Are the new kinect-less bundles bad news for the accessory?
Sites like this one seem to think so. I tend to disagree, but it is more semantics than a true disagreement.
If anything, the introduction of a Kinect-less console in the first place was the bad news. But even that doesn't go far enough back.
I like the Kinect. I use it daily to navigate the platform. And, I kind of wish that there were more games that made good use of it. And there aren't. And that is what "killed" the Kinect. The original Kinect-less console was simply the acknowledgement. Studios weren't picking it up. I still feel it needed more time and this was just the result of a self-fulfilling prophesy.
I feel that way because virtually everyone knows that it takes months to years to develop a premium game title. Which means even if everyone were hyped about making Kinect based games, we would only see decent, truly next-gen games popping up in the next couple months or more likely, still into next year.
But I suspect developers assumed Microsoft would drop the mandatory Kinect at some point and wanted to ride it out to see if that were the case. And that is where this becomes self-fulfilling. Developers waited to see if they would drop the Kinect. This created an eco-system where there were no decent Kinect based games and Kinect was more of a deterrent than help to moving consoles. Developers smugly feel they were correct to ignore the peripheral.
The point being; whether or not the above is 100% accurate, Kinect was doomed long before new bundles were unveiled which didn't include it. The herald of its doom wasn't even these new bundles, it was merely the existence of the first SKU without Kinect, which is two months old news now.
At this point, I don't think the introduction of more bundles without Kinect is going to have any impact at all. It was never the bundles that were the problems. It was the games situation. Effectively, from a gaming perspective the only reasons for Kinect at the moment are dance games and Xbox Fitness. People who want those or who want the "complete" experience will still pick up the Kinect either separately or with the console. And those who don't care for those experiences will simply save their cash and pick up any arbitrary Kinect-less SKU.
If anything, the introduction of a Kinect-less console in the first place was the bad news. But even that doesn't go far enough back.
I like the Kinect. I use it daily to navigate the platform. And, I kind of wish that there were more games that made good use of it. And there aren't. And that is what "killed" the Kinect. The original Kinect-less console was simply the acknowledgement. Studios weren't picking it up. I still feel it needed more time and this was just the result of a self-fulfilling prophesy.
I feel that way because virtually everyone knows that it takes months to years to develop a premium game title. Which means even if everyone were hyped about making Kinect based games, we would only see decent, truly next-gen games popping up in the next couple months or more likely, still into next year.
But I suspect developers assumed Microsoft would drop the mandatory Kinect at some point and wanted to ride it out to see if that were the case. And that is where this becomes self-fulfilling. Developers waited to see if they would drop the Kinect. This created an eco-system where there were no decent Kinect based games and Kinect was more of a deterrent than help to moving consoles. Developers smugly feel they were correct to ignore the peripheral.
The point being; whether or not the above is 100% accurate, Kinect was doomed long before new bundles were unveiled which didn't include it. The herald of its doom wasn't even these new bundles, it was merely the existence of the first SKU without Kinect, which is two months old news now.
At this point, I don't think the introduction of more bundles without Kinect is going to have any impact at all. It was never the bundles that were the problems. It was the games situation. Effectively, from a gaming perspective the only reasons for Kinect at the moment are dance games and Xbox Fitness. People who want those or who want the "complete" experience will still pick up the Kinect either separately or with the console. And those who don't care for those experiences will simply save their cash and pick up any arbitrary Kinect-less SKU.
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