BitSnark

Update:

Microsoft has gone on record with gaming website Eurogamer to say that Kinect WILL ship with voice activation features when it launches in November. The confusion appears to stem from the fact that a number of non-English dialects are not currently supported by the device.

Phew!

Original Article:

Microsoft today dropped a fairly large bombshell on all of those folks who intend to put down £129.99 on a Microsoft Kinect; there will be no voice control or video chat at launch with Marketing manager for Xbox Live EMEA Robin Burrowes saying: “We will be announcing when voice control will be turned on in due course.”

Ouch.

Considering that the voice activation and integration feature was one of the MAIN REASONS why people perhaps would have pre-ordered the peripheral in the first place, you can begin to understand the consumer ire at having a key feature stripped out of the unit on launch day.

Broken promises before a launch are never a good portent of things to come.

The ball is in your court Microsoft. Make us happy.