Well, I don't know about integral. I mean, you can't buy an Xbox One without one, but you don't have to use it at all.

: (c) I'm naturally quiet
: and would prefer to operate controls rather than speak, (d) maybe I'd just
: plain feel silly talking to the machine.

I thought the same thing, but it doesn't feel silly at all, after the first few uses.

: Perhaps I could at least tolerate voice commands that would correspond to
: spoken commands in the virtual world. For example, I might be happy to say
: "Don't open fire" to stop my idiot Marines ruining a stealth
: approach, but I wouldn't want to be saying "Switch to plasma
: grenades" to make myself do that - because that would be completely
: false. Lilewise I wouldn't want to be saying "Open the door" to
: make myself open a door - because that just doesn't map to reality.

I'd agree to that. And I can't really see anything going in that gimmicky of a direction, and I certainly haven't encountered it. Most of what I've seen is pretty natural. Like I said, simply saying "Need Medic" or "Need Ammo" or "Need a Ride" in Battlefield is pretty natural.

: Navigating the UI is one things I really wouldn't want to be having to
: speak to do. Speaking to Marines (etc) is one thing, speaking to my Xbox
: is quite another. But in any case, navigating the UI is certainly simple
: enough not to need voice commands; so I'd certainly hope that it was never
: obligatory.

It isn't obligatory, no, but it is easier. Unfortunately, the Xbox One UI is a bit of a mess right now. It looks pretty enough at first, but actually navigating to certain things is awkward sometimes. Certain things can be buried three menus deep. It's so much easier to just say, "Xbox, go to _____," and it just does it. I can understand why one wouldn't want to use voice commands for navigation, but I love it. I walk in to my room and fire up the Xbox and start a show on Netflix while I change out of my work uniform, and without ever touching a remote or the Xbox controller. "Xbox, On. Xbox, go to Netflix." It's really great, and I really thing it's one of those things that has to be experienced to appreciate.

: I appreciate the possiblities it could open at least. As long as that headset
: thing is a go, allowing me to still be quiet, I guess I need to officially
: backtrack on completely ruling out the use of voice commands. However, the
: voice recognition would need to be darned reliable, or it could ruin
: immersion during gameplay.

So far, I have had very few problems with my commands being recognized. Maybe 1 out of 100 go unrecognized. And the Kinect microphone is impressive. I've never had to raise my voice above a natural speaking volume, no matter the sound volume coming out of my television, which is about six inches behind the Kinect. And when I'm gaming at night with the volume low, I can speak just barely above a whisper and it still hears me.

Anyway, thanks for the discussion. I'm not trying to sway you one way or another, I was just curious about your reasons for wanting to avoid the Kinect or voice commands. I certainly love it, and hope they make it into more games as time goes, as long as it remains pretty natural, or makes sense. I'm with you on avoiding the gimmicky things (switching grenade types, etc.).