If I get an Xbox One, should I bother with Kinect?

[ncxcstud]

Q: Now with more games being released in 1080p due to developers and MS casting aside the 10% requirement for kinect, what if you have a kinect and buy a game that is specified for 1080p? Will the kinect not work/get disabled? Does the game still run in 1080p and you still have use of the kinect and all its functions? Does the game revert to 900p or other resolution?

Essentially what happens is that the ability for the Kinect to SEE you is turned off while you are playing those games. Voice commands still work.

I think destiny is the first game to really use that feature from Microsoft... It doesn't see you, but voice commands still work fine.

 

[Bobvfr]

I have Kinect but have to say I don't use it much, we have the media remote and that does most of our day to day use, I suppose I am just used to picking up a remote, on odd times I will use voice to turn the volume up or down.

In the UK the basic box is now down to ?329 and with connect it is ?399 and the Kinect on it's own is ?129 so a saving of ?59 if bought together.

I am going to buy another Xbox for our bedroom and as we don't use Kinect the temptation would be to buy for ?70 cheaper, use that money to buy a media remote, TV dongle and a game but then the sensible side of me kicks in and I will probably get it with Kinect.

If for nothing else that I do shift work and if I am in bed trying to sleep and the wife has left the telly on and gone into another room saying "Back in a minute" and half hour later I am still wide awake and getting peed off, having the luxury of being able to say Xbox off is just too tempting.

Plus you do future proof yourself and potentially save money.



Bob

 

[TachyonicCargo]

Honestly, after almost a year of ownership of my Xbox One, I cannot possibly imagine ownership of my Xbox One without the Kinect.

Put bluntly, the system was built around the new Kinect. Having the system without the Kinect, is like having only half an Xbox One. And it is sometimes hard to articulate that to people - especially those who equate gaming purely to specs and numbers. The new Kinect is not about just the games, but it is about an overall experience. And the experience just keeps getting better. And you simply cannot get that experience from any other "gadget", piece of tech, or consumer electronics anywhere else on the planet - not even the original Kinect compares. The original Kinect is like a Fisher-Price toy, in comparison to the new Kinect.

Think about it this way. For those of you who play your games, or watch your movies with a great 5.1 (or higher) surround sound system. How hard is it to go back to just plain stereo being piped out of crummy TV speakers? But the fact is, the vast majority of people who play games and watch movies, live their lives just like that - missing half the point of the experience. And have you ever tried to explain to people like that, in concrete terms exactly what they are missing? Often times, it is like talking to a brick wall. Most people just see the dollars and cents of it all, and that is all they want to see. And do not want to have to spend a dime more than they have to, to get the bare minimum out of the experience. Well owning/not owning the new Kinect is a lot like that. It's only half an Xbox One without out. Pure and simple. And the longer you own it, the more uses you find for it, the more convenient it makes your life, the more you never want to do without it.

I hope that helps.

 

[Bobvfr]

Very well put.





Bob

 

[Keith Wallace]

Put bluntly, the system was built around the new Kinect. Having the system without the Kinect, is like having only half an Xbox One.

I absolutely disagree. You make it sound like not having the Kinect means that nothing about the console is more than half-complete. I never needed the Kinect while playing Shadow of Mordor. I never need it at all during gaming, though are rare instances where I will use it to snap the Achievements app (something I do with the controller 90% of the time now anyway). You can absolutely survive without the Kinect, and do it well. If you aren't one to multitask and use all of the media apps, and you want the Xbox One solely for gaming (and not Kinect Sports Rivals), then the Kinect is not only optional, but almost a waste. I don't mind that I have the Kinect now (got it before the bundles without it were out there), but I'd absolutely trade the $100 Kinect for 2 more games or a game and a controller, because the more I use my Xbox, and the more they expand navigation without the Kinect, the less I use the Kinect. I went from using it for most of my navigation to using it maybe once or twice in the past week-plus, during which I was almost constantly playing Mordor.

Simply put, the Kinect has been mostly a flop for gaming, so if you're solely a gamer on the One, and you're not a social media person (Twitter/YouTube/Twitch/Facebook uploader), the Kinect's totally optional, and the furthest things from half of the console.

Again, I don't use Netflix, or YouTube (except for music videos on my PC), or Hulu, or anything else on my Xbox One. I play games, and that's it. I don't do the whole Game DVR thing, and the only rare instance I use for streaming is to show a game to a friend (and I don't use the Kinect for that). The Kinect, to me, is more like and SSD in a computer. It's nice to have the extra speed (for a SSD, in loading times, for the Kinect, in UI navigation), but I could go back to booting my computer from my HDD, and I wouldn't feel worse for wear (but the SSD was only $25, so I was willing to eat that cost).

 

[rex.reyesiii]

^ Yeh but you can play SoM on other platforms which means its complete there but on the XBox... :-X

Looks like its better if you get a high end PC or a PS4.

Simply put, the Kinect has been mostly a flop for gaming..

I disagree with this as Just Dance, Dance Central etc and other upcoming games uses Kinect... That I'm sure you'll never play, so yeh get a PS4.

 

[Keith Wallace]

^ Yeh but you can play SoM on other platforms which means its complete there but on the XBox... :-X

Looks like its better if you get a high end PC or a PS4.

I disagree with this as Just Dance, Dance Central etc and other upcoming games uses Kinect... That I'm sure you'll never play, so yeh get a PS4.

LOL, how ignorant of you to say what I should get, just because I don't like the Kinect as a gaming option. I mean, it's pretty telling when your comeback on gaming options for the Kinect are two versions of the same thing and "other upcoming games. I mean, Halo, Sunset Overdrive, and Titanfall skipped the Kinect, and they're three of the biggest exclusives on or coming to the platform.

Take the ****** angst and throw it out. Telling me to get a PS4 (I already have a high-end PC, though I need a GPU upgrade) because I don't play Kinect DDR is dumb. I play actual exclusives like Forza, Halo, and maybe Sunset Overdrive. Go ahead and tell me how those play on the a PC or PS4, because you seems to be bringing the big guns into the conversation.

I use a 720p TV for my One and my PC, so what good would pushing more pixels at it do, when the TV doesn't have that resolution?

 

[rex.reyesiii]

LOL, how ignorant of you to say what I should get, just because I don't like the Kinect as a gaming option. I mean, it's pretty telling when your comeback on gaming options for the Kinect are two versions of the same thing and "other upcoming games. I mean, Halo, Sunset Overdrive, and Titanfall skipped the Kinect, and they're three of the biggest exclusives on or coming to the platform.

Take the ****** angst and throw it out. Telling me to get a PS4 (I already have a high-end PC, though I need a GPU upgrade) because I don't play Kinect DDR is dumb. I play actual exclusives like Forza, Halo, and maybe Sunset Overdrive. Go ahead and tell me how those play on the a PC or PS4, because you seems to be bringing the big guns into the conversation.

LOL Why am I the ****** when I like the PS4 too and me and a friend will trade platforms soon because we can't afford both consoles? Well maybe he can and will just lend me his PS4 soon. :grin:

I will play actual exclusives like Bloodborne and playing/have played non exclusives like CD: Ghosts, NFS:Rivals on the PS4 etc on top of playing Forza 5, FH2 AND Dance Central Spotlight, Fantasia and "other upcoming Kinect games etc. that uses the full potential of the XBox One. On my low end have PC, DA:Origins Ultimate, Mass Effect 3 etc...

Put bluntly, the system was built around the new Kinect. Having the system without the Kinect, is like having only half an Xbox One.

Anyway I agreed with this post you quoted at first, now I really agree with it more comparing the experience and playing with other gaming platforms.

I use a 720p TV for my One and my PC, so what good would pushing more pixels at it do, when the TV doesn't have that resolution?

MMkayy..

 

[Keith Wallace]

LOL Why am I the ****** when I like the PS4 too and me and a friend will trade platforms soon because we can't afford both consoles? Well maybe he can and will just lend me his PS4 soon. :grin:

I disagreed with the need for the Kinect, and your response was "got get a PS4 or a PC," which was moronic on its face. Because I don't need to play a game, and thereby don't need the Kinect, I shouldn't play on the Xbox One? THAT is why I called you a ******, because you equated not liking the Kinect to not liking the Xbox One.

The whole Kinect is Xbox One" argument is a joke. They made the Kinect part of the console, but they basically conceded that they were wrong when they:

1. Stopped requiring the Kinect to be plugged in to power on the Xbox.
2. Started selling the Xbox One with the Kinect.
3. Started giving most Kinect commands non-Kinect commands on the controller (recording/snapping things).

I could literally unplug my Kinect, throw it out the window, and I wouldn't be losing out on any legitimate functionality with my Xbox. I play games, and I ONLY play games. I don't Skype. I don't consume other media. I don't record/share game clips. I don't stream games with my face in the corner of them (or at all, really). I have the 100% full experience of the Xbox One that I bought in for, and the Kinect was never a part of that vision for me. I feel like I have the furthest thing from half of an Xbox One when I don't use the Kinect. If possible at the time, I'd have gladly traded my Kinect for 2 more games, but so many folks wanted to trade them in that they're worthless on the resell market, basically.