http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/08/05/ask-microsoft-anything-about-xbox-one

WHITTEN: Xbox One is designed to work with Kinect plugged in. It makes gaming better in many ways – from the ability to say “Xbox On” and get right to your personalized homescreen, to the ability to control your TV through voice, Smartglass and more. Kinect allows you to search for your content, instantly move between games and your personalized dash and more with just your voice. Kinect helps you pick up and play by automatically knowing which controller you have in your hands. No more need to interrupt your friends game or navigate through multiple UI screens to sign in and tell the system which controller you are holding. It will even bind the controller to the console if its currently unbound – no searching for special buttons! Of course – these are just a few of the system wide benefits of having Kinect. Games use Kinect in a variety of amazing ways from adding voice to control your squad mates to adding lean and other simple controls beyond the controller to full immersive gameplay. That said, like online, the console will still function if Kinect isn’t plugged in, although you won’t be able to use any feature or experience that explicitly uses the sensor.

Wasn't sure if this should be another topic but thought it was important enough.

So this pretty much guarantees a version without kinect sometime in the future. I'm guessing they want to get it there and show people what it can do. Then the people who aren't early adopters can decide whether they want it or not.

Yes it does warrent it's own thread. No more tin foil hat speeches.

Great now i can wait for the Kinectless SKU. I was going to buy it at launch but fuck that now.

Well there we go. Maybe a version without kinect a year later. Or maybe it will always come with the console and this just means that you don't have to use it if you don't want to.

I heard not to long ago that if someone covers the Kinect. The system will not be able to operate, though it seems like it won't be the case now.

So when does the Kinect-less SKU come out?

That's great news.

Funny how you both emphasized different words.

BUT THERE ARE STILL MICROPHONES IN THE CONTROLLER RIGHT?! RIGHT?! Duct tape your controller and poke holes for the sticks and buttons JUST IN CASE.

@theht: yeah, I think my subconscious went towards the removal of kinect because that's apparently what so many people want. So "without" was the better word for those people.

Don't tell me you actually believed that.

I wonder if they'll have a Kinectless SKU for launch. I assume it would just be a matter of packaging though I don't really know the ins and outs of console production. I wouldn't be surprised if they announced it at Gamescom, since Phil Spencer is giving the keynote.

I hope this doesn't lead to them dropping the kinect completely. The system was built to use it and I hope it stays that way. $100 makes a difference to a lot of people and they should probably wait and see if this thing even works at all.

At least the option to not use it is available if you get it in the box.

I shit you not, I'm still gonna hear about how people will think that its otherwise in about six weeks from now.

Its sort of whatever to me. I'm still gonna buy it.

Does microsoft even know what the XboxOne is anymore? seems to be changing every week since e3.

So many 180s that even the suits responsible for the Xbone disaster are getting sick.

(Great news for the extremely paranoid people, gotta admit.)

I was more skeptical if anything. Though seeing how shady Microsoft has been I wouldn't be surprised.

Hmm interesting. I still want to see how the Kinect works, hope they don't drop it.

Haaaah. Man, what is even the point of this system anymore?

@make_me_mad said:

It still plays games right? So Video Games. Your comment makes not sense.

So many policy reversals. At least they all benefit the consumer, so good on them.

I was never bothered by it in the first place but still great to hear.

@bigjeffrey: Considering that they've basically been removing things from this system one after the other, with the always-online, the game sharing system, the no-disc-required thing, and now the Kinect, I'm just wondering what they actually have. I hated their policies, and the Kinect, but they've basically stripped their own system down to nearly nothing.

Great news.

Wow, so this is now pretty much a completely different system from when it was unveiled. As shitty as their initial vision was, I would have respected them more if they had stuck to it. At least partially so. All the changes they have made are most likely smarter business decisions, but it gives me the impression that they are radically redesigning everything in a relatively small time frame so they can be competitive with Sony during the holiday season. Hopefully all of this isn't as complicated and rushed as I'm imagining because this paints a picture where we could have another disastrous launch for a Microsoft console.

The 180s never stop coming.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/19/xbox-one-sticking-with-499-price-kinect-still-core-part-of-e/

We had a chance to speak with Xbox Chief Product Officer Marc Whitten this evening, following the company's DRM policy changes on Xbox One, and figured if we're already talking about changes, how about that $499 price?

"We really believe deeply in the value that we're delivering. Not just for the first day of launch, which we think is going to be amazing, with amazing games and entertainment experiences, but what this architecture can deliver over the long term." said Whitten. "We feel good about our price."

What about changing the price by removing the Kinect?

"We still absolutely believe in Kinect. It's a core part of the architecture. Frankly, it's really critical that you build it as something that's always there, always part of the platform. So that game creators, experience creators can know they can rely on it. And you, the user, that there's always a consistent experience. That it's not just an accessory."

Consumers aren't the only ones happy with today's changes. Both GameStop and rental service GameFly have applauded Microsoft for today's Xbox One policy shift.

More choice is always better but it needs to stay in the box.

If there is any lesson to be learned from this, it's that some people are just assholes by nature. The Internet is apparently full of them.

The same people who cried about having to have it plugged in are now complaining that it doesn't have to be plugged in.

That's halfway there. Now they just need to set the kinect on fire and let it die.

Waiting for a Kinect-less Xbox One now.

No Kinect-less SKU this year, maybe late next year, it would reek havoc on pre-order sales. Best I think people can hope for is for MS to drop the price between now and launch on the existing SKU by $50-$100. I question if that'll even happen though seeing that initial pre-order numbers are sold out, it would be them basically giving up money.

It's an improvement, that for sure.

Now all they have do is announce a Kinect-less bundle with a price on par with the PS4 and then Microsoft will have u-tuned into a console I might consider buying. The Kinect is just a giant Wii style cul-de-sac anyway, which is littered with families who buy like three Kinect games at best over five or more years.

@iburningstar said:

This is pretty much how I feel.

Microsoft having a Kinectless SKU at all seems to go against their plans for it. No developer in their right mind would even give two shits about it if wasn't standard with EVERY Xbox One. The only way to get some potentially interesting games out of it (keyword: potentially) is by forcing it into the homes of everyone who buys one, whether they want it or not.

There's definitely something odd about the order in which this has all been announced. Assuming the Kinnect represents a significant chunk of that $500 price, why insist on it being jammed in the box in the first place?

I was never that bothered by all the DRM stuff or the game loaning thing, nor am I part of the tin foil hat brigade assuming Microsoft employees have nothing better to do than watch me play games in my pants, but the overall messaging around the launch of this console has been so muddy, that I'm no clearer on whether we're better off or not as a result of all the recent announcements. People have been banging on about what you would need to do with the Kinnect to get the machine to work from day one, if it never needed to be attached why have they waited so long to say so?

As soon as I saw the headline I yelled out (quite loudly) "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON"

Cats and dogs living together MASS HYSTERIA!

@oscar__explosion: I'm going to say that either Presales numbers and consumer backlash has Microsoft saying the same thing.

I'll reiterate this statement every time it happens (and I used to say I didn't expect any more changes, but who the hell knows anymore.) But whatever the causes that have led to all these changes of policy have been great for the consumer. A more even playing field means that both sides have to stay on their toes, and both systems seem to have plenty of good stuff going for them.

Jeff said it before the crazy policies were announced by MS originally, but this generation seems like it's going to be a hell of a fight to watch.

I have an Xbox One Day One Edition Pre-ordered and am happy with it, but never have I seen so many people clamoring to "convince" others that a system is worth buying. Every single sentence that Microsoft has put out is disseminated and combed through to find something worth getting excited over. I was happy with their original policies, I have a super fast Internet connection with no data caps and family full of people that play games. Their policy changes have taken a system that was truly different from ps4 and progressive, to pretty much indistinguishable from it.

The cloud stuff, we will see how that all works out. Hopefully its used in new and exciting ways, but with the exception of exclusives (which lets be honest, X360 only have a few that were worth playing compared to ps3) I don't see multi-platform games really using it for more than matchmaking. The kinect is a feature that I, as someone that has 3 kids, want to work well; but I am also a sucker that bought the last one when it launched and the only "games" worth playing are the Doublefine ones.

Unfortunately at this point I am taking most of Microsofts talking points with a grain of sand. Even in that answer we got a whole paragraph saying why we need the kinect before he kinda says no. He says you wont be able to use feature that use the kinect. which is pretty much every feature besides just playing a game. They have reneged on virtually every single feature that was originally announced, with the exception of watching tv through it, and all the interface snapping-neither of which will likely work if you don't have your kinect attached.

I want to be excited for the system, but at this point-Microsoft needs to prove to me that it is worth owning.

And for posterity's sake:

I'm going Oculus Rift this time around and no console. My PC is all I want or need.

Fantastic. It was insane that it didn't.

I don't see how this guarantees a sku without a Kinect at all. What he said was that the console will function if the Kinect isn't plugged in. That's all this means.

I think you're generalizing a bit.

On a serious note now I will buy it eventually, after a hardware revision/ price drop.

This fucking thing makes no sense anymore. So Kinect is vital and necessary and important to the console, but now the Kinect just doesn't matter in spite of them saying how important it is to functioning in this ecosystem? This is goddamn ridiculous. It's officially gone the other way in that now I have no idea what the hell the Xbox One is or stands for, let alone why I would want one aside from the vague premise of "because it's another Xbox."

Lol I don't even know what this thing is anymore.

So now I'll feel OK purchasing it towards the end of its lifespan.

I'm kidding, there goes the last of my complaints with the console. But the fact remains that they went into this whole thing with a certain attitude towards the consumer, and I doubt that attitude has really changed.

Is anyone else kind of scared of how much Microsoft has changed the Xbox One? They seemed to have been pretty confident from the reveal of the X1 to E3, then a week later its been changing every week. It really feels like they have scratched the entire Xbox One and made a entirely new console starting just 6 months before its release.