Xbox One Gets 10% Power Boost by Ditching the Kinect
We all knew it was probably going to happen eventually. With the extra computing overhead required to make the Kinect work with the Xbox One, the higher price point and the weaker performance on Microsoft's console, it was only a matter of time before the Xbox One ditched the Kinect.
Yesterday, Phil Spencer tweeted that new Xbox One developer kits would have a bit more graphical power with which to work. Microsoft later stated that it was not the result of new hardware, but new software that allows the developers to avoid the GPU overhead the Kinect typically uses.
In an interview with Eurogamer, a Microsoft rep said, "Yes, the additional resources allow access to up to 10 percent additional GPU performance. We're committed to giving developers new tools and flexibility to make their Xbox One games even better by giving them the option to use the GPU reserve in whatever way is best for them and their games."
This does represent a massive departure from Microsoft's previous policy and strategy for the new gaming console. Previously, the company had alleged that the Kinect was an absolute necessity, and that it was the keystone for their entire media-focused next-gen experience. Even so, the market has spoken, and Microsoft has begun to adapt to that demand.
Still, the new extra power isn't automatic. Developers will need to take advantage of that extra 10 percent by re-optimizing current games and planning future titles around the new standard.
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he may very well begin to listen to consumers. let's all see.
I would guess that it would just disable the kinect when you play the games.
I would guess that it would just disable the kinect when you play the games.
At what point will MS start listening to customer feedback BEFORE finalizing the designs and going to retail? How bad does it have to get?
At what point will MS start listening to customer feedback BEFORE finalizing the designs and going to retail? How bad does it have to get?
Remember money talks so whatever hurts their wallets will make them listen.
Right now it's marketing that is shoving this down everybody's throats and customers are starting to rebel by disconnecting the kinect device.
I have one for my Xbox 360 and while it's a great item but it wears off over time.
not to mention microsoft will have to update their software ecosystem for the developers to take advantage of freed up performance headroom. until then, it's still the flaccid XBOne(R) as before.
No it's smart software. When a game loads, the Xbox One OS will ask, "Are you using Kinect video and mapping features?"
If the game says yes, then the extra 10% is not given.
If the game says no, then the video mapping features of kinect are disabled and the game is given 10% more gpu resources. Audio features still work.
When the user snaps back to dashboard, the system takes back those 10% resources while the game is suspended.
It's a smart and flexible system, and this is how it should have been done to begin with.
You have to take the 4mb expansion back out of you N64 and put it in your XBOX One.
I'm pretty sure they had the resources reserved on the OS level regardless if the kinect was being used by the game or not.
The original plan was to have every xbox have a kinect, so it does, in fact make sense that that 10% reserve would be enabled 100% of the time regardless if the game made use of the kinect or not.
Seems like now they're just enabling the developer to gain access to those reserved resources.
Microfail, I would strongly suggest for your next generation of console you actually LISTEN to your users.
he may very well begin to listen to consumers. let's all see.
The fall of big company's happens when they listen to little or sometimes to much... at the wrong people!