Come on, Microsoft. Really? I mean really?
Microsoft has this morning revealed that it’s canning the requirement for Xbox One owners to have a Kinect unit to get the new, next-gen console to run.
The Kinect unit was previously required for the new Xbox One to get the console off the ground, but in an interview with IGN, a Microsoft exec says that the unit now doesn’t even need to be plugged in to get it going.
“That said, like online, the console will still function if Kinect isn’t plugged in, although you won’t be able to use any feature or experience that explicitly uses the sensor,” said Microsoft’s Marc Whitten.
Whitten then posted to the NeoGAF forums to reiterate.
“We wanted people to be 100% comfortable, so we allow the sensor to be unplugged,” he added.
The backflip on the Kinect is likely to appease tin foil hat-wearers everywhere, as civil rights groups around the world — including those in Australia — claimed that the Kinect was a “surveillance device“. Are you happy now, privacy nutters?
Another day, another Xbox One backflip. [Kotaku]