So MS are releasing a kinectless SKU and i would argue they could do this without losing any major functionality. 

When MS or Forum goers talk about Kinect its 95% about the voice commands, there is no reason these could not still be done through the headset (PS4 Does).

Voice commands is what makes the console stand out, not the motion gaming of which you can count on 1 hand the number of devs that are using. 

I think a better strategy would of been to release a SKU that came with a Kinect lite which would of been a cheap mic array in the box with no depth cameras. 

How do you think MS should handle Kinect going forward?

Can they?

Why not Sony do, infact i can't name a single device with voice commands, that requires only 1 specific Mic.

No, they should keep it a Kinect premium. Poor people don't deserve such features. People want a Kinect-less console because they just want games, right? M$ listened. Now we are asking them to give us something the Kinect provided? No, you will just get games. No Soup for you!!!

No, if you don't want Kinect, then you don't get voice commands. Its one of the main features of Kinect, way more in depth phrases than the PS4 commands so I don't think going through a headset would work. Plus, who keeps a headset on while watching a movie or playing a single player game?

Why not? It's better to use a headset than not using the voice commands at all.

This.

But currently MS is in Sony mode and Sony's Voice commands work through Headset, so they might just do this as well.

Those that are playing Multiplayer and just want to say "Record That" when something cool happens. Without that your losing the record feature as well as kinect as there is no dedicated pad button.

Voice commands currently are just set phrases like the PS4 so i dont believe there is any technical reason why it shouldnt work through the headset.

But yes the Xbox has a much bigger list of set phrases, but there is no special natural language processing going on with it, you have to say the EXACT phrase.

Natural language is a feature they should add in the future though.

Cool stuff happens while playing single player too. They're just gonna have to snap Game DVR and record the last minute, 3 minutes or 5 minutes using the controller and edit from there. Every command Kinect does can be done manually, if you want voice commands to make it easier then you buy the premium product that does exactly that.

It does and fucking about in the menus in single player isnt to bad because you can pause the game while you do so, but in Multiplayer you just want an instant way to record while you carry on playing.

But does it not seem daft to requrie a $100 product to do something basic like voice commands, when every console ships with a perfectly good mic in the box.

Kinect should be about the motion gaming, its so expensive because of all the camera tech, not because of the mic.

Or as i said in my OP for people that want voice commands but still hate the camera tech, release a $20 version of Kinect that has the camera stuff taken out.