SCREAMING COMMANDS at your Xbox One could soon become a bigger deal as Microsoft is reportedly looking at plonking the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa into its latest console.
At least that’s according to Windows Central and its “reliable source”, which reported that support for virtual assistants beyond Microsoft’s own Cortana is in the works, given Cortana’s current limitations on the Xbox One and Xbox One X.
That’s probably not the Xbox news gamers were hoping for ahead of the massive gaming convention that is E3, but it does mean the ever-expanding capabilities of the game console are further extended.
Amazon’s Alexa can be equipped with ‘skills’ which allows its capabilities to be regularly expanded so now it can order a pizza while hailing an Uber ride.
And Google Assistant is arguably the smartest, most capable virtual helper out of all the consumer pseudo AI-based assistants with its sharp natural language comprehension and soon to be expanded capabilities, such as understanding multiple questions in a single sentence and ability to pretend to be human while making phone calls.
There’s no word on how capable Alexa and the Google Assistant will be when integrated into the Xbox One, or indeed how they will be activated and commanded, though we suspect they won’t be reliant on a Kinect or microphone-equipped headset to issues voice commands; that’s likely to happen through a specific mobile app or integration with Microsoft’s Xbox or Smart Glass apps on Android and iOS.
There’s also likely to be some form of integration between the virtual assistants’ respective smart home speakers, the Amazon Echo and Google Home, allowing for commands to turn on the Xbox One or send messages to Xbox Live friends to be barked at the always-listening-in speakers.
Such a setup would kinda compensate for Microsoft’s yanking the Kinect from Xbox One packages and seemingly taking the once innovative for a trip to the knacker’s yard after seven years of service. µ
Source : Inquirer