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Article

Mitch Dyer wrote:
June 25, 2013

Microsoft has confirmed to IGN that Xbox One will not come bundled with a headset, as per Xbox 360 tradition. Instead, Microsoft points to Kinect's "highly sensitive multi-array microphones designed to enable voice inputs and chat as a system-level capability, both in-game and with Skype and other experiences."

If you want a standard Microsoft Xbox One headset (which Microsoft calls "a must-have," ironically), you'll have to purchase it separately. Additionally, Turtle Beach headsets and Polk headphones will be available following the console's launch. For context, Sony doesn't default to packing a headset with PlayStation hardware, but the PlayStation 4 is bundling a mono earpiece and mic.

Hmm, would my 360 mic fit in it?

Microsoft's marketing team seems to be run by blind monkeys.

Kinect 2 has been shown and demonstrated to function perfectly fine as a noise canceling microphone for gaming purposes. It has been shown to have outstanding background noise cancelation that will make it perfectly suitable, and more comfortable, than a traditional microphone

BrotherVord wrote:
Kinect 2 has been shown and demonstrated to function perfectly fine as a noise canceling microphone for gaming purposes. It has been shown to have outstanding background noise cancelation that will make it perfectly suitable, and more comfortable, than a traditional microphone

You my friend are way too optimistic. Join the pessimism side, you'll be disappointed less often!

thenoobbomb wrote:Hmm, would my 360 mic fit in it?

I don't believe so.

BrotherVord wrote:Kinect 2 has been shown and demonstrated to function perfectly fine as a noise canceling microphone for gaming purposes. It has been shown to have outstanding background noise cancelation that will make it perfectly suitable, and more comfortable, than a traditional microphone

Which is fine if you live alone and there is no one there to have to hear everyone else online shouting back at you through your TV. Some people don't live alone and may not want to share everything the Live community has to share with the rest of the room. Parents that play (there are parents that play video games) may not want their kids to find out that early on why the "Online interaction not subject to rating" label is on games with an online component. Teens may not want their parents to hear what their goofy friends have to say. Roommates may not want to have to listen to someone playing online while they are trying to get sleep for the next morning. Imagine being in a dorm room where you have to listen to all the Live chatter when you are doing your studies. It isn't just about you speaking to others, but also about how they speak to you.

Did Xbox 360 come with a headset? did that also generate this wailing and gnashing of teeth?

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
Did Xbox 360 come with a headset? did that also generate this wailing and gnashing of teeth?

The Arcade set didn't, I think, but it also didn't come with a HDD either. Outside of that all of them came with a headset.


And apparently the answer to whether the old ones will work on Xbox One is 'no' as apparently nothing from the 360 will work on the new one, and vice-versa.

Good, maybe it will reduce the amount of 12 year old screaming kids.

Due to the kinect you don't need a headset anymore. If you like you can plug in your favorite headphones*. Problem solved.

* You wouldn't want to use included headphones or mono-thingies anyway, the sound quality is just way too low.

 Minx wrote:
If you like you can plug in your favorite headphones*.

Where was that said? The article only mentions the official Headphones, sold seperately, and that Turtle Bach and Polk will be making headphones for it as well; there is no mention of universal compatibility. Either way it still would mean having to supply your own when the 360 came with it (excluding one very very stripped down set) and the PS4 also comes with a bluetooth headset.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Minx wrote:
* You wouldn't want to use included headphones or mono-thingies anyway, the sound quality is just way too low.

It seems odd to have first person knowledge of a headphone that doesn't exist yet.

 Ahtman wrote:

 Minx wrote:
If you like you can plug in your favorite headphones*.

Where was that said? The article only mentions the official Headphones, sold seperately, and that Turtle Bach and Polk will be making headphones for it as well; there is no mention of universal compatibility. Either way it still would mean having to supply your own when the 360 came with it (excluding one very very stripped down set) and the PS4 also comes with a bluetooth headset.

I haven't seen a TV without headphone or analog audio output yet.

 Ahtman wrote:

 Minx wrote:
* You wouldn't want to use included headphones or mono-thingies anyway, the sound quality is just way too low.

It seems odd to have first person knowledge of a headphone that doesn't exist yet.

Good headphones are not cheap and they are a good investment if you don't want to pay even more for an adequate sound-system or don't want to bother anyone else with noise/sound. Included headphones (notice how i never spoke about non-existent headphones but rather (perhaps hyperbolic) about the average included headphone) are seldom better than junk you might find at a dollar store. Otherwise they would have to charge for it and increase the console price by perhaps another $100. Quite a waste of money if the consumer already got headphones/headsets. Just like they assume you got a display somewhere. It's not included either, is it?

I never used the one that came with my 360 @_@ WHy would I want to talk to the XBL community? They almost make LoL seem tame (almost)

 Minx wrote:
I haven't seen a TV without headphone or analog audio output yet.

So you aren't talking about the Xbox One, but the TV itself.

 Minx wrote:
Good headphones are not cheap

Neither is an Xbox One, and now you also have to get separate headphones to go with it. You are then in the awkward position of listening on the headphones and talking to the Kinect. As good as we are supposed to believe it is, I doubt talking quietly across the room into the Kinect will work as well as talking quietly into a mic next to your mouth.

What I don't really get is that the Kinect has about a 1:3 attach rate going by sales numbers, and that doesn't count people who traded them in or sold them after they got it. That doesn't strike me as something that people were just begging MS to add onto the next system, pushing the price up another $100 or so.

 Ahtman wrote:

 Minx wrote:
I haven't seen a TV without headphone or analog audio output yet.

So you aren't talking about the Xbox One, but the TV itself.

No, i am talking about the Xbox One. The most common use case has it connected to a TV. Does the Xbox One come with any kind of analog audio output/connector?

 Ahtman wrote:
You are then in the awkward position of listening on the headphones and talking to the Kinect. As good as we are supposed to believe it is, I doubt talking quietly across the room into the Kinect will work as well as talking quietly into a mic next to your mouth.

Good point. I have always preferred a separate microphone instead of a mic next to my mouth so i am a bit biased in that regard. But if you need to be really quiet and cannot move the kinect next to you, e.g. you make use of its cameras, than you'd need a headset. I agree in that situation. I would still prefer to choose my own headset even if it's more expensive though.

BrotherVord wrote:
Kinect 2 has been shown and demonstrated to function perfectly fine as a noise canceling microphone for gaming purposes. It has been shown to have outstanding background noise cancelation that will make it perfectly suitable, and more comfortable, than a traditional microphone

the same was said for the first one. You ever heard somebody with a Kinect on Xbox live for the 360? You have to mute them or you can't hear a thing. Ton of background noise, garbled, loud, etc. Its almost deafening on the cheap headphones.

I was already against the One, but that's the final nail in the coffin. You'd have to be muting people constantly in order hear anything. This is a stupid idea, pure and simple. And that's just for other Xbox players. Plenty of people have covered the reasons why housemates will not appreciate a roomate using the Kinect to talk on Live (because you will need to speak louder to use it, I don't care what Microsoft says)

Boy I hope no one else is talking anywhere in anyone's house at the time I'm playing online.

Good, I didn't want to talk to any of you anyway!

 Mr Nobody wrote:
Good, I didn't want to talk to any of you anyway!

Anyway, slight update. Microsoft is looking for way to make the 360 headphones, as well as others, work with the new system.

Xbox One won't bundle a headset in the box, but Microsoft is seeking a way to let Xbox 360 headsets work with the new console's controller. The sometimes-reliable Xbox Support stated on Twitter this week that the company was looking into an adapter that enable cross-generational functionality, which Microsoft has confirmed to IGN.

"Xbox plans to develop solutions in the near future to allow consumers to connect many brands of wired gaming headsets to the Wireless Controller for gaming and chat audio," an Xbox representative told IGN. “The Wireless Controller has been redesigned to allow for higher data transfer speed between the controller and the console. This also required creating a new expansion port design for headsets and future controller add-on devices which is different from a standard audio plug input."

I certainly hope I don't always have to use the kinect for voice chat.

As long as they make the old headset work I'll be happy enough.

Well, what I'm seeing with this is, at the retail price they're offering their system at, you're at least halfway to a nice PC gaming rig, with ultimately many more options down the road, and with vastly less restrictions on what you can and can't do.

Just sayin'!

Well I usually scream like a chimp at my TV anyway so this shouldn't be a problem.

 LordofHats wrote:
I never used the one that came with my 360 @_@ WHy would I want to talk to the XBL community? They almost make LoL seem tame (almost)

Remove the almost there. XBL 's community is worse tahn anything I've heard, except maybe Combat Arms.


I know I wouldn't want my nephew listening to some d-bag dropping f-bombs, c-bombs, racial slurs, and the like. Then again I can already say he probably won't get an Xbone anyway, because of its cost and always-online requirement.

 Melissia wrote:

 LordofHats wrote:
I never used the one that came with my 360 @_@ WHy would I want to talk to the XBL community? They almost make LoL seem tame (almost)

Remove the almost there. XBL 's community is worse tahn anything I've heard, except maybe Combat Arms.


I know I wouldn't want my nephew listening to some d-bag dropping f-bombs, c-bombs, racial slurs, and the like. Then again I can already say he probably won't get an Xbone anyway, because of its cost and always-online requirement.

Oh god I played combat arms for a while.

That was every terrible facet of online shooters rolled up into one evil being.

 Melissia wrote:

 LordofHats wrote:
I never used the one that came with my 360 @_@ WHy would I want to talk to the XBL community? They almost make LoL seem tame (almost)

Remove the almost there. XBL 's community is worse tahn anything I've heard, except maybe Combat Arms.


I know I wouldn't want my nephew listening to some d-bag dropping f-bombs, c-bombs, racial slurs, and the like. Then again I can already say he probably won't get an Xbone anyway, because of its cost and always-online requirement.

Out of curiosity, what kind of games is your nephew playing that would attract people like that, while the game itself isn't intended for older audiences?

Honestly, I've never really gotten the hate on the XBL community. That said, I don't play CoD so I guess that fixes a lot of it right.. It's nowhere close to the avarage MOBA community in my experience.

Also, always on has been removed.

Meh. I'm getting a WiiU or a PS4 (or both) anyway. This just reinforces my decision.

Still, I do wish I could get my USB headset to pipe the game chat AND sound from my PS3...

Halo 2 was pretty bad back in the day and 3 and Reach were only moderate improvements.

Yeah, Halo and CoD were what I was thinking of.

All this grief over a headset, people are just looking for anything to talk crap about this thing

Non issue for me, I've never even taken my 360 headset out of the plastic.