Hands-on with Microsoft's new digital assistants feature on Xbox One

Microsoft is letting gamers use their Alexa or Cortana enabled devices with the Xbox I, taking advantage of all the former Kinect-based voice commands that used to utilize before Kinect was shoved to the side. At present, you tin utilise them over again, all thanks to a new skill Microsoft is releasing for Cortana and Alexa.

Related: All-time Alexa and Cortana vox speakers for Xbox One

We've gone hands on with the new feature, which is currently in testing with Xbox Insiders. From our initial impressions, it works rather well. Although, it is somewhat slower than if yous were using the commands natively on the Xbox One console with Kinect back in the twenty-four hours.

How the voice commands piece of work through the digital assistants characteristic is the command is sent up the cloud and dorsum down to your Xbox, acting as a passthrough rather than sending the control directly to the Xbox using a mic or Kinect. This is why it'due south a fleck slower, but all the commands you could use earlier even so work.

There is one boosted step in saying voice commands now however. Instead of just saying "Hey Cortana, launch Halo: The Principal Chief Collection," yous now have to say "Hey Cortana (or Alexa), tell Xbox to launch Halo: The Chief Principal Collection." Information technology'due south an additional stride, which is rather annoying. The trade-off is that you can at present launch a game even when your console is an off land, since the Xbox doesn't demand to exist switched on to receive commands.

Overall, this early implemtation of the new digital assistants feature is pretty cool. I wish it was faster, and I besides wish information technology'd work 100 percent of the fourth dimension. I often find it'll forget that I've already setup the feature, and ask me to set it up again. Re-asking the command usually works though. Of course, it's still in beta, then when it launches to the public fully, hopefully, information technology'll have a bit more smooth behind information technology.

What do you call up of this new functionality? Let the states know in the comments.

See Harman Kardon Invoke at Amazon
Run across Amazon Repeat at Amazon

We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more than.

The problem for a consumer HoloLens was always the lack of Windows Phone

History catches up

The trouble for a consumer HoloLens was always the lack of Windows Telephone

What is the hereafter for Microsoft (and Windows) mixed reality? The latest report from Business Insider sheds some light, only this all comes dorsum to one major problem for Microsoft: No mobile Windows OS. But what about a futurity headset that is cloud-based? Some thoughts on what could happen for Microsoft mixed reality.