No. The cameras have virtually nothing to do with the size of Kinect. The microphones determine the width of the device.

Generally, it would be a bad idea to incorporate the hardware into the box. More heat, more em interference, and what about the people who are not interested in Kinect?

I hope they do include Kinect with the NextBox, both because it'll mean more support, but also because I think this man is correct, and a 100% attachrate means developers are more likely to explore what they can do with their games.

It's true - obviously. Kinect being an optional peripheral means that Kinect games have a much smaller target audience. Game developers pretty much only have two choices:
- Develop a game that requires Kinect, but make it a low budget title because requiring Kinect reduces the number of potential buyers (and thus the expected revenue) by 80%
- Develop a game that only has optional Kinect support. This way, you don't lose 80% of the potential buyers, but on the other hand this will usually mean that Kinect support only gets cheaply sticked on instead of being really an important, intelligent and integral part of the game

Playstation Move (and WiiMotion+) have the same problems of course, which is why I've always been saying that I expect all next-generation consoles to ship with a camera/microphone combination that allows for motion controlled games.

I'm still a bit sceptical though that Microsoft will actually include expensive Kinect technology into the next Xbox instead of cheap and simple webcam-like cameras. Integrating expensive Kinect technology seems odd for a company who was so far very successful with its strategy of being cheaper than the competition by keeping production costs to a minimum.
Kinect couldn't quite live up to the expectations anyway, the whole hype lasted only about 60 days. Like the PS3's Blu-Ray drive in 2006, it would be a huge risk to the console's success. The feature would attract a few customers, but much more potential customers would probably be lost due to the increased price tag. And the traditional Xbox audience doesn't care much for Kinect anyway...

So, I rather expect Microsoft to bury Kinect with their next console. They'll keep the most successful features like voice control etc., but they will switch to cheap webcam-like cameras and try to adopt their skeleton tracking algorithms to this kind of hardware.

That would certainly help the games. And with a dedicated port or faster USB the resolution and frame rate restrictions should be gone.

Building it into the console will not work however due to interference with the microphones and severe restrictions on placement of the console.

There is still the big problem of room size requirements. The next Kinect could be more flexible, but there is still a large market that doesn't even have a little room to move around or just want to play in the bedroom.

I don't think microsoft wants to up the price and include it with every system when a lot of people can't use or don't want to use kinect anyway. It's more likely it will be like this generation's arcade / elite situation.

Games should still be better. The adoption rate should be higher next gen especially if games developers can show what they have learned this gen and make use of the higher resolution and decreased lag.

There is another possibility, MS keeps the 360 with Kinect around for the casual market at a new low price and launches a hardcore next box alongside. I'm sure they would love the additional revenue stream that the ps2 kept giving sony during the launch of the ps3 and both systems give them live fees.

Pretty stupid idea to have Kinect built right on into the Nextbox.
I think he meant to have Kinect 2.0 or whatever bundled with every single Nextbox just like you get an a controller.

My biggest concern is the effect a bundled Kinect would have on the 720's processing power. What if including a kinect meant that the gpu or cpu had to be a little less powerful or capable? Personally, I'd much rather have a system that runs games more smoothly and has more versatility (vid capture while gaming online and listening to custom tracks) than forced motion controls (scowls at his Wii).

I think they'll bundle a newer, smaller and much more CPU-dependent 720p version of kinect into the 400USD Eliite xbox 720. Sell the core xbox 720 for 300USD and sell Kinect v2.0 separately for 100 bux. The older version should be no more than 60 bux by the time 720 launches in 2013.

Kinect ver 1 being backwards compatible with most xbox 720 motion-controlled games. I'm thinking it'll work similarly to the way Brawl and Mario Kart support GC and Classic controllers or how some PS3 games support both DS3 and Six asis controllers.

I think this is definitely something MS should consider next gen.

Kinect has been huge and putting the capabilities directly in the console at the start of next gen would be a good idea. Kinect (and to some extent Move as well) will always have developers thinking "Well, not all users have this device...but they do have a controller..." Taking that out of the equation would be huge.

that is a true statement by Epic

well I love how people complain about the price if it was integrated.... well I was all for a separation of HD dvd player and blu ray back during the war.... now I'm thinking it is stupid in many ways.... if it doesn't increase the price by more than a 100 bucks.... because if you go like that we could say the same about people not wanting the ethernet chipset the wi fi integration more than one game pad port no dvd player etc etc.... I mean come on if you don't wanna use it don't but the inclusion of such tech aimed at GAMES on a GAMING console is more essential for the market the user and the developer than all the other goodies you have in most console now a days..... even if you don't like it over of this goodies it makes perfect sense.... once again if it doesn't crank up the price of the console like blu ray did... but a tech like kinect even improved by the time the next gen come out shouldn't be that expensive anymore.....
and knowing MS they'll come out with an arcade version no HDD and no kinect and a fully loaded one with a better option/price ratio than the arcade..... so your unsatisfied haters can buy the low grade one.... and we can get a full game experience for the right price.... I have rarely seen that much hatred towards a tech even I don't hate as much on PS and apple lol....