PS4 vs XBO?

by narcogen , Andover, Massachusetts, Monday, May 27, 2013, 23:14 (4215 days ago) @ Schooly D

- at least one recognizable face must be in the Kinect's field of vision to watch movies/TV or play games

Is this true? That's some literal big brother shit right there.

There is very little truth that's able to be verified officially. For now it's a rumor, but it's a very believable one given the patents Microsoft has filed and the general direction of the console.

Is it a rumor that's unable to be verified officially that you made up yourself, or are you repeating someone else's?

The stuff that's been actually said by MS employees is scary enough. The stuff that one can logically conclude from those things, but has not been actually said by anyone, is also plenty chilling.

The stuff you mentioned there-- like shutting down if everyone leaves the room-- is so suicidal I don't even think MS would attempt it, and I haven't read it anywhere-- not as something any MS employee has said or tweeted, not even as a rumor on a site.

I've said myself that I thought the technical capabilities were moving toward MS replacing Nielsen by providing data on what programs are being watched, and when, number of people in the room, and who they are (if faces are recognizable and linked to an XBL or social media profile) as well as eye tracking data. This could be provided to developers as well, basically making every connected Xbone an extension of the publisher's focus group testing lab.

That's all speculation, but I think is reasonable (from MS' perspective) as well as sort of crazy (from the consumer perspective).

Charging extra for more people in the room, or shutting down if nobody is in the room (as a default and/or not as a configurable option) is nuts. I think I did hear (very early on) the idea that Kinect could be configured to automatically pause movies if you leave the room, but it'd be nuts not to make that configurable.

For example, making sure that the number of people watching a movie doesn't exceed a certain number doesn't mean much if those people can easily point the Kinect at a wall. The same goes for targeted advertisements. Where there's smoke there's fire, I say.

That means at least one of your rumors isn't true. Kinect aimed at a wall could not recognize any faces and would refuse to play media or games, no?

If you're MS, why bother with the internet requirement and the kinect requirement, but then allow people to make those things useless by blinding the camera? Or are they just counting on the fact that most people won't bother to do it?

Oh, I forgot: Microsoft to award achievements for watching TV shows and movies.

Which is a clever way of making sure like they don't look like they're going behind your back. They're letting you know that they've seen you watch certain content. And if you allow friends, or friends of friends to view your achievements, either on XBL, or on a social media network... then you're being data mined.