After viewing Microsoft’s “Next Xbox Reveal,” you’d be forgiven if you thought the Xbox One could only be controlled through voice commands. Thankfully, a Microsoft spokesman has spoken to Kotaku and confirmed that the system does indeed have a power switch.
“It is not always watching or always listening. Yes, you can turn the system completely off. This would use no power and turn everything off. We’ll share more details about how it all works later.”
The fact that this needed to be clarified is pretty scary. Microsoft has been backtracking thanks to a bevy of miscommunicated official statements ever since the Xbox One was first revealed. In fact, questions about the console’s used game policy started making the online rounds before the presentation was even over.
So it’s not surprising that Microsoft also had to tell Kotaku that the Xbox One’s Kinect sensor will include customizable privacy settings in case you don’t want a 1984-styled two-way camera monitoring you:
“We are designing the new Kinect with simple, easy methods to customize privacy settings, provide clear notifications and meaningful privacy choices for how data will be used, stored and shared.”
So you can put away your tin foil hat… for now.
