OXMUK

The rumour-worm has turned full circle. The cycle is complete. Not to be left out of the fun, Microsoft is now ruminating on the make-up of Xbox 720, reportedly code-named Durango. Or at least, product manager Glenn Gregory is.

We spoke to Gregory at a Kinect Star Wars event yesterday, shortly before humiliating ourselves in front of Princess Leia, and in accordance with modern interview law, the conversation eventually came round to next generation consoles.

In case you skipped the story, Gregoryreckons "there are a lot of capabilities in [Kinect] that people haven't used yet" (the next twelve months will apparently be "really interesting"). Would it help if Microsoft built Kinect into the next Xbox? Surely developers would have more incentive to wrangle with the hardware then?

"Yeah, I think so. There are a lot of 360 owners out there right now who don't have a Kinect, but there are a lot that do have Kinect. We'd love to have everyone on 360 incorporating it, but we don't know what they're going to do with the next console.

"I think it's about making as much of the core technology available to everybody who's engaging with the platform. A game like Mass Effect for example, if you knew that everyone who played that game has the same capabilities as Kinect owners then we'd see a lot more of the Kinect integration."

Gregory's words echo those of Alan Willard, Epic's senior technical artist and designer, who told us last year that built-in Kinect would lead to more "intelligent" games. "Once we know that we can rely on it, we can integrate it into the game at a much deeper level."

Your thoughts? According to one report, the next generation Xbox will arrive in two flavours- one, a "Kinect-themed gaming portal" with minimal storage capabilities, and two, a fully-featured hardcore machine.

http://www.oxm.co.uk/39803/microsoft-xbox-720-with-built-in-kinect-is-a-good-idea/

I've been saying this for quite some time. Of course it will.

I dont really want to place my console on top of my TV...

I've thought of this before myself, but after thinking about it for a while longer... You realise just how stupid and wrong it is.

It'll add heat. It'll make the console bulkier. It'll make you have your console, somewhere were you probably don't want it.

Just keep it as it is. An add on. Maybe have an SKU with it built in for a premium price, if you can keep heat levels down... But don't make it standard.

Writer doesnt really know what ruminating means.

Sounds daft... the Kinect device is already big, and it has to be able to move around slightly if I understand it correctly. Trying to put the next gen Xbox in the same unit as the Kinect tech is ridiculous.

It might be possible in a year or two to have an X360 and Kinect incorporated. X360 tech is probably old enough now that it would be able to fit into a relatively small case and still run cool, though it would have to be without a disc drive.

I don't see why it has to be built-in. It could just be a separate unit that comes in the box, like the Wii's infra red sensor.

Seece has already stated how stupid that idea is. the thing is, i've never seen Kinect placed on top of anyones TV.

it's always siting in front of there tv on top of there 360 while playing (think about a group of former choir members singing) Michael Jackson experience.

doesn't have to be on top of the tv from what i've seen. the one thing they could do is expand the depth and range.

maybe having the ability to scan the room no matter where you put it, while tracking movement after scanning the gamers playing.

just a thought.

I think they mean built in, as in, it comes with the Xbox 360 and is not something bought separately. They could even put some of the hardware from the kinect inside the Xbox to make the kinect smaller, but the camera would obviously have to be separate for positioning.

Wouldn't that essentially be the standard 360 Kinect bundle?