A lot of people were wowed last week when Microsoft showed off the responsiveness of the new generation Kinect perched on top of the forthcoming Xbox One, but not everyone is thrilled by the advances the company has made in facial recognition. Escapist reports that when German website Spiegel asked Germany's Federal Data Protection Commissioner Peter Schaar about the technology, he called it a "monitoring device."

"The Xbox continuously records all sorts of personal information about me. Reaction rates, my learning or emotional states," Schaar said. "They are then processed on an external server, and possibly even passed on to third parties. Whether they will ever deleted, the person cannot influence."In a statement to Kotaku , Microsoft reiterated its commitment to user privacy, stating that the Kinect can be turned off, despite needing to be connected in order for the console to function:"We know our customers want and expect strong privacy protections to be built into our products, devices and services, and for companies to be responsible stewards of their data. Microsoft has more than ten years of experience making privacy a top priority. Kinect for Xbox 360 was designed and built with strong privacy protections in place and the new Kinect will continue this commitment. We’ll share more details later."With Microsoft deliberately keeping things under wraps, folks like Schaar are concerned that more damaging facts are obscured from the public. Most importantly, that information about individual users will filter back to the Seattle-based company's main data banks, acting a little more Big Brother than most people would be comfortable with.Despite his concern, however, Schaar expressed doubts that Microsoft had malicious intent for the data it is collecting from Xbox One users, calling spying claims "merely a twisted nightmare."What do you think of Microsoft's new Kinect and its tight integration with Xbox One? Let us know in the comments.An earlier version of this story cited an erroneous translation of Schaar's comments. Instead of supporting the suggestion that the Kinect's monitoring practices were part of a deliberate data gathering strategy, Schaar was, in fact, expressing skepticism of any conspiracy on Microsoft's behalf. The copy has since been updated.

Lauren Hockenson is a tech reporter and 8-bit enthusiast who dreams of being a wizard. She can be found on MyIGN at lhockenson or on Twitter at @lhockenson