When one thinks of digital assistants, Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, and Apple’s Siri usually come to mind. Which really is a shame because Microsoft’s Cortana does have potential, not only in install base but in functionality. While recent reports indicated that Cortana is pretty close to neck in neck with Google Assistant for the smartest digital assistant, Microsoft hasn’t been able to capitalize in bringing it to the masses, even after replacing the Xbox One Kinect voice control with Cortana some time ago.
Now that the Kinect for Xbox One is officially dead, Cortana’s usefulness only extends to those who still have a Kinect (good luck finding one or an Xbox One S/X Kinect adapter) or use a headset with a microphone on their gaming console. If a screenshot sent to Windows Central is to believed, gamers will soon have two new options for controlling their Xbox One consoles: Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
This picture comes to us from a reliable source who is familiar with Amazon and Microsoft’s efforts to link Alexa and Cortana. In upcoming Xbox One builds, the Kinect & Devices menu should have a new “Digital Assistants” section, which lets you enable Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortana, for use on your Xbox One. It then directs you to install the Xbox skills app for those respective platforms to get connected. The full range of features for those assistants remains unknown, but it could bring back many of the voice-assisted features abandoned Kinect users are yearning for.
If true, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this information confirmed by Microsoft at E3 this week. It’s not that far-fetched either as Microsoft is working with Amazon to bring Alexa integration to Windows 10 and Cortana integration to Alexa devices.
What do you think about the possibility of other digital assistants coming to the Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
[button link=”https://www.windowscentral.com/amazon-alexa-and-google-assistant-are-coming-xbox-one” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Windows Central[/button]
