Microsoft is using over 300,000 servers to power the backend of Xbox One’s various services, and some of them will be used for the Bing-powered voice controls. While Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console uses Bing’s search engine to surface content via voice or queries, Xbox One expands on this further. In a video demo of the voice search functionality, Microsoft shows how Xbox One owners will be able to use natural voice interaction rather that the typical commands found on the Xbox 360. The new support is more Siri-like than ever before, something we previously reported Microsoft was working on.
Microsoft demos Siri-like semantic voice control for Xbox One
is a senior correspondent and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years.
"I feel like watching the movie Star Trek Into Darkness," will show a result for the relevant movie, and even commands like "show me action adventure games" work too. Apple and Google both use similar techniques in their own voice-activated search implementations, but Microsoft has traditionally lagged behind in its own natural voice support. Microsoft is using what it calls Deep Neural Networks to better understand natural language, and its implementation in Xbox One could mean we’ll see this type of tech in future Windows and Windows Phone updates. Microsoft is expected to ship a "Cortana" system that’s similar to Siri in the Windows Phone 8.1 update due early next year.
Alongside the improved voice support, Xbox One will also support game DVR uploads direct to SkyDrive. Microsoft previously detailed the system-wide integration of SkyDrive for Xbox One, but today the company revealed snippets of gameplay can be shared to SkyDrive for gamers to then download and share on YouTube and other social networks.
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
