User blog comment:Damac1214/Microsoft Just Removed the Kinect Being Bundled With the Xbox One, and This is a Huge Mistake (And How This Relates to Call of Duty)/@comment-1854594-20140514094526

Okay, I've read the whole thing. As can be expected, we have differing opinions. Here we go, I hope you will read this whole thing:

I still fail to see the Kinect's potential, at least not to the extent you do. Voice commands during a game are awkward, I've experienced them and stopped using them very quickly in both Skyrim and Mass Effect 3, not because it wouldn't work, but because it was akward and took me out of the experience. In terms of your motion examples, the PS4 and even the PS3 both have motion controls built into the controller that works great. Your described quick time events happen to work without issue even on PS3, no extra peripheral required. Killzone 2 in fact regularly had me cranking the controller to turn a valve.

Not to say it's pointless, party games are still great fun and I can see the appeal of it recognizing your face and auto-signing you in, or saying "Xbox On" to turn it on slightly faster. What you described for Project Spark isn't news at all, even the original Kinect was getting plugged into PCs and used for motion capture by people to help with their animations, but that doesn't change it being a great use. But these don't justify it being forced with the console to me.

I also disagree with the Wii U possibly getting it's gamepad gone. Wii U without the gamepad would be suicide. It truly is what makes the console. It's uses and utilities are far more unique and are what give the Wii U it's identity and makes it have purpose even when paired against it's far more powerful competitors. Microsoft wanted the Kinect to be it's Wii U gamepad but failed. It's a viable machine without it, and that causes people to view it as forced. Also as we'll get to later, it's a controller, not a camera.

Going back the PS4, the controller is of course the most important part, just like any console. You know, the part you shrug off so often the same way you complain about so many others doing to the Kinect. The touch pad is a simple yet great innovation that opens up far more possibilities to developers. It makes things like weapon wheels and inventories far easier to navigate, and can add many extra functions. Pressing it as a button on one side can do one thing, pressing it as a button on the other side with your other thumb can do another. Games like Warframe can't exist without these extra options. Built in motion controls have allowed experiences like Flower to exist, and allowed for these quick-time events that you are so impressed by to have been around since last gen. They allow for leaning on games like Battlefield, and even little funny things like treating the controller as a spray can in Infamous Second Sun, shaking it on it's side and then moving it to create graffiti. The speaker is gimmicky but not unjustified, I really enjoy how some games will have voices that radio you come through the speaker instead, and I could see other uses such as optionally having the controller play your pip-boy sounds in the inevitable next Fallout game. Even the light bar has shown it's usefulness as a game element as giving you clearer indication of visibility while playing in the dark, the controller lighting up your room when you are visible. It even features rechargeable batteries built in like the PS3 controller while Microsoft still forces you to pay extra for an add on for X1's controller.

The best part about all these things? The controller costs the same as the Xbox One controller, and you can't forget, no matter what you argue: the controller is far more important then a camera peripheral will ever be. The Kinect is also an expensive piece of hardware, and the PlayStation's camera is also capable of supporting party games and voice commands. What Kinect is left with primarily are things like Project Spark, which are nice but not worth forcing a device in that costs another $100.

Bonus round: Here's a thought since you like to go on about how other consoles are holding everything back, what does every other current gen console, even 3DS and Vita have that X1 lacks? A touch-sensitive input. Motion controls are now even in everything and X1 could have put it into their controller the same way Sony did theirs. Touch-input could have become the norm that would give us competition to a keyboard for games, however X1 is going to hold multi-plats back, because games won't be able to easily include the extra options necessary. And for the side of removing Kinect's need being a mistake, yes, now X1 is holding games more back because as I understand it it will also be the only console without built in motion controls. X1 tried to be the next generation of entertainment, not gaming, and it's suffering for it and may even be ever so slightly making the rest of industry suffer for it, in the same way the 3DS causes multiplats to suffer for Vita. (Although not to that extent) Warframe will never be capable of getting onto Xbox One, and games with similar ideas will never be able to either, thus removing the possibility for multiplats that want to build gameplay around these extra mechanics and be on X1 to take advantage of these possible mechanics.

While removing the Kinect may cause lack of innovation, forcing it was a horrible move in the first place. Every other console manufacturer put their priorities on the controller where it mattered most. The problem of this whole thing roots all the way back to when Microsoft decided the only change they'd make to the controller was to attempt to make it more comfortable, focusing instead on their camera, which already had a horrible reputation from last gen.

Microsoft will never lose fully due to those who care more about regular television and the exclusives, but in terms of being the most "next-gen" gaming experience, it's failed.