Hey, remember the Kinect? The actually sorta-brilliant motion-tracking camera and microphone that started as an add-on for the Xbox 360, became a pack-in with the Xbox One, only for the console to be better off without it? Yeah, that was embarrassing. Who knew we weren’t excited to yell at our TVs? Microsoft, apparently, as it will be introducing both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa to the Xbox One.
Windows Central stumbled over a screen that seems to hint future Xbox One updates will let you tie your Alexa-enabled or Google Assistant devices to your Xbox One. You might be thinking “Wait, doesn’t Microsoft have one of these?” Indeed they do, Cortana, but Cortana’s more of a productivity tool, and needs a headset to work. Apparently this will be more for yelling at your Xbox to turn on, record that Twitch stream, or order booze after a particular brutal multiplayer match.
Presumably this will be tied to other efforts to make the One more central to your living room, which you might remember was the initial idea when it launched. And this also moves Microsoft a small step closer to its goal of changing the Xbox One from a proprietary chunk of plastic to an open-architecture PC, like a Windows PC, while making the stuff you own play nice, which is something the Kinect couldn’t pull off.
But don’t worry, Kinect, at least you’ll always have Disco Lando.
(via The Verge)