Rumors have been swirling for months about Microsoft’s plans to integrate virtual assistants such as Alexa with the Xbox One console, and Windows Central has uncovered some evidence that such a move may come sooner than expected.
A screenshot reportedly from an upcoming Xbox One build shows a “digital assistants” section added to the Preferences menu, which would presumably allow you to enable Cortana, Google Assistant, or Alexa for the console using a smart speaker rather than a microphone.
The website details how a further menu allows installation of various Xbox skills to the platform, allowing such things as voice commands through smart speakers without having to fumble for a microphone and headset. Such an expansion of the Xbox One capabilities would certainly make sense, now that Kinect has been relegated to the scrap heap and Cortana has transitioned to a voice app without a dedicated hardware component (not yet, anyway).
Not to mention that Cortana and Alexa have also been playing nice with each other recently, with cross-device integration and an Echo-less Alexa built into upcoming Windows 10 PCs.
For those wondering about my actual JOB – I’m going to help figure out how to grow Alexa/Echo presence in gaming. It’s a different spin on what I’ve done before but still keeps me close to the industry. Going to be a fun adventure I can tell already. Cool ideas? Hit me up.
— Albert Penello (@albertpenello) May 23, 2018
A senior Xbox executive also recently jumped ship for Amazon after 18 years with Microsoft. Former console marketing lead Albert Penello, who was instrumental in the launch of the original Xbox back in 2000, announced his new position in May on Twitter, saying that “I’m going to help figure out how to grow Alexa/Echo presence in gaming.”
The full extent of the voice command interaction is just speculation at this point, but it could restore some of the Kinect features that many Xbox owners had grown accustomed to. There are some game-specific Alexa Skills available, but console integration would likely streamline the whole process. Not only would such an upgrade allow voice commands for specific games, it will almost certainly include voice navigation capabilities for the other entertainment apps available on Xbox One as well.
The leaked screenshot seems to indicate than this capability is nearly complete, and an official announcement will likely be coming soon. With E3 right around the corner, we’ll probably be hearing more about this in the days and weeks ahead.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.