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Microsoft "Kinect Adapter Discontinued, new accessories coming to XBOX/Windows 10".

Leonidas

Leonidas

Member
”After careful consideration, we decided to stop manufacturing the Xbox Kinect Adapter to focus attention on launching new, higher fan-requested gaming accessories across Xbox One and Windows 10," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to Polygon. As for any plans to bring back the item in the future, the representative declined to discuss Microsoft's product roadmap, but said the adapter ”will no longer be available."
Click to expand...

https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/2/16842072/xbox-one-kinect-adapter-out-of-stock-production-ended

Wonder what new accessories they're coming out with. I'm personally hoping for an Elite Controller w/ Bluetooth, a USB powered Kinect device and an Xbox branded keyboard/mouse comparable to their Sidewinder series of the past.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
New accessory ? Best case scenario would be a wireless VR headset.
Or a smaller, USB only kinect indeed. :p
But to keep my expectations low, I guess it will be some variations of the default controller. Maybe an official keyboard/mouse combo that is easily used on one's lap ?
 
Green Yoshi

Green Yoshi

Member
Funny how we came from "Kinect does require to be connected to Xbox One in all cases, yes," to ”After careful consideration, we decided to stop manufacturing the Xbox Kinect Adapter".

Show a little respect to Xbox users, Microsoft. I know that's hard. ;-)

The adapter is more expensive than the console itself on Ebay right now. But clearly high demand should not stop you from discontinuing your product.


https://youtu.be/fgJqliVWSSg

LOL
 
M

martinstraka8282

Member
I guess we can officially bury the Kinect at this point?

Such a hard sell. Include it with a premium and lynch your console sales like they did, or make it optional and its not financially viable to develop for so there's barely anything to play on it.
 
Leonidas

Leonidas

Member
Green Yoshi said:
Funny how we came from "Kinect does require to be connected to Xbox One in all cases, yes," to “After careful consideration, we decided to stop manufacturing the Xbox Kinect Adapter".

Show a little respect to Xbox users, Microsoft. I know that's hard.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of how certain consoles last gen touted backwards compatibility, then updated models dropped support.
 
M

Meh3D

Member
There go my hopes of dancing to Katy Perry on Xbox One X :(


( I still have the Xbox 360 with those dance games at least. )
 
EventHorizon

EventHorizon

Member
Leonidas said:
Wonder what new accessories they're coming out with. I'm personally hoping for an Elite Controller w/ Bluetooth, a USB powered Kinect device and an Xbox branded keyboard/mouse comparable to their Sidewinder series of the past.
Click to expand...

A VR or AR device is all but a given. That would explain the reason for dropping Kinect. The Kinect camera isn't good enough to handle that level of tracking and it'd be really awkward for the XB1 to need two different cameras.

The Kinect brand is so tarnished, it doesn't make sense to try to revive it at this point. It'd be a hard sell to get gamers to buy another Kinect, when the one for the XB1 was so little supported. Few developers would make an Xbox only Kinect game when they could make a VR game that worked on PSVR, Oculus, and Vive. We've also had two generations of Kinect games, and outside of dance and fitness games which have now run out of steam, nothing really caught on. Microsoft never had a good answer to the question "So what type of game will I want to play on Kinect?"
 
Night.Ninja

Night.Ninja

Banned
Disappointing especially since they didn't do the upgrade program like they did for people who got the S. So i waited for the X and got nothing, now I'm going to have to try and hack it with a USB cable and power adapter just to get voice commands with my X.

Sometimes Microsoft are too ahead of the times.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
EventHorizon said:
A VR or AR device is all but a given. That would explain the reason for dropping Kinect. The Kinect camera isn't good enough to handle that level of tracking and it'd be really awkward for the XB1 to need two different cameras.
Click to expand...

Microsoft mixed reality standards are based on inside out tracking, if/when they release an Xbox model it is expected it won't need an external camera anyway.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
llien said:
How will they do VR without kinect?
Click to expand...

https://www.microsoft.com/en-en/store/b/virtualreality?icid=CNavVirtualReality
The current Windows10 VR devices don't use an external camera. They include two regular cameras pointing out, and they can track your head position by tracking your environment (it requires a short calibration for it to "learn" the shapes in your room : you just walk in a circle holding your headset pointing forward).
It's a simplified version of what is done in Hololens (Hololens includes "tiny kinects" that can map the environment in real time).
 
I

Isurus

Member
I'm hoping these new accessories include one of these from the 360 days:

microsoft-xbox-360-wireless-headset.JPG
 
Calibos

Calibos

Member
Dryk said:
Tens of scientists around the world are punching the closest wall right now
Click to expand...

Huh?


RIP Kinect...enjoy your time in the afterlife with the Virtual Boy, 32X, and holographic Tupac. You were so close to greatness...

...now, bring me the Xboy!
 
JimboJones

JimboJones

Member
Calibos said:
Huh?


RIP Kinect...enjoy your time in the afterlife with the Virtual Boy, 32X, and holographic Tupac. You were so close to greatness...

...now, bring me the Xboy!
Click to expand...

Come on dude Kinect was a bit more successful than those, especially the 360 one.
It's resting place is on a slightly higher tier with the other fun for a month peripherals such as Wii Balance board, PSMove, eyetoy and dance mats.
 
R

Redlight

Member
It's a terrible decision.

I have never really used Kinect for gaming, I get that it mostly sucks for that purpose, but I constantly use the voice commands to control my home theatre. In my experience the 'Xbox' commands are a fantastic innovation.

I recently upgraded to X, but my major concern was getting hold of an adapter so that I could continue to use that feature. I was lucky in the sense that I got one from Amazon in November for $50 (still a massive stitch up btw). I cannot understand why MS wouldn't continue to keep the adapter in stock for, say, 12 months, so that those who want to use it can continue to do so.

Discontinuing the adapter so soon after the launch of the X is a massive slap in the face for people who simply want to use the peripheral as it was intended to be used. And as it was marketed to us.

This from the website...
https://www.xbox.com/en-us/xbox-one-x

"Xbox One accessories work with Xbox One X
The Xbox One accessories you’ve got now (or have got your eye on) work with Xbox One X.2 No hassle. Just play.'

Yeah, right.
 
Calibos

Calibos

Member
JimboJones said:
Come on dude Kinect was a bit more successful than those, especially the 360 one.
It's resting place is on a slightly higher tier with the other fun for a month peripherals such as Wii Balance board, PSMove, eyetoy and dance mats.
Click to expand...

True man...I owned one last gen and this gen up until my X upgrade. I loved it, but ultimately, the tech was ahead of its time as far as marketability IMO. Then MS botched there message so much in 2013 that Kinect became a major casualty and held back their focus a bit. I really wish that it would have been more widely accepted and developed for, especially with VR coming of age...
 
Journey

Journey

Banned
Leonidas said:
Reminds me of how certain consoles last gen touted backwards compatibility, then updated models dropped support.
Click to expand...


BOOM!


But seriously, MS never said Xbox One wouldn't work without Kinect, in fact they pretty quickly released the Kinectless model for $100 less and nothing has changed since then as far as functionality goes. I think you're confusing the comment that in order to get the full experience Xbox One has to offer, you need Kinect, and that was very true.

I bet most people who never had Kinect don't know what "Xbox, show my stuff" would do or was about, or the fact that Kinect could track who was holding the controller, so if someone passed me the controller in Street Fighter, it would pass on my custom controller settings and other cool stuff like that.
 
BibiMaghoo

BibiMaghoo

Member
Journey said:
But seriously, MS never said Xbox One wouldn't work without Kinect
Click to expand...

They did, in fact, clearly say this.

Your Kinect will need to be connected in order for the Xbox One to function, Microsoft announced at an event today in London.

"Kinect does require to be connected to Xbox One in all cases, yes," Microsoft's Harvey Eagle told press (as reported by IGN).
Click to expand...

I believe at launch you were stuck with a repeating on screen message if the device was unplugged. The console did function without Kinect, but they did not make that clear at all, or even suggest that was the case.
 
Norse

Norse

Member
Night.Ninja said:
Disappointing especially since they didn't do the upgrade program like they did for people who got the S. So i waited for the X and got nothing, now I'm going to have to try and hack it with a USB cable and power adapter just to get voice commands with my X.

Sometimes Microsoft are too ahead of the times.
Click to expand...


Why not just plug a micro microphone into your controller to use voice commands? Amazon has them for few dollars. They pick up commands better than Kinect did.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
Does anyone think "new accessories" could be announced at CES 2018, which starts in 4/5 days ?
I just don't want to wait...
 
hiphopcr

hiphopcr

Member
Redlight said:
I have never really used Kinect for gaming, I get that it mostly sucks for that purpose, but I constantly use the voice commands to control my home theatre. In my experience the 'Xbox' commands are a fantastic innovation..
Click to expand...
This.

I didn't use or even know where my tv remote was for a year after getting my original X1. Didn't need it.
 
BibiMaghoo

BibiMaghoo

Member
Alx said:
Does anyone think "new accessories" could be announced at CES 2018, which starts in 4/5 days ?
I just don't want to wait...
Click to expand...

For Kinect? Not a chance. You discontinue things that are being replaced once they have been replaced, not before.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
I wasn't exactly thinking of a kinect replacement (although one could always hope :p), but the new accessory stuff is part of the news and it could be interesting (that's what the MS PR is using as explanation though, the implicit promise that "new, higher fan-requested gaming accessories" would balance out the discontinuation of the adapter)
 
M

Mentaur

Neo Member
As someone upgrading from a Day One X1 to an XBX I'm upset that my Kinect can't be used without paying extra money. I saw the adaptors on the MS store in the summer for £35 and balked at the price then; since the XBX launched they are off the charts. The cheapest I've found is £45 on eBay UK for a guy to mod the cable.

From a business perspective I can understand why free adaptors were offered to S buyers - they didn't expect much take up - whereas with the XBX launch they'd obviously already decided to discontinue making them (totally sold out on the MS store from around XBX launch in my experience). If they had offered a free adaptor most users with have got one whether they used their Kinect or not, just because they could. For a peripheral with no support moving forward and its only real use being to turn the unit on and to control video commands, that's potentially a lot of cash saved by not making that offer.

That said if they want people to migrate to Cortana then not including a microphone in the pack seems strange. Again it is all a bit muddled. Will people use a headset? Will that be wired or wireless? As someone who isn't that interested in multiplayer gaming maybe I should just get one of these controller mics, but then again I tend to use the media remote whilst watching a 4K bluray. Kinect's global mic is just a much better solution. Maybe I should just get the cable mod...
 
Alx

Alx

Member
BibiMaghoo

BibiMaghoo

Member
Alx said:
I wasn't exactly thinking of a kinect replacement (although one could always hope :p), but the new accessory stuff is part of the news and it could be interesting (that's what the MS PR is using as explanation though, the implicit promise that "new, higher fan-requested gaming accessories" would balance out the discontinuation of the adapter)
Click to expand...

They certainly implied that there was something new, but I have no idea what that could be given their peripheral selection pretty much covers everything.

VR would be the only new thing that comes to mind.
 
Shifty

Shifty

Member
Leonidas said:
Wonder what new accessories they're coming out with. I'm personally hoping for an Elite Controller w/ Bluetooth.
Click to expand...

Anyone know if the current elite has the improved bumpers from the S controller?

Because that's my hope for this.
 
T

Three

Member
Alx said:
Does anyone think "new accessories" could be announced at CES 2018, which starts in 4/5 days ?
I just don't want to wait...
Click to expand...

There will be nothing for the foreseeable future. That's just PR fluff to make you go 'hey at least we get something else'. You're going to get nothing.
 
Lort

Lort

Banned
Alx said:
That's funny, the model seems different from the one I have (the cables come from the side of the brick instead of the front/back). I noticed it too on some of the models in my other link. I wonder if they're all official MS devices, or bootleg ones (bootleg would actually be good news, if it means more availability).
Click to expand...

Noonewhere on the box says Microsoft .. it is a copy ... yey! Because i need one lol
 
TimFL

TimFL

Member
I loved the Kinect biometric features on the X1. Walking into a room, picking up a controller and being signed onto your account was really cool.

I actually wanted to get a launch day X1 BEFORE they backtracked on always online. They way the console worked before would‘ve been an instant day 0 purchase for me. The second they backtracked on that was the second I lost interest. Now they fully kill the Kinect and all potential interest in the X1 with it for me.

That‘s MS biggest problem. Stick to your guns, don‘t kill your products or services a few years in.
 
N

Nintendo Switch

Banned
Microsoft, you need to support Oculus Rift and Vive on the One X. They are a perfect fit and the One X is the perfect $500 VR capable PC.

Enable assymmetric games akin to Nintendoland using VR and other players can only see what's on the TV.
 
Nikana

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
I still have my kinect that has a dead fan. I wonder how easy It would be to fix. Might be worth checking out.
 
Bernkastel

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
Tamy said:
nice, so Officially Licensed by Xbox.
Click to expand...
Kinect still exists. Just nothing to do with Xbox.
www.neogaf.com

[Tech] Azue Kinect

Edit: $399 Microsoft shrinks Kinect into a $399 cloud-powered PC peripheral It’s for developers to build AI algorithms Kinect originally debuted as an Xbox 360 accessory for motion sensing so you could control games with your hands or body. While it was a successful console accessory...
www.neogaf.com www.neogaf.com
www.neogaf.com

Microsoft shrinks Kinect into a $399 cloud-powered PC peripheral.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/24/18237244/microsoft-azure-kinect-developer-kit-price-release-date-mwc-2019 Dubbed the Azure Kinect Developer Kit (DK), the PC peripheral includes Microsoft’s latest AI sensors like the time-of-flight depth sensor in the HoloLens 2, and a 7-microphone array for...
www.neogaf.com www.neogaf.com
 
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