“It takes less time to do things right than to explain why you did it wrong.”
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Since the announcement of the Xbox One, Microsoft has been inundated with requests, demands and complaints that it should release the console without the Kinect in the box. With E3 on the not-so-distant horizon, that request is to become a reality as Microsoft will release a standalone Xbox One just before the annual games conference kicks off.
The choice should have been with customers all along, a point made even more valid by the months that have followed the release of the Xbox One. Microsoft stated that the Kinect was a fundamental part of its next-gen offering, but its actions to date haven't backed it up. In spite of the company's initial console announcement, the Xbox One has its fair share of games and high quality ones at that. However, the Kinect has been left out to dry.
When the Wii launched, Nintendo made sure that people knew the capabilities, purpose and benefits of the controller. Just look at what Wii Sports did highhandedly for the console. Xbox One, and the Kinect, has no such title. Ryse could very well have been that title. It got the greenlight for the original Kinect, then was set to be a centrepiece for Kinect 2.0, but even that title shunned Kinect in favour of a more traditional control scheme.
Just Dance and Kinect Sports Rivals are certainly capable of showcasing the improvements between the Kinect's generations, but they're not system sellers, nor are they enough to convince gamers that Kinect is the future of entertainment.
The decision to release a Kinect-less Xbox One could be great for consumers and Microsoft. It certainly becomes a much more tempting prospect at that price, but we should still bear in mind that this is the latest in a line of u-turns and should save our gratification somewhat considering it is a choice that we should have been able to make previously.
It is the element of choice that has been Microsoft's sticking point since the announcement of the Xbox One. The company was forced to abandon its idea of a digital future after the backlash regarding its DRM practices and always-online requirement. But what if signing up to this was optional? When something is introduced that is so different to the status quo, it's going to take time, a lot of explanation and some real world experiences. A "beta" of sorts would provide outside observers with that experience, allow Microsoft to tweak the system according to feedback from those early adopters and allow Microsoft to pursue at least one of its initial core strategies.
E3 is always an exciting time and with this development it will be interesting to see how Microsoft follows it up and how Sony reacts. The countdown is on.
