Xbox One Could Be More Powerful Without Kinect

[fix-the-spade]

If anything games will now likely be on par with PS4 games. Maybe getting their resolution up to 900dpi at best.

No, ultimately the only way the Xbone would reach parity with the PS4 would be new hardware internally, there is no way to 'fix' having a slower GPU and RAM beyond overclocking it and hoping for the best, Microsoft already know how that story goes.

I think with Kinect 2.0 Microsoft had their eyes on targeted advertising rather than user convenience. If they'd been able to push through their online requirement and people had bought the hardware in larger numbers they would have had free unlimited access to people's complete entertainment habits. TV, streaming, games, they would have a track of it all and with the Kinect they would have been able to (sort of) accurately track what got the most reliable reactions and attention from users. Selling that data on would have been worth billions.

Also, in the last year Microsoft have been filing patents on some of Kinect's broader features, so I would have guessed that they were planning to roll out the data gathering techniques to computers and smart phones too. My conspiracy theory is that Microsoft were trying to be the new Nielsen and rivaling Google for ad revenue.

It would seem that low Kinect uptake and usage have put even the potential for that plan on hold.

 

[1337mokro]

Oh Kinect! You are like the sixth toe on a foot.

 

[seditary]

I think the funniest thing is that the Kinect isn't even that bad, it's actually a really cool piece of hardware.

It's just that every single instance of it being cool had absolutely nothing at all to do with the XBox, every single instance was in relation to some whacky use some tinkerer found for it in relation to basically everything but the XBox.

They should never have coupled the damn thing with the XBox to begin with. They should have released it as a stand-alone peripheral with a strong SDK (Software Development Kit) supported on as many platforms as possible and endeavored to create a healthy developer market around it with many apps making use of it's capabilities.

Because the Kinect just isn't that good at games yet, not now, not without further development of itself and in related fields. But at this point it is really good at other things, things you currently only see in crazy YouTube videos and not in the general market.

Its kind of sad that the best gaming use for the Kinect I've seen so far is people hacking it into Gmod lol.

 

[Buizel91]

If that's the case, I may consider buying an XB1. I never wanted the Kinect, so why would I want it to be included?

To quote Zero Punctuation, "It's like tying your breakfast to a plague rat."

^Seconded, while i was going to end up with one anyway thanks to Halo 5, i never wanted to get Kinect as well.

Hello Christmas Present! xD

 

[Rozalia1]

Unless Microsoft comes up with a patch that would remove the need for Kinect for early adopters, this is irrelevant. Because game developers will still have to code their games having in mind early adopters with mandatory Kinect.

That or they start taking advice from Sega on how to support a console.

 

[Bocaj2000]

I think the funniest thing is that the Kinect isn't even that bad, it's actually a really cool piece of hardware.

It's just that every single instance of it being cool had absolutely nothing at all to do with the XBox, every single instance was in relation to some whacky use some tinkerer found for it in relation to basically everything but the XBox.

They should never have coupled the damn thing with the XBox to begin with. They should have released it as a stand-alone peripheral with a strong SDK (Software Development Kit) supported on as many platforms as possible and endeavored to create a healthy developer market around it with many apps making use of it's capabilities.

Because the Kinect just isn't that good at games yet, not now, not without further development of itself and in related fields. But at this point it is really good at other things, things you currently only see in crazy YouTube videos and not in the general market.

Agreed. I have used the Kinect for several interactive art pieces, but not a single XBox game. Although it can do a LOT, it's simply not a viable alternative for a game controller.

 

[michael87cn]

The Xbox One: when we turns off our webcam, we gets a good computah!

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

wow, is almost as if the kinect was a fucking terrible idea all this time!

 

[Strazdas]

Of course it would be more pwoerful. it does not need to waste time processing your room in real time constantly.

Before anyone asks: This would free up CPU time, not GPU time. Expect better AI, not higher resolution or framerate.

P.S. Thanks

or CPU physics. because thats still a thing.

Mmm, nope. While it's true that it's likely to free up processing power, it's CPU power that's being freed up and will have little to no bearing on actual rendering performance. In other words, you won't get noticeably higher framerates. This is a marketing ploy to make people think what you just did.

considering the CPU chip they are using (underpowered mobile chip) it could very well have been a bottleneck.

Does anyone know about this Directx 12, whether it will be an update for the XB1 in the future and if so will it improve the graphics capabilities on the xb1?

DirectX 12 will be a sucessor to DirectX 11. Currently gaming PCs run directX11.2 (if they are up to date of course) and so does Xbone. PS4 uses OpenGL. its baiscally a higher layer API to code for. PCs will get DirectX 12 most definatelly, i am not sure if the Xbox card supports it or not at the moment, if it does it could be introduced via software upgrade. From what i heard about it its going to improve performance in the graphics department, so if Xbox One gets that, it will improve its performance (but it will also improve performance of PCs the same so the only advantage here is over PS4. Then again, if OpenGL gets updated (which is an open source format, so even you and me can try) PS4 would also perform better (and PC games that use OpenGL, as rare as it is nowadays).

Tl;dr if the Xbox card supports it - yes.

 

[Arawn]

/facepalm

This is abit of a shock. You mean to tell me that during all that product testing they NEVER realized/noticed that the Xbox One worked better without the Kinect? Seriously? I figure that's one of the first things one would do with an accessory or peripheral. "Let's see how the system works without connection A, now let's see how it works with connection A." Something scientific, no? They wouldn't just plop out the system without putting it through some test. At least I hope not. That aside how could they even consider saying that? A product that handicaps their system? Why would they sabotage themselves?

 

[spartandude]

So how big is this jump on processing power? Are we talking the very minor differences between older Xbox 360 models and new models or is this something which could actually effect game development.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

OK, just for shits and giggles at this point, someone that isn't me needs to make a timeline of Microsoft's stance with the Kinect and properly display it. Then, after the Kinect-less version is out for a little while, put up a sales chart right next to afore mentioned timeline.

Should be a kinda funny comparison, imo.

 

[Nazulu]

That's what we were trying to tell you all this time Microsoft, that you're stupid. And that the Kinnect is a weak gimmick that you should prove to be an improvement instead of just bundling it with the system.

I was hoping all the surprise and sarcasm would come back. Love these threads.

 

[N3squ1ck]

Before anyone asks: This would free up CPU time, not GPU time. Expect better AI, not higher resolution or framerate.

P.S. Thanks

GPU time, actually.

The patch they released back in January changed the 10% GPU time reserved for the Kinect down to just 2%.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2014/01/28/rumor-xbox-one-might-be-getting-gpu-performance-patch/

The Kinect could also be using up CPU cycles, but they've confirmed it uses up to 10% of the GPU as well.

So they're now freeing two more percent of the GPU power?

Wow, that's one gigantic step for microsoft, but a small one for gaming as a whole

Edit: words

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Instead of cordoning off a portion of your processor for nonsense, why not let the developer decide how to use the resources the console provides?

 

[MonkeyPunch]

I know I'm late to the party on this one... but doesn't this potentially mean that some games might run smooth on a Kinect-free Xbox1 but might not be as smooth on a box with Kinect?
That would quite funny but also quite a big smack in the face of the early adopters.