Kinect is going to be the anchor that ends up dragging MS behind Sony. At E3 this year we saw fewer kinect games than back when kinect was a $150 add-on. Developers do not like developing for gimmicks (Second screen thing will soon die as well) and putting a kinect in every box is not going to change that. Gamers don't care for it and considering the current privacy paranoia sweeping the nation, the device has gone from useless waste of space to something that people don't want to touch with a ten foot pole.

I don't understand MS, they are so committed to kinect yet there barely paid it any mind at their press confernece. Drop kinect, drop the price and sell kinect for $150 like before. ALOT of people will still buy it. Developers will continue to ignore it and so will most hardcore gamers but they were going to do that regardless of whether or not you bundled 10 with every xbox. The family crowd however will still eat it up and enjoy their kinect sports and convenient channel swithcing. Win/win.

What do you think? Will putting the kinect in every box make it more appealing to developers/gamers?

The one benefit of having Kinect in the box for all Xbox's is that you can at least make features that take advantage of it. The problem if you make multiplatform games would be that Sony/Nintendo don't, so you have to spend time/money on features that only 1/3 of the users might get access to.

So its kind of catch 22.

Madword said: The one benefit of having Kinect in the box for all Xbox's is that you can at least make features that take advantage of it. The problem if you make multiplatform games would be that Sony/Nintendo don't, so you have to spend time/money on features that only 1/3 of the users might get access to. So its kind of catch 22.

Kinect doesn't need to be in every box in order for devs to make features for it. Devs made features for the old kinect and that was not in every box. (ie. Mass Effect, Ghost Recon, etc). I'm sure it would still be very successful as an add on. Successful enough that devs wouldn't mind making a few features for it.

One mans gimmick is another mans advantage. I think the majority fear change. Innovation is change. Therefore the majority fears innovation. Kinect will be amazing when a developer spends the time developing the right game for it. That can only happen if the attach rate is high. So yes. Kinect will change things. It's only a matter of time.

Kinect is bundled so that developers can be certain everyone has one and can develop features for it. Casuals will like the improved Kinect, but I hope no core games force you to use it.

IMO despite the inferior camera, PScamera + Move, or maybe just with the light on the controller if that works well, will be a superior combo (see media molecule Feb demo), albeit underutilized because of it not coming as standard.

Maybe Sony ends up bundling the camera with every system down the line, should only add 50$ to the price. But as you said, with the privacy paranoia, it was smart of them not to include it with the system right now. And with only costing 60$, maybe it will be a no brainer accessory if they end up bundling it with some cool new motion based games (not Playroom for sure).

I think it will be good in the long-run for Kinect to be included in every box. Since developers will know that every Xbox owner has one, they will be much more likely to make good use of it, especially since it's really accurate now.

Am I expecting core, AAA, retail-sized games to be revolutionized by Kinect? Heck no; the traditional controller will still be the go-to control scheme, especially for multiplatform games that aren't aimed at casual audiences. But a smaller developer (or a small game made by any developer, for that matter) might be able to create some unique experiences that make good use of the updated Kinect.

Also, voice/motion control of the UI is freaking cool. It's awesome, and I can't wait.

They didn't pay much attention to Kinect at E3 because E3 is for the core. You didn't see anything of Wii Fit U, too, did you? At least I didn't see anything and it will release this year as well. Nintendo and Microsoft understand, which part of their audience is following E3.
Kinect bundled with each SKU is important to not fragment the audience, since that is rarely a good idea. Maybe we will see a hardcore game make some really good use of Kinect. Also the console features depend on Kinect, things like controller switching and heart rate scanning (I hope it actually works^^).

snyps said: One mans gimmick is another mans advantage. I think the majority fear change. Innovation is change. Therefore the majority fears innovation. Kinect will be amazing when a developer spends the time developing the right game for it. That can only happen if the attach rate is high. So yes. Kinect will change things. It's only a matter of time.

That didn't really work out for the WiiU. Unlike the kinect with xbone the gamepad has been a central part of the marketing for the WiiU from day 1 and still nothing compelling has come out of it. Third party developers are barely trying anymore. Just because its bundled with every box does not guarantee support from developers.

The idea is to have all games and consoles to have 100% universal support, no breaking up user base.

Plus it has a casual appeal and god forbid we use its features for pure convienence.

But hey, MS can price drop if they have to. They certainly can afford to.

I actually think that having a Kinect in every box will also help the PS4 out. Since it's a standard in every Xbox One and a dev uses it's abilities, why not modify it to work on the PSEye also? They already spent the resources of utilizing it on the One. So instead of an afterthought, it's automatic. I'm talking about multiplats.

It was a wise move by Sony to not include the Eye, because MS is already making way for the developement. Sony is able to sell there console for $100 cheaper and make it more appealing to the masses, while also benefiting from Microsoft standardization.