Mass Effect 3 gets Kinect Support

By Martin Robinson Published 6 June, 2011

Uses voice to Shepherd squad.

Mass Effect 3 will be getting Kinect support, BioWare's Dr. Ray Muzyka confirmed today.

Rather than offering motion support, Mass Effect 3 will support voice recognition.

An on-stage demo at Microsoft's E3 conference showed the feature working, with BioWare's Jesse Houston speaking out Shepherd's lines which were then picked up by the game.

Voice recognition can also be used in combat, with the player issuing commands to direct Shepherd's squad.

More will be revealed on Mass Effect 3 at EA's own conference, which takes place later today.

Picture of Martin.

About Martin Robinson

Martin is Eurogamer's features editor with responsibility for commissioning, editing and often writing our feature and preview content. He's also passionate about driving games.

Read more articles from Martin by visiting the Martin Robinson archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 12 months ago

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

  • MarketZero #1 12 months ago

    Shepard*

  • drumbaby #2 12 months ago

    "Xbox make game do something!"

  • munki83 #3 12 months ago

    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

  • rottingyoda #4 12 months ago

    Looked fun

  • LazyNinjaUk #5 12 months ago

    "Miranda, take your clothes off"

    "Garrus, clean my armour. Then clean it again."

  • Apollyon #6 12 months ago

    Wow, that's all they could come up with? Kinect is really put to good use ... it's not like you simply could use your XBL Headset to achieve the same.

  • Dr_Wadd #7 12 months ago

    Is this going to support voice control via the regular 360 headset? I can see no practical reason why not, but I wager they don't just to push people towards buying Kinect. Don't get me wrong, I see nothing fundamentally wrong with Kinect and I'll probably get one eventually, but this would be a really poor way to promote it.

  • SBfistfun #8 12 months ago

    Don't want

  • Ryze #9 12 months ago

    Bought.

  • Yodith #10 12 months ago

    DO NOT WANT

  • Sonic_D #11 12 months ago

    How predictably underwhelming.

  • coldfoot #12 12 months ago

    Why do you need a $150 Kinect for this instead of the free included headset that comes with the 360?

  • Kaminari #13 12 months ago

    [I'm Commander Shepard and this sounds like a dumb feature.]

    — Err, I'm Commander Shepard and this sounds like a dumb feature. Wait...

  • Inmediasress #14 12 months ago

    What I don't get is since the conversation wheel doesn't give you any choice to see what shepard is going to says then what will you speak out????
    Edited by Inmediasress at 06/06/11 @ 19:02

  • drhickman1983 #15 12 months ago

    *wonders if some people actually read the article before flying into apoplexy*

    I don't care about this feature either way. Admittedly, I don't have Kinect, but if I did I doubt I'd bother talking to the screen. I just don't understand why some people get outraged at the idea, if you don't want to use voice commands I'm sure you wont have to.

    Though I can understand why some people with Kinect will feel a bit underwhelmed, it's hardly an exciting feature, especially as it's far easier to just select the dialogue as opposed to speak it.
    Edited by drhickman1983 at 06/06/11 @ 19:09

  • anomagnus #16 12 months ago

    @fobsy - did you even read the article or were you so filled with rightous indignation you just went straight to the comments article?

    Maybe EG wasn't clear with this line 'Rather than offering motion support, Mass Effect 3 will support voice recognition. ' To me it seemed simple enough....

    And if people don't want this, then don't buy it. There are a million things i don't need which i don't buy. Some of you guys should try it, its amazing. Don't start another round of 'this is terrible, blah, blah, blah, i'm being ripped off, by being presented by an optional extra, which i don't have to buy, and might never buy'. Literally, just try ignoring it.

    Anyway, i love the sound of this. I'd love to be giving orders, like 'Mordin Incinerate' - 'Wrex charge'. I happen to think thats pretty cool. So, for me, its a buy.
    Edited by anomagnus at 06/06/11 @ 19:16

  • coolbritannia #17 12 months ago

    "What I don't get is since the conversation wheel doesn't give you any choice to see what shepard is going to says then what will you speak out????" - you say the option that comes up on the wheel, it's pointless.

    However, the squad commands work incredibly well, and very fast.

  • Flynn #18 12 months ago

    I thought this was a great addition to the game. I hadn't considered they'd use voice control for game dialogue. Will be impressive if it works well. Looking forward to trying it out, could certainly make games more immersive.

  • fafaf #19 12 months ago

    Wasn't interested in this kind of voice thing with SOCOM and Rainbow Six, not interested now.

  • Muddtallica #20 12 months ago

    For all those saying "why can't they do this with the headset": this is me speaking from a position of relative ignorance of the Kinect tech, but wouldn't that be because it's the Kinect sensor and software that would do the recognition part of the voice recognition? As in, the standard microphone would only be able detect that you're saying something, as opposed to knowing what actual words you're saying.

    To anyone who actually understands technology, please feel free to corroborate me if I'm right, or correct me if I'm wrong.

  • timewarp87 #21 12 months ago

    And the video link to this demonstration is where ???

  • karaokequeen3 #22 12 months ago

    If this is part of the reason why the game is being delayed til next year, color me underwhelmed.

  • spekkeh #23 12 months ago

    @Muddtallica I doubt the Kinect will have a very large vocabulary built in for recognition. At least that wouldn't make much sense, so it's probably the game doing that.
    Edited by spekkeh at 06/06/11 @ 19:52

  • spekkeh #24 12 months ago

    xbox color karaokequeen3 underwhelmed.

    Is it working yet?

  • Rack #25 12 months ago

    Why not just use the mic on the headset? Or better yet not bother?

  • 43n1m4 #26 12 months ago

    This is the developers trying to figure out what to use Kinect for in their games. Soon we will see the second wave of games with some sort of Kinect support. Some will underwhelm, others will surprise us - and I guess the third wave will use those experiences to improve their Kinect support/Kinect only games.
    I don't think we've seen the end of this, but judging from threads like these, some people have already given up on the technology, which I think is a tad too soon. It came out november last year. Average development cycle for a game is usually 12 to 18 months.. You'll do the math.

  • Dave52 #27 12 months ago

    Xbox offered nothing for the Core that couldn't be done with a headset and a joypad... but don't take my word for it - check out the Deputy Editor of 360 Magazine -

    [link url=http://www.360magazine.co.uk/360-editors-blog/e3-2011-worst-microsoft-press-conference-yet/
    ]http://www.360magazine.co.uk/360-editors...[/link]

    Soon to be Ex-Deputy Editor I suspect...