Kinect Is No Longer Required For Xbox One, More Like Xbox One Eighty

The Xbox One had DRM. A simple launch day update will change that. Microsoft said in May that Kinect would be required to be plugged in at all times in order for the Xbox One to function, but that’s been changed too. The Kinect will no longer have to be plugged in for you to use your Xbox One. Although they confirmed you could turn the device off, Microsoft now states it will no longer have to be plugged in. Since June, Microsoft took away the Xbox DRM along with the reversal of other policies as well. Is this the Xbox One, or Xbox 180? With all the flips made I am not sure how to address the device.

Is this a game changer for you? Will you now buy the Xbox One do to the reversal of these policies? We want to know! Answer us in the comments below.

Oh and if you buy it, don’t feel lonely.

UPDATE VIA NEOGAF:

From MS PR (Albert Penello), posted on GAF:

We still believe in Kinect. We aren’t interested in splitting the development base. The more demos I’ve seen, the more I’ve used it – the more impressed I am. The team feels strongly about Kinect, and I hope we’re able to prove that when you use it.

We also have a ton of privacy settings to allow people to turn off the camera, or microphones, or put it in a state just for “Xbox On” and IR blasting – there will be a lot of user control for that.

The thing we all understood, and hence this change, is that there are some scenarios where people just may not be comfortable. We wanted people to be 100{3a19833c997fa52158a43c449fe089ff048ac0506a335cac10721cfa396ff282} comfortable, so we allow the sensor to be unplugged. And clearly the “it dropped” scenario is possible.

The most obvious thing is watching a DVD/BD, or streaming a movie, or HDMI pass-through, your experience isn’t impacted (except you miss voice and IR blasting)

There is no “gotcha”, but obviously, if there is a game that REQUIRES Kinect (like Rivals), or something where Kinect IS the experience (like Skype), those won’t work.

That said, for people who have privacy concerns there are user control settings, which we believe are great.