At first I couldn't figure it out ... there was something illogical about it ...
If the XBox One is designed with core gamers in mind like they said, than why would they make the kinect a mandatory device ?
Just look at the blockbuster IPs like GTA, Halo, Gran tourismo, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Final Fantasy ... they don't require a device like kinect, and I don't believe they ever will.
Gamers just want a descent and comfortable controller, and as responsive and lagless as possible.
And Microsoft wouldn't have to integrate the HDMI pass-through either, because core gamers are not interested in those kind of gadgets at all.
But I suspect it's not about gaming at all .. it's all about targeted adds and registration of which adds are viewed and by who.
I mean, look at Google ... those webbased targeted adds in the searchresults are their biggest cashcow, and Bing doesn't even come near a small percentage of that kind of revenue.
But with Kinect, they can monitor who's sitting in front of the TV, they can even see what kind of pets you have and the amount of children in your household and their ages.
And if the HDMI pass-through is connected, they can even monitor which movies and shows you're watching.
Once kinect sends a small signal to the cable-provider with information about the audience, they can easily select and stream the targeted commercials to your cablebox or to your xbox so that the silverlight technology will display it.
Even if you're going to the kitchen or the bathroom while the commercials are on, they would know you're not around and pause the commercials for the time being.
So, it's not about gaming ... it's much, much more about advertising, and that's exactly in Balmers league and vision .. control over the screen in your livingroom with lots of advertising.
And that's also the reason why they messed up their latest E3, because the XBox One + kinect might just be another scam.
Like a trojan horse, but they will not and shall not confess their masterplan. Instead, they show you some exclusive IP's to distract you from their hidden agenda.
You would be paying a $100 more just so they can push their adds down your throats, and in the meantime they'll have their own cashcow while you are waiting for the adds to finish.
And that's why I think kinect is mandatory and why it needs to be plugged in.
That's going to be the XBox's future as they like to see it, and why Microsoft was so eager to invest in it all these years.
It would be pointless for Microsoft to invest billions in the platform just to sell games.
After all, they could publish their IPs like Halo, Gears and Forza on PC and/or PlayStation anyway without any heavy investments or risks.
But hey, those are just my thoughts, care to share me yours ? ;)
