Rare: Voice control the future for Kinect

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 13 April, 2011

'Xbox pause' "just the beginning".

For most of us, playing games using motion sensing Xbox 360 add-on Kinect is about waving your arms about and jumping up and down.

But in the future, it'll be about your voice – and you'll even be able to have conversations with it.

That's according to the boss of Kinect Sports developer Rare, who reckons talking to Kinect will play a key role in the games you'll play on it in the future.

"We're going to make using your voice much more front and centre – we've just scratched the surface on that," Scott Henson told MCV.

"The ability to say 'Xbox Pause' and it pauses is just the beginning. It's magic, but it should be just like having a conversation moving forward.

"We'll continue to advance and continue to make it better for both your body and your voice. I would say we've only scratched 10 per cent of the possibilities of what we can do with Kinect."

Canned Lionhead game Project Milo utilised Kinect's voice recognition software to simulate a virtual relationship between player and a young boy.

Microsoft is expected to unveil a raft of new Kinect games at its E3 press conference in June.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (51) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • JetSetWilly #1 1 year ago

    Blue. Blue. BLUE. Berrrlu. Bloo. Blue. BLUE.BLUE. B-L-EWE.

  • StooMonster #2 1 year ago

    Me: Call Matthew Smith mobile

    iPhone: Play songs by Elbow

  • Mr_Bogus #3 1 year ago

    Rare: No.

  • CaptainQuint #4 1 year ago

    Here's a voice command for ya: "Xbox, give me a reason to boot up my Kinect"

  • Sonic_D #5 1 year ago

    Rare, there is only one thing you can do to make me happy and that is to release a HD version of Jet Set Gemini on XBLA. Please do so.

  • Quixz #6 1 year ago

    Making games the future of Rare?

  • GiarcYekrub #7 1 year ago

    Make Blast Corps. Perfect Dark and Conker sequels then you can go play with your kinect thing

  • beastmaster #8 1 year ago

    The tagline for this article fills me with sadness :(

  • dsmx #9 1 year ago

    Voice control never caught on on the PC and it's had it for years, why would kinect be any different?

  • Tricky #10 1 year ago

    Actually I found saying brue often worked for blue on Dr. Kawashima.

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #11 1 year ago

    So the future of Kinect is a £120 Microphone, Fuck off Rare.

  • wizlon #12 1 year ago

    Will it recognise me shouting "Xbox, stop fucking cheating, you cheating bastard" when I feel I've been wronged by a CPU opponent,

  • Toothball #13 1 year ago

    So far my experience with voice controls has largely resulted in a series of failed demonstrations, where I end up saying "Xbox open tray" several times before giving up and doing it the old fashioned way. Sometimes, if I was really lucky, it loaded one of the videos on the Hub instead. Maybe that was just me though? Either way, I've not bothered using it much since as even when it did work it was just slower than picking up the controller.
    Edited by Toothball at 13/04/11 @ 14:23

  • X201 #14 1 year ago

    Eurogamer spammer: Stop

  • ZizouFC #15 1 year ago

    It takes less effort to press a button than it does to shout at your Kinect.

  • carrotcake #16 1 year ago

    hmm... cool. E3 this year will be brilliant. I don't have a Kinect but I would love for Microsoft to show an amazing software line up to make me get one.

  • JammyC #17 1 year ago

    Even more evidence to support the commonly held theory that future games on Kinect will see gamers saying "Bang" in order to fire weapons.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #18 1 year ago

    They're gonna turn the voice recognition dial up to ELEVEN!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FFRoYhTJQQ

  • altitude2k #19 1 year ago

    I would have thought that voice control would appeal to those people who think that changing a disc in the 360 is too much like hard work.

  • Toothball #20 1 year ago

    @altitude2k

    That's what Games on Demand is for. I have to admit I do like not having to change discs after trying it a few times.

    Actually, it would be kind of cool if you could launch installed games by shouting at your Xbox. Being able to say 'Open tray' is all well and good, but you still have to get up to stick the game in the tray which kind of defeats the purpose. I don't think that's what this Rare guy is thinking of, but it might be kind of handy.

  • icematt12 #21 1 year ago

    Be interesting to see how Kinect reacts to people with a stammer, such as myself, if voice recognition is a key part in the future. End War on PS3 handles pretty well for me, better than I anticipated to be honest.

  • Gambit1977 #22 1 year ago

    I like that they make something of having conversations on kinect :D like I don't use mine for live chat.

    All in all, I got caught up in yet another hypetastic ornament for my house.

  • kirankara #23 1 year ago

    So, how about games being the future of kinnect, rather than it's multi media purposes??
    Still seen nothing to temp me to buying a kinnect even if they lowered it to forty quid.

    Ps game got it on offer for eighty if u feel like testing out the speech recognition function this guys yapping about.

    Personally think kinnect might one day be an additional feature within gaming , offering small but fun gameplay features , but as far as being central to games, fuck that !! U can keep ur giant camera/microphone

  • bryanmcg #24 1 year ago

    Maybe they could start by enabling voice control for the world outside the US and UK, or did I miss that memo ?

  • metalangel #25 1 year ago

    Rare game: Be better.

  • Sicho #26 1 year ago

    kirankara
    13/04/11 @ 15:04

    "Personally think kinnect might one day be an additional feature within gaming , offering small but fun gameplay features , but as far as being central to games, fuck that !! U can keep ur giant camera/microphone "

    in my opinion: titles like Dance Central demonstrate that there are ways to do really good Kinect-only games.

  • onyxbox #27 1 year ago

    "Blue. Blue. BLUE. Berrrlu. Bloo. Blue. BLUE.BLUE. B-L-EWE. " has to be the comment of the day... and well done to JetSetWilly for getting in there first :)

  • DAN.E.B #28 1 year ago

    takes me back to the rainbow six days
    open breach and clear!......NO OPEN BREACH AND CLEAR YOU DICKS!!!
    Oh fuck it ill do it myself!

  • mattigan #29 1 year ago

    Rare, there is only one thing you can do to make me happy and that is to release a HD version of Jet Set Gemini on XBLA. Please do so.

    HELL YEAH!!!

    And while you're at it Rare, a HD version of Jet Force Gemini wouldn't go amiss either!

  • theonlyix #30 1 year ago

    You can start with giving us(non US or UK citizens) XBOX PAUSE. Worry about the future tomorrow!

  • nuanimal #31 1 year ago

    ""The ability to say 'Xbox Pause' and it pauses is just the beginning. It's magic, but it should be just like having a conversation moving forward."

    "Sonic boom, Left, Left, Left, Block! forward jump with Heavy kick"

    Coming soon "Super Street Street Fighter IV: Coach Edition"

  • nuanimal #32 1 year ago

    Canned Lionhead game Project Milo utilised Kinect's voice recognition software to simulate a virtual relationship between player and a young boy.

    Did anyone else feel uncomforatble reading that?

  • Realx #33 1 year ago

    Hey Rare, remember when you made action adventures.
    You were considered as one of the best.
    Gamer hearts around the world were filled with excitement when the golden R appeared on their television sets.
    Lets go back to those days.

    ontopic: still waiting for a killer app.... how about Jet force Gemini kinect?

  • Sonic_D #34 1 year ago

    Ooops, merged the names of two games I want HD remakes for XBLA, namely Jet Force Gemini and Jet Set Radio!

  • kirankara #35 1 year ago

    @sicho


    "Personally think kinnect might one day be an additional feature within gaming , offering small but fun gameplay features , but as far as being central to games, fuck that !! U can keep ur giant camera/microphone "

    in my opinion: titles like Dance Central demonstrate that there are ways to do really good Kinect-only games."

    couldnt this have been done with an eye toy by all accounts though? i think the tech is interesting and has its uses, just not in "core" genres currently, or to be more accurate, not as fundamental part of gameplay.
    Its main appeal seems to be to "causal" gamers.

    thats not a condemnation of it, its just appealing to myself

  • Tyronne #36 1 year ago

    The player enables Sam Murphy to infiltrate the basement of the terrorists holdout and is faced with their electric generator.
    "turn the power off" the player eagerly shouts across to his kinect as it rests by the front of his television.
    The xbox powers down.
    "oh for fucks sake!"

  • tancredo #37 1 year ago

    With all the time Rare/MS are taking to come up with a patch for spanish, I am surprised the future for Kinect is not mind reading

  • MaybeLater #38 1 year ago

    It'll struggle in Scotland as a whole, let alone the likes of Liverpool. If they invent a devise which can understand and translate what ever the hell Steven Gerrard is trying to say I'll eat my hat.

  • sega #39 1 year ago

    Rather than saying "Xbox pause", it'd be better if it responded to "computer, freeze program".
    Edited by sega at 13/04/11 @ 17:58

  • drhickman1983 #40 1 year ago

    Truthfully, I feel rather self concious shouting words at the TV screen. Unless I've been driven to one of my rages, in which case a veritable array of curses may issue forth. But if it's a concious action, I'd rather press a button. Wont wake up my housemates that way either.

  • orangpelupa #41 1 year ago

    It will be nice if Kinect Sports 2 will have voice command and also not disabled in unsupported region.

  • Lucodeath #42 1 year ago

    @Sonic
    So you dont mean Jet Set Willy HD 3D 7.1 DTSMA then?
    Edited by Lucodeath at 13/04/11 @ 19:45

  • Machiavellian #43 1 year ago

    Voice control never caught on on the PC and it's had it for years, why would kinect be any different?

    Voice Chat still not that popular on the PC but it sure took off on the 360 when they included the headset. MS did motion controls first on the PC but it too the Wii for it to take off. The PC is a good place for technology to start but it's not the place for it the gain mass acceptance until some type of retail product makes it easy and simple to use where any one can do it.

    in my opinion: titles like Dance Central demonstrate that there are ways to do really good Kinect-only games."

    couldnt this have been done with an eye toy by all accounts though? i think the tech is interesting and has its uses, just not in "core" genres currently, or to be more accurate, not as fundamental part of gameplay.
    Its main appeal seems to be to "causal" gamers.

    From a person who have had the eye toy before Kinect was even a serious thought for MS, yes, dance central could be done using the Eye toy but it would be a poor experience. First, the Eye toy is very dependant on the lighting in the room. I have played Dance central with one lamp in my living room. This would be impossible to do with the Eye toy especially the distance needed to accurately track my movements.

    I believe people keep forgetting that it only takes one piece of technology to make something that is good great. In the Eyetoy department, its a good device that is really hampered by it's inability to handle low light situations. Kinect not only solves that problem but also give you 1 to 1 on top of that. Also Kinect gives you those 4 noise canceling mics which is great within my home since I have no problems using the voice.

  • kirankara #44 1 year ago

    Fair enough Machiavellian,

    Still dance central not really the killer app that kinnect needs to convince non casual gamers that kinnect is worth investing in. In fact I'd be ashamed of any non female friends that bought it .
    I recognise the tech achievements of kinnect, but currently its little more than a fancy piece of tech with no real application within majority of what we "core" gamers would consider to be key genres and ip's , and so far not even any real hint at how devs might find use for it in near future.

    There's also limitations within the kinnect hardware in terms of being able facilitate movement of characters on screen in any suitable manner and that there seems to be lag response between actions and on screen representations .

    Add to this, that there's no tactile response unless u introduce accessories ( thus defeating controller free gaming ideology of kinnect) for shooting or driving games etc, kinnect seems to currently be a very unattractive option to core gamers.

    Hopefully in future they will find some interesting and substantial ways to implement kinnect into games that "core" gamers cafe about. Otherwise it ultimately has to go down as a bit of a flop, not commercially of course, bit in terms of substantial contribution to developing gaming.

    Right now i'd not pay more than £30 for it, and only out of novelty value really , plus the media functions of it. £ 80-100, not a chance



    Edited by kirankara at 13/04/11 @ 21:54

  • smurphs #45 1 year ago

    Xbox: compose message, to Rare.
    Please please please make Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts 2!!!

  • Sonic_D #46 1 year ago

    @Lucodeath, well while we're at it... why not?!

  • Sonic_D #47 1 year ago

    @Lucodeath, well while we're at it... why not?!

  • chaz1873rfc #48 1 year ago

    what happened to you.yes RARE im talking to you.

  • Spunkweazle #49 1 year ago

    Cash Convertors the future for Kinect

  • Popzeus #50 1 year ago

    Mrs Popzeus is far more impressed by the voice recognition aspects of Kinect than she is with the full body tracking. She can get her head round the idea that it uses its cameras to 'see' where you are and how you're moving, but voice recognition that you don't need to calibrate is "magic".

  • SvennoJ #51 1 year ago

    @Popzeus It's magical if you speak the right type of English. Not so much if your 'accent' or your whole language is not supported. Since it's just a few commands (for now) the ability to train it would be more practical.
    Proper voice recognition is still way to resource heavy. Maybe next gen if people are willing to trade in some graphical effects for a bit more magic in voice recognition and natural language processing.
    Having proper conversations with a computer AI is probably still a lot further off. I haven't seen a reasonable translator yet, software is still far behind getting a grasp on language.