The Xbox One’s voice commands, while generally excellent, have a problem. OK, two problems. The smaller one is they don’t always work. The bigger one is that you need to memorise a chart like this just to be able to use them properly.
I will never understand why you say “Xbox on”, but not “Xbox off”. Mr Miyagi would be very disappointed.
And maybe I’ve been spoiled by the excellence that is Google Now, but I’d hope that in future updates, the camera can be a little more forgiving, with less reliance on having to say exact terms.
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13 responses to “An Xbox One Kinect Dictionary, For When It Just Doesn’t Understand You”
So you can struggle to get the volume up or down, or you can use a remote which is faster an easier and been standard on TV’s for over 3 decades….
For that, remote is easier yes, but snapping apps, switching between apps and recording game video is much faster with voice…..when it works.
You can’t do it in Aus yet anyway, need the console set to US region. I can’t imagine it working too well, it would smash it down a big chunk, otherwise you’d be yelling volume down over and over again to have small incremental movements.
I haven’t been able to get a straight answer so far so figured I would ask here (I did ask MS). Does the Xbox On command work in Aus?
I have set the box to US and it worked but when I sent it back to AUS it doesn’t work anymore, seems really weird.
Anyone actually get the thing to turn on with voice.
Dude, not even once. Turning off works perfectly but i haven’t been able to turn it on. I know it needs to be in the correct power state but im shouting “xbox on” to no avail.
That feature doesn’t work in Australia
Are you sure? I haven’t found any australian articles claiming the “on” function doesn’t work in australia, and i’m sure i’ve read others enjoying it. Seems like a weird thing to deactivate when the off function works.
So I was yelling at my xbox like an idiot for no reason… Thanks for the reply
The bigger problem I reckon, is that you have to say thing exactly like it wants. Even siri tries to understand what you mean when you say things in a variety of ways. (and even Siri is frustrating as all get up).
I’m gonna touch on a point that Carmack made. Hands down anything voice activated on kinect can be done faster by either a controller/remote/mouse keyboard setup. If your not beating already embraced technology why bring this out? MS could have introduced a shortcut button on the gamepad with the flick of a joystick or button press or combination did a variety of tasks faster than the voice activation. Hands down the voice activation is cool though, but I think people really do want a machine that can begin to understand you, and like hatchdog has pointed out applications like siri have already started on this,
Do you have an Xbone?!
Because when I go for a cigarette and I say “Xbox watch tv” and then head outside watching the UFC fights while having a ciggy then come back in and without even looking for my controller say “Xbox go to Forza Motorsport 5” and sit down and pick up my controller where i left it – Its pretty snazzy and yes THAT would be quicker than getting into the room searching for a remote then changing inputs back and forth etc….
You either a hater or you are regretting your PS4 preorder just to play KZ shadowfall and some kids game that will never match Jak and Daxter
+1. Making pizza with the missus a couple of nights ago, having either of us call out from the kitchen, ‘Xbox, next song’ and have the music skip was fantastic.
Oh yeah I almost forgot! the music is awesome! My misses i pregnant and about to pop so Im doing all the cooking and housework and it makes it much more enjoyable when doing the dishes dont need to dry hands or anything just yell it out!
No, i don’t own one yet (maybe, we will see) I’m not fussed on either console tbh I’ll pick one up in about 3 years if it all. Just my experience with friends. It’s a novelty that will run dry very fast.
I wasnt getting an Xbone until last week – it was a bit of an impulse purchase due to cash that wasnt expected – but it was one I still do not regret! 😉
I agree that anything can probably be done faster with a button but you only have two hands at the end of the day and that limits the number of inputs you can make. An example of this is me recording game footage if something funny just happened, yes i could press a button to record but i would have to stop controlling the game conventionally to press that button. With voice i just say “xbox record that” and I can keep controlling the game as it does its business