

This is not entirely true. Some aspects of the PS3 were more powerful but other parts of the 360 were more powerful. Many multiplatform games looked better on the 360. For the XB1, it is less powerful in every graphical aspect and the multiplatform games look worse, sometimes much worse. 1080p vs 720p.

The no-Kinect XB1 is now virtually a weaker PS4 with fewer games. The advantages that the XB1 has such as more apps and entertainment offerings are not resonating as much with consumers. The only differentiating factors now are the controller and exclusives.

But, the good thing is I think (or hope) MS now learned their lesson. The core gamer, who might not be a big part of the total audience but has a big part in the mindshare of a device, wants bang for their buck. It's too late for the XB1, but the next Xbox, if there is one, will have to have the highest end components that can fit in a $400-ish box--like the PS4.

 

[Citizen X]

The primary use for my xbox 360 is as a media center extender. In a mind boggling move MSFT decided to kill that capability in the Xbox One. The end result is I will never own an Xbox One. $400 for something that can't even stream my tv shows from my desktop? Someone in Redmond needs to put the crack pipe down.

All I need for TV is a Tuner card and an indoor HDTV antenna. Now I have 1080i with much less compression than cable and a DVR with unlimited capacity. And best of all no cable or rental fees. But MSFT killed it. One of their most unique and innovative products and they killed it.

 

[TonyDedrick]

At the end of the day, the Xbox One will be fine, Kinect or no Kinect.

 

[Coreldan]

The primary use for my xbox 360 is as a media center extender. In a mind boggling move MSFT decided to kill that capability in the Xbox One. The end result is I will never own an Xbox One. $400 for something that can't even stream my tv shows from my desktop? Someone in Redmond needs to put the crack pipe down.

All I need for TV is a Tuner card and an indoor HDTV antenna. Now I have 1080i with much less compression than cable and a DVR with unlimited capacity. And best of all no cable or rental fees. But MSFT killed it. One of their most unique and innovative products and they killed it.

I think MS realizes how great product it was too, it just never really took off. People who use it like you do are a small marginal group, they've killed off their Media Center support anyways AFAIK, so probably supporting it for Xbox One would've been "wasted" resources for them.

 

[Vallos]

Devs Respond to Microsoft's New Kinect-Less Xbox One - IGN

 

[Citizen X]

I think MS realizes how great product it was too, it just never really took off. People who use it like you do are a small marginal group, they've killed off their Media Center support anyways AFAIK, so probably supporting it for Xbox One would've been "wasted" resources for them.

I would like to refer you to a little company called Ceton. Don't worry I never heard of them before 2010. As far as I know they never made a mass market consumer product before then.

I read an article in late 2010 about people spending $399 a pop on a cable tuner card to use with Windows Media Center. You read that right. They were spending as much as the cost of an Xbox One (minus Kinect) on a 4 tuner PCI card so they could leverage the full power of Windows Media Center. The company couldn't keep up with orders. Eventually other people jumped into the market.

I don't know the true current size of the Windows Media Center market but it is pretty shocking that less than four years ago people were lining up to pay $399 for the Cadillac of tuner cards to work with WMC. Honestly between sharing netflix and Hulu with a friend and my WMC setup I pay next to nothing for my video entertainment.

By the way that 4 tuner card that sold for $399 in late 2010 is now $250 and has six tuners. So six dvrs all recording at once to an unlimited amount of HDD space that is user expandable. If apple had something like this it would be on the cover of TIME magazine.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Devs Respond to Microsoft's New Kinect-Less Xbox One - IGN

Well, they can kindly StFU about it. They're still going to have probably 80% of the user base owning a Kinect, and they opted to not integrate the thing with their early games or announce compelling near-future games to make the Kinect sound like an appealing addition to the console.

I can't help but laugh at how when the One was announced, people cried how they didn't care about the Kinect and the media went on about how the extra $100 for that thing was going to be a death sentence. Now that it's gone, it seems like about 60% of the media is crying it is a bad move.

 

[Vallos]

The argument can be made for both sides, but I agree - "built it, and they will come".

 

[Christopher Lindsay]

I would like to refer you to a little company called Ceton. Don't worry I never heard of them before 2010. As far as I know they never made a mass market consumer product before then.

I read an article in late 2010 about people spending $399 a pop on a cable tuner card to use with Windows Media Center. You read that right. They were spending as much as the cost of an Xbox One (minus Kinect) on a 4 tuner PCI card so they could leverage the full power of Windows Media Center. The company couldn't keep up with orders. Eventually other people jumped into the market.

I don't know the true current size of the Windows Media Center market but it is pretty shocking that less than four years ago people were lining up to pay $399 for the Cadillac of tuner cards to work with WMC. Honestly between sharing netflix and Hulu with a friend and my WMC setup I pay next to nothing for my video entertainment.

By the way that 4 tuner card that sold for $399 in late 2010 is now $250 and has six tuners. So six dvrs all recording at once to an unlimited amount of HDD space that is user expandable. If apple had something like this it would be on the cover of TIME magazine.

I actually nearly bought one of those a few years ago.

 

[ncxcstud]

Well, they can kindly StFU about it. They're still going to have probably 80% of the user base owning a Kinect, and they opted to not integrate the thing with their early games or announce compelling near-future games to make the Kinect sound like an appealing addition to the console.

I can't help but laugh at how when the One was announced, people cried how they didn't care about the Kinect and the media went on about how the extra $100 for that thing was going to be a death sentence. Now that it's gone, it seems like about 60% of the media is crying it is a bad move.

As a fan of the Kinect I was thinking the same thing. It seems harmonix is the only one who seems to care and knows how to use the Kinect.

Thought I thought the gunstringer on the 360 was a really good game too.

If you make a great game with unique features and a compelling use for the Kinect, people will buy it and your game. Simple as that.

 

[Coreldan]

I don't care that much for purely Kinect games, but I'm gonna miss just normal games having slight things with it. It sucks *** that Titanfall doesn't use it for anything. In Thief it was great to be able to fe. whistle to get the guards attention to lure them somewhere, although with a 8 months old kid in the house it was hard to be sneaky at all when the feature was on lol, but I did turn it on when she was asleep/not home.