Someone Is Watching

It is nice to see that Microsoft completely changed their mind with respect to being able to play used games on the XBox One. There are rumors circulating as to why this reversal took place, but I don't want to speculate. Their own site says they listened to their users and in my opinion, that is the right thing to do.

One advantage the XBox One has over the PS4 is that it comes bundled with the Kinect. With the PS4, you will have to shell out another $80 or so to get the equivalent feature. Including the Kinect will allow Microsoft to do all sorts of things for all of their users that a large number of PS4 users won't be able to do. For instance, when you are watching TV on your XBox One, the Kinect will be able to count the number of people in the room and be able to distinguish the relative ages of everyone. Think what a benefit that will be to the advertisers paying for commercials during your favorite shows. Whereas they used to have to go through expensive and error-prone services like Nielsen, they will have immediate feedback on their audience.

The XBox One will also always be listening to you. They say it is so it will turn on when it hears you say, "XBox On". However it can also be used to hear things like, "I love this game," or "This game blows." Just think, they will be able to take that information and feed it back to game developers to help them create better content for you to play.

Microsoft is also very concerned about security with their devices and would never let anyone have the ability to write a virus for the XBox that would allow it to listen in on your private conversations or watch what you are doing in the privacy of your own home. After all, their operating systems are known for being the most secure and immune to hacking or viruses. And we were told at launch that the XBox One would be running three different operating systems, one of which was a form of Windows.

Yep, I think these features are really awesome. Just as long as today is opposite day.