Among the new Dead Island 2 features announced during the game’s triumphant return to the limelight at Gamescom, was the ability to yell at the zombies IRL.
I don’t mean that as in, you, sitting at home yelling at your television and getting a noise complaint. That may ultimately become a component in this. I don’t know your circumstances. But the specific Dead Island 2 functionality we’re talking about here is Alexa Game Control.
This is a new part of Amazon’s Alexa platform that will let players control certain elements of their games with nothing more than the power of their voice. Amazon says that Alexa Game Control will be compatible with “any microphone or headset connected to their PC or console.” You won’t need an Echo device to manipulate your games with your voice, but you will need an Amazon account to get started (a regular account, not a Prime one). You also won’t have to say ‘Alexa’ to get the program’s attention — if the program is active, you’ll just be able to speak to it normally.
That raises some interesting questions about privacy and what information Alexa can collect under those conditions. Currently, you have to activate the device by using the command word ‘Alexa’. Without that, how does Alexa know which phrases to respond to? Is it always listening? What is it doing with all the audio it’s capturing if it is?
Players can use Alexa Game Control like a voice-activated GPS at the most basic level. For example, asking the game “Where is the nearest workbench?” or “Where is my next objective?” will prompt the game to show you these things on the map. But that’s not all you can do with it. You can also use your voice to attract the zombies’ attention if you want. For example, you can draw the zombies toward you by yelling “Hey, Zombie!” into the microphone.
At first blush, this might seem silly. Why would I want to call a zombie horde down on my direct location by yelling at them? But you could potentially use this to spring traps or funnel the zombies into an area where it’s easier to avoid or pick them off. You could also use it to set up an ambush on other, unsuspecting enemies if there are any around.
Dead Island 2 will be the debut title for Alexa Game Control, with more to come in the future.
The last time I was allowed to yell at a game and have an enemy hear me was in Alien Isolation on the Xbox One. The damn Xenomorph could hear me talking through the Kinect, prompting it to march up and eat me. Trying to play it while friends watched on proved a challenge because they would all start (counter-productively) screeching about staying quiet.
Thoughts? Is this kind of functionality interesting to you? Is it a gimmick? Give us your thoughts in the comments.
Leave a Reply