Kind of like how required online couldn't be "turned off with a switch".
I don't see how the things like navigating menus and the dashboard requires Kinect, they could just as easily allow controller input to do all that.
They already have it implemented. They said you could use the controller to go through menus, snap, etc. They said in an interview that you don't have to use your voice or gestures with Kinect at all to operate the menus/swapping stuff if you don't want to.
But yeah, sadly cboat debunks this rumor.
Oh well. Guess it will be the last console I buy this gen after all. Never thought it'd be possible that I would be getting a Nintendo console 2-3 years before I got an Xbox.