Kinect-less Xbox One More Appealing?

With Microsoft announcing the Xbox One becoming available without the Kinect, has it made it more appealing to buying one now? Many have said it was just a gimmick and was the why they didn’t get the console at launch.

Let me just get something out-of-the-way; this is an opinion piece. I will tell it like it is and the way I see it. You don’t have to agree and if you don’t, keep the petty name-calling and abuse to yourself. I don’t expect everyone to agree and people will be butthurt, that’s not my problem, only yours.

I have owned an Xbox 360 since a few months after launch, I tried to get a launch console, but I left it too late to pre-order and so while the extra controller and Need for Speed: Most Wanted arrived at launch, I had nothing to use them with. In all that time, I’ve never owned or ever wanted to own a Kinect. Why? Because I think it’s just a gimmick.
I still do and that was what stopped me from buying the Xbox One. People are complaining about the “180’s” Microsoft are doing, do you understand why? Rather than just complain about it, realise that the reason things have happened is because people didn’t want them.
Did you want the DRM? In fact, which of the previous features that were 180’d did you want? MS aren’t really doing a 180 with the Kinect, they’re offering the choice that should have been available from the start. Why has the PlayStation 4 sold more? You didn’t HAVE to buy the camera with the console and that’s possibly why it’s ahead.
People don’t want to be forced with extra’s they don’t want for the sake of it. I don’t want the Kinect, so why should I have to suffer being bundled with something that’s just going to collect dust? MS were too arrogant with the launch of the Xbox One and to an extent, everything else. They, like EA, preferred to TELL you what you want, and not actually listen to what consumers want.
They had the ‘my way or the highway’ attitude and look where it’s brought them. Sony revealed they had sold seven million units compared to MS’s five million worldwide, now that the Xbox One is losing the Kinect, will this improve sales? I think so, it’s a very smart move by MS to finally realise how much of an impact thinking everyone wanted the Kinect has had on sales.
How many games for the Kinect have been released on the Xbox One and how many of them are actually any good? I’m not talking games with Kinect support, I mean games FOR the Kinect. I think you’ll find it’s very little and if you didn’t have one from the start, how many of you would buy one now?
That’s probably a hard question to ask since everyone who owns the Xbox One has a Kinect, but in reality, how many just use it for navigating the menus? The only reason it’s good for navigation is due to the metro style layout, but to be fair, even the Xbox 360 menu takes some form of geography diploma to find what you want.
This can only be a good thing for gaming, more people will buy the Xbox One, meaning more of your friends who have held off until now are more likely to make the move to next-gen. If you think it’s a bad move, well you don’t deserve to be called a gamer. How can it be a bad thing? If you’re going to blame anyone for a lack of Kinect games, blame the developers. Maybe they don’t see it worth developing for.
“Xbox One is better with Kinect, making games, TV and entertainment come alive with premium experiences.” No, that’s just corporate spiel for suckers who agree with “games are better with Gold”. “Premium experiences”? What utter tripe. I’m just glad they’re removing the Gold paywall, even if they’re still a bit elitist with the ‘Gold exclusive deals’, but that’s a separate opinion.
If you think it makes no sense to offer the console without Kinect, please, just take a look at sales performance. Don’t you think the Xbox One could be on par, if not outselling the PlayStation 4 if Microsoft hadn’t announced the things they’ve had to “180” on? I think so. The games are there to help sell the system, it’s just been marketed wrong.
For any existing Xbox One owner thinking you’re owed something from MS, why? They don’t owe you a thing. It’s not like you’ve lost anything or been affected in any way by their decision to offer the Kinect-less option. You’re not entitled to anything, no compensation, you have no valid reason to receive anything.
Now that you have an option to buy the Xbox One without the Kinect, will you? It’s definitely more appealing to me now that I don’t have to buy it with the Kinect, regardless of how much you can buy it for online in whatever deals are available. To be honest, I just don’t have the space to use the Kinect for gaming anyway.
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