[Takashi]

Tinfoil hats are the only FDA approved method of Kinect blocking.

Current kinect (and eyetoy) software detect covering the camera as an "action", so I don't think adding anything in front of the camera would go unnoticed in the great new beyond.

I can think of several cases where a dummy plug might be useful that aren't related to big brother and rather to plainer, Google Mail level targeting. Say, blocking ads targeted to whatever the device decides is your culture or environment. Making sure the device isn't evaluating your physical appearance and making gender decisions. Removing DRM based on audience numbers. Cheating the identification system to buy age-restricted software.
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low-end.net | Whimsy (soon) | Serfdom 2.0

[RobotRocker]

[notbov]

people are just extrapolating the existence of (possible) NSA-related .dlls found in Windows to thing which kinda sorta needs to always be on so you can use it on top of the idea that several countries have labeled it a "surveillance device". if you're able to turn the thing off completely in one of those countries (like, let's say, Germany), then it just adds more fuel to the fire that Kinect 2.0 is getting forced onto consumers

personally, I'd just rather have the option of pocketing that hundred bucks that it probably raises the price by and buy a game or something. kinda like the PS4 bundles over on US Amazon (system+game+a year of Plus for the price of an Xbone)
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[miaou]

It's also a device that people don't think they need. I don't really want to talk to my games console to turn it on, a button on the controller suits me fine, everyone I regularly talk to about videogames is the same. I read the surveillance-scare thing as a sexed up version of 'your scifi holodeck shit doesn't work and it isn't going to make the videogames I want to play better', because you can't really argue on those terms with a corporation that is going to try to sell kinect as long as it still looks like 'progress' (See also: Siri, Google Glass). Microsoft needs a stick to be beaten with if you are going to get anywhere with them (see: the almost brand-destroying bad-press brewed up by the DRM shitstorm).

[BenoitRen]

[Takashi]

It's worth noting that a XBox One is fast enough and has a data connection big enough (under optimal recommended conditions) that it can download several ads, select the ones "best suited" to you based on the Kinect biometric data (no storage needed - it can just do this in real time), and customize your experience without ever having to send back a byte of metadata*. Likewise, the DRM lock for a given number of persons, the requirement to be sitting and other suggested uses, those are all real-time data gathering methods that have nothing to do with metadata or NSA servers and are rather more related with the face detection feature on your camera.

*I mean, I can make a case that it can send back the viewthrough rate for ads (that is linked to the biometric data in a somewhat roundabout way) and use that, together with the XBox Live profile with information you volunteered to give, to "optimize" the next ad packets.
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low-end.net | Whimsy (soon) | Serfdom 2.0

[Lick Meth]

[evekii]

Since kinect recognizes if the player is engaged/lookin at the screen, it hast the ability to pause the game if you look away or leave the room. So covering up the sensor might prove to be not such a good idea. No clue if this is a optional feature or not.

Also, hopefully now we will see more of this: http://www.criteriongames.com/burnout/paradise/v1_5/mugshots.php

[Toptube]

Let's not forget that all it will take for any of the gray area to wash away, is for you to click "agree/yes" on their Xbox One user agreement.

[Felix]

yep

[Takashi]

Balmer restructured Microsoft, effectively dividing and killing their game division in the process.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/11/microsoft_reorg_kills_product_groups/
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low-end.net | Whimsy (soon) | Serfdom 2.0

[Felix]

that comment section is pretty funny

[The Troops]

i hope this doesn't interrupt cooperation with the NSA

[Gironika]

[The King]

Oh man there's a new dystopia nightmare fuel press demo of the new Kinect.
Apart from the super glitchy skeleton, which looks like it slipped out of a whole different sort of nightmare.

It can monitor your heart rate and blood pressure by looking at your face with either it's RGB or IR feeds.
Yeah, it's got an IR feed, the dark won't hide you.
It monitors which body parts are exerting force at any given time.
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[notbov]

whoa, hey now

offering praise to our burger gods to continue playing is Sony's patent

MS's patent is about getting achievement points for interacting with an ad
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[This Machine Kills Fascis]

[BenoitRen]

No, because Google doesn't link your activity to you if you aren't logged in to their account.
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Get Xenoblade Chronicles!

[Gironika]

[mauve]

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/07/24/microsoft-to-announce-indie-self-publishing-new-certification-process.aspx

Microsoft decides that maybe they kinda sorta actually do want indies to stop running away from their system.

Part of me thinks too little, too late, though. They burned a lot of people and hard turnaround reversals are hard to swallow seriously, since they've proven they don't actually want to take this path.
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twit

[notbov]

I for one cannot wait for MS to announce a Kinect-less version and then we have 5+ more years of two systems that are more or less the same, except even more so now because AMD
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[SuperWes]

[mauve]

ouya has always been a tinkerer's platform, i'm not sure how anyone could have expected that it would have mainstream success or be a viable platform for anything but being a hilarious gimmick

of course, now that they've done it, both google and apple are setting forth strategies to do the same thing, both of which will likely be markedly more successful.

i fully expect to see every actually decent ouya game end up on those platforms in short order.
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twit

[Takashi]

[RobotRocker]

[Toptube]

***

[Toptube]

"every xbone is a dev kit"

Seems like this is inviting "jailbreaking" other sorts of hackery. A lot of that stuff isn't bad/doesn't affect gaming. But I wonder how MS will be handling it. Since with the 360, they've pretty much had a zero tolerance policy with extreme punishment.

[Persona mobile]

[notbov]

I will cry foul at MS's indie initiative if I can't get Baby Maker Extreme a tile next to Minecraft Again and Below and...

so maybe they're doing this so they can say their "indie" support is more than 2 games strong

still, Baby Maker Extreme EX Alpha Edition, prominently shown on the marketplace, only way to make this look legit
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[mauve]

[mauve]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=72482816#post72482816

cboat has spoken

indies restricted to win8 store on the 3gb block of OS memory

bear in mind this guy's leak accuracy is out of this world

ah, microsoft.
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twit

[Takashi]

[BenoitRen]

What's so bad about the 3GB restriction? Isn't that enough?
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Get Xenoblade Chronicles!

[notbov]

it's not so much the memory restriction, but rather the implication that indie developed games are going to be treated as apps by Microsoft, limiting them to the WinRT VM. I've seen vague-sounding claims that they'll let you access all of the system's resources, but I get the feeling that they're going to justify whatever they charge for a devkit by giving "official" developers exclusive access to the Xbone VM. the last bit assumes that what resources the Windows VM can access won't or isn't changing (2 cores, 3 GB and a paltry amount of GPU power, which probably indicates they're making some changes).

also, how do claim to have planned this from the get-go and not have it ready for launch unless you're lying through your teeth. you know, unless you're being rushed because you underestimated the competition.

so, yay for the Xbone on being a good system now, shame they had to be dragged kicking into making it one
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[Takashi]

I don't think they're making any changes to the configuration, that's what "planned from the get-go" means. It's still a reasonable amount of power, say, more than XNA would give on XBox.
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low-end.net | Whimsy (soon) | Serfdom 2.0

[RobotRocker]

[BotageL]

by "complete horseshit" you mean "pretty much totally right w/r/t the ms stuff" right
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http://www.mdgeist.com/

[Winona Ghost Ryder]

He's had a near perfect record for 9 years.

RobotRocker, you are totally getting an Xbox One at launch with Killer Instinct aren't you?

[RobotRocker]

[CubaLibre]

Play some Insomniac games and relax dude.
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Let's Play, starring me.

[Gironika]