Xbox One News: DirectX 12 Advantage May Not be Definite; Kinect for Windows Price Revealed

Playstation And Xbox Booths At The 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) In Los Angeles — IN PHOTO: People walk past the Playstation and Xbox booths at the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo, known as E3, in Los Angeles, California June 10, 2014. Reuters/Jonathan Alcorn

Improvements for the Xbox One have been delivered and promised. There are a number of system updates since the console was released as well as speculations and promises made, most especially the promise of improvements with DirectX 12.

But it seems developers are also starting to identify other areas in the Xbox One that may be lacking that would contribute to the fact that it still can't get a native 1,080p resolution easily for games.

In an interview with Gamepur via Twitter, one of the game developers, Brad Wardell from Stardock has given his two cents' when it comes to what puts the Xbox One behind.

Wardell believes RAM is the main issue, as the ESram is inefficiently used. "MS cheaped out on the RAM," he said in a tweet quoted by Gamepur.

The touted DirectX 12 upgrade for the Xbox One has been seen as a possible booster for the Xbox One's graphic and performance, though it is still in the grey area, with no definite presuppositions as to how its incorporation will aid the Xbox One.

In the more optimistic area, GamingBolt has spoken with Navpower creator, BabelFlux's David Miles, in an attempt to understand what exactly the DirectX 12 can do for path finding.

"Obviously this is great for us because it frees up a lot more CPU resources that can be used for a variety of things including AI. Most clients only allocate a few percent of the total CPU available to the game for AI processing, including things such as dynamic obstacles, pathfinding, and character steering," Miles stated.

Navpower as a source of this kind of approach has already been used for PCs and a few choice mobile platforms. Considering the performance and graphical boost the Xbox One needs, the DirectX 12's benefit may actually be more than what it was credited for.

Pricing for Kinect 2.0 for Windows Revealed

The $100 price difference between the PS4 and the Xbox One seemed a lot more expensive during the battle of the next-gen console wars, seeing as how this seemed to have pushed the Xbox One further down on sales compared to its rival.

However, when compared to the upcoming Xbox One Kinect version slated to release on Windows, the price point appears more astounding. DualShockers reports Microsoft has already listed the Windows-compatible Kinect 2.0 like the Xbox One. But the price that was listed is at $199.

This may not seem to be a surprising price point, given that the old Kinect for Windows has been sold at $249. While a student price may have made it a bit more appealing—since the Windows-compatible Xbox 360 Kinect was discounted at $100 compared to the original price—but this does not seem to be the case for the Xbox One Kinect heading to Windows.

According to the report, the new Kinect may actually be meant for developers in the first place, as it is meant to work with the Kinect for Windows Software Dev Kit 2.0 and lacks any software shipping.