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Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

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Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#91

Post by teraflop »

polpo wrote: post #66
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is actually a reason I am kind of surprised to see Microsoft just shut this down outright. Even as a much more limited run product, Kinect has so many possibilities in robotics and research, and it intersects with the VR/AR developments today.

Occipital still produces the Structure Sensor [1], which uses similar technology to the 1st generation Kinect. They've also recently introduced the Structure Core [2], a new generation, miniaturized depth sensor designed to be embedded into anything that needs that kind of sensing. [1] https://structure.io [2] https://structure.io/core

It's not a true replacement if it costs 10-20x as much, though.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#92

Post by Pica_soO »

Bjorkbat wrote: post #67

This is a shame. I mean, yeah, it was a pretty awkward gaming accessory, but outside the context of gaming people were doing some pretty fun things with it. A powerful sensor at a ridiculously cheap cost that you could use to create amazing things, provided of course your imagination wasn't weighed down by the latest dumb tech trend. That last statement is just as true now as it was when the Kinect originally came ou…

Its cooperate culture, which allows for nay-Sayers to show the Nay-Emails and meeting-logs as trophy's of successful predictions.

If you want to kill this, you need a cooperate culture, that anonymizes project critic and punishes claims of authorship to critique.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#93

Post by _jdams »

Sad about the Kinect, but don't interpret this as Microsoft/Xbox failing. They are actually doing a fantastic job with the Xbox brand. The X (scorpio) is launching soon, and they are releasing a bunch of older titles into their ever-expanding backwards compatibility library. In addition, developers are pushing out graphics/performance update patches for the popular titles on the X, and recently overhauled the Xbox UI - it is extremely snappy now and customizable.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#94

Post by ballenf »

larrik wrote: post #7

This makes me sad, because my experience with my own Kinect (360) was very much a "this could be awesome if it wasn't burdened with stupid crap". I bought it for my kids. Turns out, the Kinect is awful for kids. They were far too little for the Kinect to properly see them, and the motions to actually use it were super fussy. Then if I walked in to try to help them, the Kinect would freak out that there was a new pers…

My 2-3 year old kids love the Kinect on the xbone. Well, the love Fruit Ninja on there and have zero problems with it despite their stature. They've played the game weekly for a couple years now.

I just point the Kinect down a little for them (and play on my knees if I join them) and sometimes move one sofa back a couple feet if more than one person is playing at a time.

The improvements in the xbone over 360 in the Kinect department were huge.

I kept waiting for another game in the vein of Fruit Ninja, but none came.

Also use the Kinect for voice controls on movies. It was the equivalent of the Echo but well ahead of time.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#95

Post by Tyr42 »

Benjammer wrote: post #90
microcolonel wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ridiculously cheap cost I think that's the problem, I figure it was meant to increase XBox game licensing money, not turn a direct profit.

Isn't this the backbone of the entire console gaming industry though? Has there ever been a popular console that directly turned a profit through hardware sales? I was under the impression that basically the entire revenue stream comes from game licensing fees from publishers, with hardware as loss leaders across the board.

Wii, and in general Nintendo consoles are not sold at a loss.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#96

Post by dalfonso »

One thing that hasn't been mentioned: Kinect was Microsoft's reaction to Wii's success.

I worked at Microsoft when the first Kinect came out. I spoke with a few members of that team (non-engineers). My question was very clear -- are you expecting this to takeover for controller based gaming? I don't recall all the responses, but I think the overall sentiment was along the lines of "No, but it might", whereas my thoughts were along the lines of it absolutely will not, this is such a gimmick. I'm not a gamer at all, but I used to be in college. When I want to game, I plop down on my couch and mash on the controller. If I wanted to jump around and flail my arms, I'd go to the gym or play some pickup basketball.

I think there was (maybe is) a disconnect between Microsoft and hardcore gamers. Kinect and Xbox One's initial non-gaming features were an attempt to take Xbox "mainstream". Stop it. Appeal to the core demographic. To their credit, it seems like they've been doing that now.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#97

Post by dcole2929 »

Benjammer wrote: post #90
microcolonel wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ridiculously cheap cost I think that's the problem, I figure it was meant to increase XBox game licensing money, not turn a direct profit.

Isn't this the backbone of the entire console gaming industry though? Has there ever been a popular console that directly turned a profit through hardware sales? I was under the impression that basically the entire revenue stream comes from game licensing fees from publishers, with hardware as loss leaders across the board.

Generally they are sold for a loss to begin with early in the generation. But later iterations usually make money. As a whole, successful consoles, usually can make money for the company producing them. That said both PS3 and Xbox 360 lost money for their respective companies. I believe the Wii and the PS2 however were great financial successes though.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#98

Post by hmschreck »

Benjammer wrote: post #90
microcolonel wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ridiculously cheap cost I think that's the problem, I figure it was meant to increase XBox game licensing money, not turn a direct profit.

Isn't this the backbone of the entire console gaming industry though? Has there ever been a popular console that directly turned a profit through hardware sales? I was under the impression that basically the entire revenue stream comes from game licensing fees from publishers, with hardware as loss leaders across the board.

Up until the WiiU, Nintendo had sold, if memory serves, every console at a profit.

The issue here is that it's being bought without games. They lose money on the tech, and then don't make it up on the licensing.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#99

Post by dcole2929 »

LMYahooTFY wrote: post #87
Bjorkbat wrote: post #67

This is a shame. I mean, yeah, it was a pretty awkward gaming accessory, but outside the context of gaming people were doing some pretty fun things with it. A powerful sensor at a ridiculously cheap cost that you could use to create amazing things, provided of course your imagination wasn't weighed down by the latest dumb tech trend. That last statement is just as true now as it was when the Kinect originally came ou…

Tech giants don't invent cool things, they buy cool inventions that might become trendy, and dump them if they don't. Their dominance seems to have further pervaded the notion that utility and viability = profitability within this system.

Having invented something is only useful if you're actually able to get that something into peoples hands. As much as I hate how people drool over overpriced Apple hardware, they've done a great job putting greenfield tech into the hands of consumers. Microsoft conversely actually does "invent" a lot of cool things, but for the last 20 years they've been pretty bad at turning those cool things into successful things

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#100

Post by sova »

Bjorkbat wrote: post #67

This is a shame. I mean, yeah, it was a pretty awkward gaming accessory, but outside the context of gaming people were doing some pretty fun things with it. A powerful sensor at a ridiculously cheap cost that you could use to create amazing things, provided of course your imagination wasn't weighed down by the latest dumb tech trend. That last statement is just as true now as it was when the Kinect originally came ou…

Very nicely said, your last sentence expertly crafted.
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