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With the popularity of Alexa and Google Home was the hatred toward the Kinect justified?

asmith906

asmith906

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,412
I remember when the Kinect for the Xbox One was released a lot of criticism towards the device was because of privacy issues. With how popular things like Amazon Alexa and Google Home are it seems like Microsoft was actually ahead of the game with Kinect and Cortona. Would you like to see Kinect or something like it come back to the next Xbox?
 

Deleted member 8001

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
7,440
I never cared about the privacy thing. If Microsoft wanted to film me naked playing Phantasy Star Universe that's on them. The thing with Kinect though is that it just never was accurate enough, though I wouldn't mind them adopting the concept again but at this point it's probably better if Kinect was pushed to the side in favor of something better. Or, it could be used to help make VR potentially better some how.
 
Platy

Platy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
27,704
Brazil
My criticism to kinect since day one was that they made it something FOCUSED on it. It was never playing with the controller and suddenly you give a random voice command for a grenade or whatever.
 
Milk

Milk

Prophet of Truth
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
3,821
Pair an Alexa into a PS4 bundle and add $100 to the price and people will rampage there, too.

People aren't looking for an Alexa when they buy a gaming console.
 

Deleted member 6730

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
11,526
Kinect was marketed as a game's device and it was terrible at that. If Kinect was used for things other than the Xbox it would've been fine but MS really wanted a Wii killer.
 
LewieP

LewieP

Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,099
People's primary objections were rooted in it being mandatory and inflating the price of the console by ~$100 despite offering near-zero gaming functionality.
 
Lant_War

Lant_War

Classic Anus Game
The Fallen
Jul 14, 2018
23,586
The hatred for the Kinect was because Microsoft forced it day one in the release of the Xbox One, making it $100 more expensive than the PS4.
 

Deleted member 1607

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
401
Privacy wasn't a big concern with the Kinect on 360, if you remember the NSA spying scandal and MS being listed as part of it happened around the time of the Xbox one reveal and with the new Kinect being mandatory and always on it didn't go over well.

People buy into Alexa willingly.
 
ThereAreFourNaan

ThereAreFourNaan

Member
Nov 8, 2017
13,113
That was part of it. Another part was hatred directed towards something perceived as "for casuals", another was the overall price of the system. It was certainly ahead of its time insofar as the room-scale voice commands at an OS level were very forward thinking - the advanced camera part was basically a dead end.
 
tommy7154

tommy7154

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,370
Lant_War said:
The hatred for the Kinect was because Microsoft forced it day one in the release of the Xbox One, making it $100 more expensive than the PS4.
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Yep its this. They forced it and wanted you to pay $100 more for it when your other option was to say "no thanks" and buy a technically superior console for $100 less. We see how that worked out.

The privacy issue was just a cherry on top.
 
Siggy-P

Siggy-P

Avenger
Mar 18, 2018
11,865
Kinect never worked properly and pretty much all the games were bad.

Had it been simpler and more intuitive then maybe it could still be a thing...
 
daegan

daegan

#REFANTAZIO SWEEP
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,900
The pity is that by now if they had made the SDK available to indies and kept it in every box you would have some cool shit. They absolutely should have eaten the cost.
 
SeanM

SeanM

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,434
USA
My problem with Kinect is that it required like 10 feet of "play space" or whatever. Wasn't feasible for anyone living in an apartment.
 
Kyzer

Kyzer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,709
I don't see how they're related. Having a smart home hub is pretty different than playing games with your body
 
justiceiro

justiceiro

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
6,664
Privacy was just a more resoanable jusficative. Saying that you simply didnt want to rethink the way you control games or simple that you like being lazy dont sound too convincing, you know?
 
jacks81x

jacks81x

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,460
NYC
Not sure how Kinect and Cortana were ahead of the game when neither were the first mainstream product of its kind. Kinect was MS's response to the Wii and Cortana came out well after Siri.
 
Captain of Outer Space

Captain of Outer Space

Come Sale Away With Me
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Oct 28, 2017
11,356
Microsoft made a terrible product compared to what Google, Amazon, and Apple have done since then, so they blew their shot.
 
low-G

low-G

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,144
Yeah we unplugged the Amazon Echo we got as a gift. Privacy concerns are still valid.
 
Derrick01

Derrick01

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,289
Besides the fact that it was a terrible gaming device that didn't work for anything other than voice commands (sometimes) and could only work on casual games, considering that it's been proven alexa and the others actually do spy on you and collect your data and record voice stuff...I'd say yeah the fear was well justified. You can't trust any of these tech companies to not steal whatever they can.
 
Robin

Robin

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Oct 25, 2017
3,503
I never had any problem with Kinect existing, it was just exhausting seeing Microsoft lead with it for like, 4 straight E3 conferences when it was near unanimously considered a blunder. It was strange to see them double down and bundled their next console with it. The technology is interesting but they never really did anything compelling with it. It was around for like, seven years before it was discontinued and even with all that time it never "arrived". The privacy concerns were valid, but people can find actual utility with the smart speakers, which is why I have like 3 of them. Kinect never really had that short of turning the TV on and off.
 
Popetita

Popetita

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
1,957
TX|PR
No but it was another cool piece of tech that was sent out to die.
 
MZZ

MZZ

Member
Nov 2, 2017
4,263
The hatred for it comes from being a gimmick pushed down peoples throats when it rarely works well and nobody really wanted it. The privacy issues were just a supplementary point people used to bring the product down further. People say the voice commands is good but the target audience did not really need that. People also needed to get used to voice assistants like siri in a setting where it kinda makes sense. The kinect could've been a huge deal but its target audience didn't respond well on the premise. The technology will have its other more useful applications though.
 
Josh5890

Josh5890

I'm Your Favorite Poster's Favorite Poster
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,240
Anything that "hardcore gamers" feel threatens their traditional games will get unlimited hatred. Guaranteed
 
Forkball

Forkball

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,941
Robin said:
I never had any problem with Kinect existing, it was just exhausting seeing Microsoft lead with it for like, 4 straight E3 conferences when it was near unanimously considered a blunder. It was strange to see them double down and bundled their next console with it. The technology is interesting but they never really did anything compelling with it. It was around for like, seven years before it was discontinued and even with all that time it never "arrived". The privacy concerns were valid, but people can find actual utility with the smart speakers, which is why I have like 3 of them. Kinect never really had that short of turning the TV on and off.
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Kinect sold tens of millions. It was definitely a success so I can see why Microsoft wanted to keep supporting it. Some companies were even using Kinect for non gaming purposes.

But yes, their mistake was pushing it not as an option but as a fundamental part of the Xbox. It jacked up the price, and at that time interest in motion controls had faded. And yeah... good god those post Kinect E3s lasted eons.
 
Jaypah

Jaypah

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,866
Considering you're asking specifically about the privacy concerns of Kinect for XB1, yeah it was overblown in hindsight. At the time though people weren't used to the idea of speaking to their electronics so it did come of as weird and even unsettling to some, especially with the whole NSA thing. But it was just another thing in a long line of stuff that went wrong for them (and Kinect). Add in the constant pot shots from a very heated console war and it seemed like a bigger deal than it was. It's sheer inclusion and what it meant for the price, power and perception of the console was a much bigger real-world deal.
 
Ganransu

Ganransu

Member
Nov 21, 2017
1,270
EmZeezi said:
The hatred for it comes from being a gimmick pushed down peoples throats when it rarely works well and nobody really wanted it. The privacy issues were just a supplementary point people used to bring the product down further. People say the voice commands is good but the target audience did not really need that. People also needed to get used to voice assistants like siri in a setting where it kinda makes sense. The kinect could've been a huge deal but its target audience didn't respond well on the premise. The technology will have its other more useful applications though.
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This is me basically. Kinect didn't seem to have much purpose in game genres I care about, the privacy issues are just the shit-icing on the shit-cake, as they say.

I wouldn't say I wanted the tech to die with Kinect though.
 
Fisty

Fisty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,232
Are you trying to order new socks or play video games? I think one of the main issues with it is MS never demonstrated it's worth and necessity to gamers.
 
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