No doubt one of the neatest elements to Microsoft's Xbox One reveal on Monday was the heavy use of the updated Kinect sensor, which touted some impressive voice recognition and what the company bills as improved motion tracking.
There was, however, one group of viewers who were likely not amused by the new Kinect's robust voice control features: current owners of the Xbox 360 with Kinect. For the Microsoft stalwarts out there already in possession of the current-gen Xbox and Kinect controller, Redmond's presentation might have had some unintended consequences.
One of the most common problems viewers seemed to be experiencing was that whenever somebody on stage said "Xbox" or "Xbox Live," it would power on the Kinect paired to their Xbox 360 and kill the stream. Kinect owners took to Twitter to voice their complaints, although most were good humored about the whole ordeal. Still, the predicament probably didn't help much and Microsoft is likely already concerned after a poll conducted by IGN indicated that 75% of their readers were disappointed with the Xbox One reveal.
If you were looking to catch the Xbox One reveal and own an Xbox 360, chances are that you streamed the presentation directly through your console, where Microsoft advertised it prominently with a dedicated slot right on the dashboard.
Although the resulting kerfuffle was hysterical above all else, it does raise a salient question: is the Kinect too sensitive to be practical in a real-world environment? Imagine a world, nay, a living room, where the battle over the remote is no longer a physical melee, where brute strength alone no longer reigns triumphant. Rather, the battle over the remote is now a shouting match, with multiple users shouting out multiple and conflicting commands to their gaming console.
This of course begs another salient question: how many concurrent commands can be issued to the Kinect before it goes haywire?
