Thu, Nov 11, 2010 | 22:14 GMT
Durkin: Kinect can “track some” usage and possibly “cater what content gets presented to you”
Dennis Durkin, Xbox’s chief operating officer,has said Kinect can provide Microsoft with the means to track consumer usage thus offering the customer experiences which they would be interested in.
While this sounds a bit like the “like” button you see on Facebook which eventually only shows ads on products you may be interested in, it is sort of like that, only not.
“I think what we’ve found is the core gamer may have been the person who brought the box into the house, but as you add new experiences and broader content choices for other members of the house, they come and use the system,” Durkin said during the BMO Capital Markets conference in New York today. “We can track some of that usage as it relates to broader family members in the house.
“Kinect actually brings an interesting opportunity as it relates to that. Obviously with Kinect, it has facial recognition, voice recognition… we can cater what content gets presented to you based on who you are.”
According to Gamasutra, this can allow Microsoft to “adapt the content it suggests depending on who it sees in front of it”.
“Your wife in the future might get a different set of content choices than you, because we have a smart device that knows her preferences are different than yours,” Durkin said. “Those are the kinds of things that, when you add this new sensor into the equation, there’s a bunch of business opportunities that also come with that.”
Feedback from those using the device will eventually help Microsoft learn more about the installed base and who is doing what on Xbox 360.
Durkin also said 40 percent of the time spent playing around on Xbox Live by Gold members was spent on non-gaming applications.
It has been estimated by Microsoft that Xbox Live earned $1 billion in fiscal 2010 with around 50 percent of users pay for Gold memberships.
24 comments
#1
sg1974
11/11/10, 10:18 pm
Don’t screw on the sofa.
#2
cookiejar
11/11/10, 10:19 pm
@1 LOL
Or even worse, don’t screw the sofa.
#3
Stephany Nunneley
11/11/10, 10:22 pm
If I ever get one, I am wearing a mask.
#4
orakaa
11/11/10, 10:24 pm
I CERTAINLY don’t want informations gathered through a webcam to be sent to ANYONE, especially not some consumer/advertising related companies !
#5
cookiejar
11/11/10, 10:27 pm
@3 What sort of Kinky stuff are you into? o.O
Hah
#6
evilashchris
11/11/10, 10:30 pm
Microsoft learns 99.9% of teenage boys wank like spidermonkeys as soon as their parents go out.
The other 0.1 wanks like a lazy elephant.
#7
Stephany Nunneley
11/11/10, 10:40 pm
@5 If I told you, it would give you nightmares
#8
Psychotech
11/11/10, 11:20 pm
BIG BROTHER this is atrocious
#9
Psychotext
11/11/10, 11:40 pm
Stephany’s fetishes are so hardcore that it makes me look like a well rounded member of society.
#10
Stephany Nunneley
11/11/10, 11:50 pm
@9 –
#11
theevilaires
11/11/10, 11:51 pm
I told you guys they will do this. you are an idiot if you buy NATAL. Pure fucking dumb. Its one thing they charge for online game play and you retards pay for it willing like its not stealing candy from a baby. But now you’re gonna support M$ invading your privacy.
YOU ARE A DUMB FUCK AND THIS IS WHY SOCIETY IS DOOMED.
1st you dump your whole life on facebook
now you invite M$ to spy on you and advertise easily so they can get you to by their shit more. Whats next the police have the right to search you without a warrant?
and of course the XBOTS above joke about it
….fucking idiots I swear.
#12
Psychotech
12/11/10, 1:10 am
@11 you do have a point.I’m amazed how people joke about the importance of this.I’m sure we will hear a lot complaints about it from territories in a few weeks from now.
#13
Stephany Nunneley
12/11/10, 1:13 am
@12 People tend to joke about stuff that makes them uncomfortable. Thus my mask remark. I’ll likely wear a Barney one since he promotes “sharing” so much.
#14
Psychotech
12/11/10, 1:30 am
@13 Agree.But joking also seems like turning the blind eye.Why conversations must always consist of fanboyism,trolling e.t.c and not something of great importance as this?this isn’t something to let it pass by just like that and theevilaires isn’t totally exaggerating
i’m not talking to you personally Stephany
but at least you could put it in the Hot news section
#15
Freek
12/11/10, 7:34 am
They say “content” they mean “marketing messages”.
#16
Blerk
12/11/10, 8:30 am
My friend has put a piece of black masking tape over the camera on his Macbook because he doesn’t want to risk ‘Apple watching him’.
#17
James Mac
12/11/10, 8:45 am
They don’t need the camera for that… they can already do it with your gamertag.
The camera is just used to log in.
Be alert, not alarmed.
#18
Madlink
12/11/10, 9:25 am
Like James Mac says, how is this any different to tracking what games and other content you use through your Gamertag and then showing appropriate marketing each time that Gamertag logs in?
@Blerk
I also just recently found out someone I know does the exact same thing with the webacam in his laptop. I was kinda blown away by his paranoia because up until now I thought he was completely normal.
#19
Gadzooks!
12/11/10, 9:35 am
As @17 and @18 say, MS already track your preferences. Sony track your preferences. Nintendo track your preferences. Apple track your preferences. Facebook tracks your preferences. Supermarkets track your preferences, and I track your preferences.
The only people who genuinely believe that you are being observed through a camera without your consent are easy to spot. They have a tinfoil hat on and have pulled all thier teeth, because fillings contain tracking chips, obviously.
#20
Blerk
12/11/10, 9:48 am
I’m watching you. Right now. You won’t see me.
#21
Gadzooks!
12/11/10, 9:54 am
@20
Lol!
Ok, obscure TV reference time:
‘You aint seen me, right?’
#22
Psychotech
12/11/10, 10:12 am
all the examples mentioned are different though,now they also have visual and audio information and nevertheless they can also track you as they please even when you’re not using it unless you take off the plug.
sure we have heard rumors before but rarely confirmed via the respective companies themselves.
#23
Blerk
12/11/10, 10:12 am
Heh heh!
This calls for some classic Python, I think!
#24
manamana
12/11/10, 10:47 am
“this is the neighbour who tell us where he were”
“and this is where he lived”