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Report: Next Xbox requires always-on Kinect
by Andrew Yoon, Feb 11, 2013 12:15pm PSTThe next Xbox, codenamed Durango, will not only include an updated version of Kinect--it will require it. "It must be plugged in and calibrated for the console to even function," a new report on Kotaku reveals.
According to the site, Microsoft will include both Kinect and a hard drive in their next-gen console (both were optional accessories on Xbox 360). By making their use mandatory, developers will be able to make games with both peripherals in mind.
The camera has been greatly improved, being able to track up to six skeletons at once, versus two in the current-gen model. In addition, the new Kinect can keep track of five additional joints per person. According to Kotaku, the improved resolution of the camera will allow it to "instantly identify a person," making "automatic player identification" a part of the Xbox experience. While the convenience of not having to log-in will be nice, it could also lead to restricting content based on who Kinect identifies--something Redmond had patented many months ago. Using this tech could restrict the "number of user views, a number of user views over time, a number of simultaneous user views, views tied to user identities, views limited to user age or any variation or combination thereof."
In terms of hardware spec, Durango has been rumored to be largely identical with Orbis, the next PlayStation. Digital Foundry offers a comparison, detailing the slight differences in approach the two companies are taking with their next consoles.
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The next Xbox, codenamed Durango, will not only include an updated version of Kinect--it will require it. "It must be plugged in and calibrated for the console to even function."
The next Xbox, codenamed Durango, will not only include an updated version of Kinect--it will require it. "It must be plugged in and calibrated for the console to even function." : Shacknews
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We're coming dangerously close to 100% active surveillance, packaged as a "gaming device" so people say, "Wow!" rather than doing the right thing and smashing the devices into unidentifiable bits. I posit that there will be no way of knowing whether your new xbox 720 or 1440 or whatever, which requires a human-tracking camera and voice recognition software, is ever not watching you, unless you specifically unplug the device and the peripherals.
All new devices draw phantom power for reasons ranging from maintaining memory to providing faster start-up. My PS3 is never really "off". In the current gen, this isn't a big deal, since the power draws are so low and there are no surveillance devices required by the systems, but this new Xbox would throw that out the window. I'm going to step way close to the paranoia edge and say that even unplugging your device from power, or the peripherals from the system, will not guarantee that you aren't being watched. Technology has advanced to the point that the next-gen Kinect camera could be charging a small Li-Ion battery whenever it's plugged in, and when unplugged it records onto a small SSD, the contents of which it will upload once connected back up to the Xbox. The same with the microphone.
We're inviting the George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four into our homes with open arms. He just expected it to happen 30 years earlier.
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