Xbox One Kinect

The aggravating days of slowly typing in 25 digits in order to redeem Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live subscriptions and other downloadable Xbox items may be ending for those gamers who purchase Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox One console when it goes on sale starting November 22. Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb showcased on Vine today the Xbox One Kinect camera’s ability to scan Xbox Live membership cards in mere seconds through the use of QR codes.

In the video, which can be seen here, Hryb tells his Kinect to “use a code” and holds an Xbox Live 14-day trial card in front of the camera. The code is processed rapidly, with his Xbox asking him in about two seconds if he wants to redeem the XBL code it’s just scanned.

The technology and speed at which it operates is hardly new, as smartphone users have been enjoying such functionality for years now. It is, however, new to Xbox, and it’s an additional feature that is sure to be welcomed by a community that’s spent the Xbox 360’s life cycle begrudgingly growing accustomed to typing in lengthy codes in order to redeem codes for games, XBL subscriptions, DLC and more.

Though Hryb’s video demonstrates QR code-scanning as the new standard for XBL subscription cards, it isn’t clear at this time whether or not QR codes will be printed on all Xbox One game and item download cards. Microsoft’s Xbox Support account tweeted a nebulous response to a gamer’s question about the possibility of all cards featuring Kinect-scannable QR codes. “We don’t have that information to share at this time,” stated Xbox Support.

XBLAFans again put the question to Xbox Support, and again Microsoft was unable or unwilling to answer it. “We don’t have specifics on that,” was the response we received over Twitter. XBLAFans has also emailed the same question to a contact within Microsoft and will update this story should further details be provided.

Source: @majornelson