Microsoft Ad turns on Xbox One
Wow, I Google Xbox One and limit my search results to the last 24 hours and this has to be taking up something stupid like 75% of the top results right now.
WHAT THE **** DID YOU EXPECT WOULD HAPPEN?
Proof that you can't win 'em all I guess. Let's start with the fact that Microsoft's expectation, right or wrong, is that your cable utilizes the HDMI pass-through on the Xbox One. While I understand that not everyone wants this. If you had done this, the command would do nothing. Firstly because the console would already on (as you can't watch TV through the HDMI pass-through when the console is off), and secondly because when the Xbox is powered on it is also trying to cancel out commands that might come from the TV.
That additional processing isn't happening when the console is off. This is already one power hungry machine, and estimated bulk of its electricity consumption is already spent on leaving the Kinect sensor waiting for the "Xbox On" command. So, to try and save you money on your energy bills, be a little greener and a little smarter, they had to make the sensor a little dumber while the console is turned off.
In other words. Anyone with a brain would realize that those people using their Xbox One "incorrectly" would have a unit that would respond to ANY arbitrary "Xbox On" command. Even the ones emanating from your TV.
Yes, it is a bit short-sighted of Microsoft to create an ad that might cause this behavior. But, to be fair, it is an excellent selling feature of the console. I know not everyone buys into it. But being able to control all of your devices without a remote is pretty awesome. Try having a baby on your lap and scavenging for remotes. You'll love this feature then.
And let me expand on that. If you don't have your cable and TV being controlled by the Xbox One already, why do you have the Kinect enabled to turn on the console in the first place? You already need at least 1 remote to turn on the TV even if all you want to do is play Xbox. If the TV is already on and you're watching cable, but you're not using the HDMI pass through, that means you STILL need to find the TV to change the input from cable to your Xbox. So why not just pick up the F***ing Xbox controller while you're at it and turn on your console using that? In other words, in the bulk of the cases where this is happening, people probably aren't or shouldn't be using Kinect to turn on their console anyway.
That might sound a little harsh, but if you're not using the cable pass-through you're getting VERY limited value back out of using Kinect voice commands. Honestly, before they supported the cable providers in Canada (and before the baby was born), I was just about over the fad of voice controlling things and was about ready to turn it off. Since One Guide popped up in Canada the difference is night and day.
I'm not trying to evangelize Microsoft here, or the Xbox One. Yes, they should have thought this through. But this IS NOT newsworthy. Certainly not 75% of my top Google searches newsworthy. This is footnote worthy at best. These articles would be better titled "Xbox One does what it was supposed to do, even when not expected", with a sub-title of "When not used or configured appropriately."
I get it, people have an expectation that this wouldn't happen on the grounds that they don't want it to happen. But if you think about it for even one second... you knew it would happen. You knew it was designed to work that way. Heck, you even knew if a completely unrelated commercial said something different that just happened to be similar enough that it might get a false positive it could still turn on anyway. I'd wager that this has already happened to some people.
WHAT THE **** DID YOU EXPECT WOULD HAPPEN?
Proof that you can't win 'em all I guess. Let's start with the fact that Microsoft's expectation, right or wrong, is that your cable utilizes the HDMI pass-through on the Xbox One. While I understand that not everyone wants this. If you had done this, the command would do nothing. Firstly because the console would already on (as you can't watch TV through the HDMI pass-through when the console is off), and secondly because when the Xbox is powered on it is also trying to cancel out commands that might come from the TV.
That additional processing isn't happening when the console is off. This is already one power hungry machine, and estimated bulk of its electricity consumption is already spent on leaving the Kinect sensor waiting for the "Xbox On" command. So, to try and save you money on your energy bills, be a little greener and a little smarter, they had to make the sensor a little dumber while the console is turned off.
In other words. Anyone with a brain would realize that those people using their Xbox One "incorrectly" would have a unit that would respond to ANY arbitrary "Xbox On" command. Even the ones emanating from your TV.
Yes, it is a bit short-sighted of Microsoft to create an ad that might cause this behavior. But, to be fair, it is an excellent selling feature of the console. I know not everyone buys into it. But being able to control all of your devices without a remote is pretty awesome. Try having a baby on your lap and scavenging for remotes. You'll love this feature then.
And let me expand on that. If you don't have your cable and TV being controlled by the Xbox One already, why do you have the Kinect enabled to turn on the console in the first place? You already need at least 1 remote to turn on the TV even if all you want to do is play Xbox. If the TV is already on and you're watching cable, but you're not using the HDMI pass through, that means you STILL need to find the TV to change the input from cable to your Xbox. So why not just pick up the F***ing Xbox controller while you're at it and turn on your console using that? In other words, in the bulk of the cases where this is happening, people probably aren't or shouldn't be using Kinect to turn on their console anyway.
That might sound a little harsh, but if you're not using the cable pass-through you're getting VERY limited value back out of using Kinect voice commands. Honestly, before they supported the cable providers in Canada (and before the baby was born), I was just about over the fad of voice controlling things and was about ready to turn it off. Since One Guide popped up in Canada the difference is night and day.
I'm not trying to evangelize Microsoft here, or the Xbox One. Yes, they should have thought this through. But this IS NOT newsworthy. Certainly not 75% of my top Google searches newsworthy. This is footnote worthy at best. These articles would be better titled "Xbox One does what it was supposed to do, even when not expected", with a sub-title of "When not used or configured appropriately."
I get it, people have an expectation that this wouldn't happen on the grounds that they don't want it to happen. But if you think about it for even one second... you knew it would happen. You knew it was designed to work that way. Heck, you even knew if a completely unrelated commercial said something different that just happened to be similar enough that it might get a false positive it could still turn on anyway. I'd wager that this has already happened to some people.
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