Xbox One Voice Commands will be available in 5 countries at launch

GC - "Microsoft has revealed in very fine print that only 5 countries will be having Kinect voice commands when the console comes out later this year."

[iamnsuperman]

No Spain or Italy? that is odd

or Ireland or Australia (you know who speak English as well)

(Edit if this is an accent thing I would be worried for those people who are from North Wales, Scotland and some Northern places as they can have quite thick accents. Hell even I don't understand them sometimes)

[HolyDuck]

Part of Ireland is in the UK.

So, it'll probably work in the whole of Ireland.

[iamnsuperman]

You would think but bare in mind Ireland is a separate country. Don't lump Ireland in with the UK because the UK has Northern Ireland in it. I assume if you change the store to a UK store it will work

[gaelic_laoch]

Have you not been to Cork BOYO!

[malokevi]

Well... that must be really disappointing for some language groups.

Thank the devil that I speak common.

[Gazondaily]

It's still pretty lame though.

This reminds of the video on Youtube of a Scotsman trying to use Siri.

[christian hour]

@gaelic_laoch Shtay outta cashletown!

[christian hour]

So I just imagined bertie Ahern trying to use the voice commands on xbox one... pissing myself.

[xHeavYx]

It sounds (no pun intended) like MS is rushing the One to be part of the Xmas battle

[christian hour]

Even when Kinect 1 came out you couldn't use voice commands in Ireland for at least the first year.

This could be rectified by changing your locale to UK... I think eventually they enabled it but I didn't use my kinect much after the novelty wore off.

I'm surprised after all this time they still haven't gotten their act together on this. For something they deem essential to the experience of the console, I would assume this was something they would have sorted out long before launch. I guess they spent a little too much time on TV, Sports and DRM and making sure their camera met NSA standards :P

Sure they've gone back on all of that now, but it doesn't change the fact that they simply do not give two shits about their consumers enjoyment, just their wallets.

@HolyDuck you'd think that, but its not the case at all. Considering they touted the original Kinect as the future of gaming, they didn't really put a lot of work in to it, and it seems to be the same with Kinect 2.0

@iamnsuperman I figured it was an accent thing too, but worked for people in scotland, northern ireland and wales, also worked for any irish person be they from the most rural parts of cork or a council estate in Dublin once they changed locale to uk.

I honestly can't understand their reasoning for blocking out other english speaking countries like that.

[HammadTheBeast]

According to them, "Kinect is Xbox One".

Therefore, technically, Xbox only works in 5 countries at launch.

*Tips Hat*

[gaelic_laoch]

@gaelic_laoch Shtay outta cashletown!

Not a problem, its not even on my sat nav! ;)

[-Foxtrot]

You can imagine some Spanish guy yelling at his Xbox One for hours thinking it's broke haha

"EN"..."KINECT ....EN "

"EN EN EN EN EN"

Reminds me of this

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[mcstorm]

Haha love the The it crowd. I work in IT support and you would be surprised how much in that program happens in real life.

[christian hour]

@mcstorm Hello Computer... ... Hello, Computer... HELLO! HELLO! HELLO!

[PSVita]

I don't understand how they don't have the language library together already. i mean didnt those places missing out now have the original kinect with the correct languages?

Also they've stressed the fact that "kinect is the Xbox one" yet 2 months from launch they still aren't prepared for the know language differences.

[MysticStrummer]

It was clear soon after the reveal that the One would be very NA focused, at least at first. The euros were recently thrown a bone with the FIFA deal, but the One will still be very NA-centric even after everyone gets voice commands.

[avengers1978]

All I can say to this is WTF! MS you gotta be kidding with this, first you reduce the number of countries your launching in then reduce the features down even further... Why not just release in NA and the UK it's obvious those are the only places you care about

[Deadpoolio]

Because no matter what Major Microsoft claims YES they are having problems with the One80.....It's even more obvious IF you believe their story that they got their FCC cert before Sony did and have been in production longer....

Using Major Microsoft's logic or lie of MS having no issues with the One80...That makes no sens then, they have been making consoles longer than Sony, but had to slash 21 launch countries down to 13 and instead of shipping 7 million at launch now it's 6 million....

Yet Sony who again using Major Microsoft logic have been producing consoles for less time than them are shipping 16 million at launch, to 32 countries.....I smell RROD 2.0 coming

[riceking]

pretty much...

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

They use this as one of their main selling points and then sell it without it?

For a super rich corporation they should be doing more than sony lol

[SilentNegotiator]

So they claimed that they delayed it in some regions because of voice commands....and now we find out that not all of the regions getting Xbone right away even have it??!?

http://www.ign.com/articles...

[Deadpoolio]

Thats because the reality of the situation is that Major Microsoft and the PR gang are LIARS.....Chances are that YES they are having production problems, with any combination of the 3 issues the eSRAM frying the GPU, the Disc drive malfunctioning and the Kinect chips.....

I mean obviously they are not going to come out and admit it, BUT when you claim you got your FCC cert before Sony and have been in production longer yet you cut your launch shipment from 7 to 6 million and launch countries from 21 to 13, YOU ARE HAVING A PRODUCTION ISSUE....

They were probably better off not responding to the production issues and or the FCC cert. Especially when you just confirm that your having issues

[slimeybrainboy]

Sooooo. MS say they delayed launch to localise yet it's only localised in 5 countries of the 13? How does that make sense?

If theres no supply issues why not just sell the consoles in the 21 countries you announced? Roll out Kinect later, so many european countries have the same or share multiple languages! Obviously dialect and accents can vary, but they either wont buy it untill its localised or will just not use Kinect.

Am I just being a paranoid MS hater, or does this smell like lies again?

[Darrius Cole]

It's not you.

Either Microsoft is having manufacturing issues, or Microsoft underestimated how difficult it is to get its voice recognition software to work in every country in the world.

Now I can not imagine how anyone could possible underestimate something like that. There are A LOT of languages in the world and each language will have multiple regional dialects. How any adult could think that is anything but a gi-normous task is beyond me.

[SilentNegotiator]

@cole

Yeah, it must be tough for them to do what they already did with the Kinect 1 for a small handful of regions. How were we to expect them to do that in several months with all of that ground work already completed?

/s

[Darrius Cole]

Microsoft wouldn't be rushing their console release would they? Only releasing in 13 countries, Kinect only working in less than half of those countries, and half the countries with a working Kinect being English-speaking all sound like a system that needs more work to me.

If I didn't know any better, I would say that Sony caught Microsoft off-guard by announcing that they would release the PS4 this year and Microsoft has been rushing trying to prevent the PS4 from getting the first-mover advantage.

They are charging a $100 for something that doesn't work right now and that most people won't use even if it did work.

[Deadpoolio]

Well MS cut their launch from 21 to 13 and then on top of that cut the launch shipment from 7 to 6 million...Yet Sony is launching in 32 countries and are pushing to ship 16 million consoles....

That to me tells me that yep they are having production issues, Major Microsoft practically confirmed it when he had to mention they supposedly got their FCC certification before Sony and "have been in production longer"

[Anon1974]

So wait...am I missing something here? Microsoft just finished telling us that the reason they were delaying the console in so many countries was because of the time it took to localize the voice controls. Now we find out they can ship anyway without voice controls and probably just update later.

Doesn't that rather blow their localization excuse for delaying the Xbox One out the window?

[Kayant]

Well that puts the localization statement out of the window because it's not even supported in all countries being launched.

[Roper316]

Does MS ever actually speak the truth? There is always some kind of spin or catch with everything they do or say imho.

[Narutone66]

MS:XB1 already passed FCC. (Actually, the controller is the one which passed the FCC).

[PSVita]

Just curious, do you have a link naruto?

[Narutone66]

Here's the link jatakk provided:
https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/...

[Deividas]

I dont think anyone believed that statement anyways, even without this.

[Caffo01]

LOL that's hilarious, MS is rushing like they did with 360!!

[Belking]

lol..yea right. What hilarious is that they don't have o rush. They got this in the bag.

[Deividas]

Your statement actually is hilarious!

[Caffo01]

where have you been these last months? even MS knows they're screwed..

[MysticStrummer]

"They got this in the bag"

How so? Even with all the 180s PS4 is still showing better preorder numbers, even in north america. I don't think MS has NA in the bag, much less the world.

[bsquwhere]

Yeah the bag you bought it in, so can return it when kinect fails to understand what your saying.

[neocores]

All i have to say is if you not ready. DONT RELEASE AT ALL ITS THAT SIMPLE.

[Salooh]

Y button only available to 6 countries.

[KYU2130]

so releasing in fewer regions and now even fewer countries will be able to take advantage of all those hyped features. Thats a bit disturbing in my opinion.

Neocores, if they did that it would almost be like admitting defeat. This early in the game and as much problems as they have had holding out could be a really big problem for them.

[Odin666]

It's like they're trying to flop so hard by releasing an incomplete console. lol

[logan_izer10]

This is unbelievable to me. This was the highly touted feature that they spent an entire conference talking about and it's only gonna work in 5 freakin countries!? What a joke!
That's like Sony saying... Sorry indy games can only be played in 5 countries

[GreenRanger]

No Voice Commands for Xbox One in Ireland?! It's no loss.

I doubt even 500 Irish people would ever use Kinect anyway.

[insomnium2]

FFS MS! Another BS (even though a little one)?
What will you eff up next? Tell me please the anticipation is killing me.

You force this thing on people and then one of the biggest features it has is not even working. The facepalm is big on this one.

[Z501]

Really Microsoft!?

You spent all that time on stage in May talking about Kinect and it's features ... and this is what it comes to.

No one can say this console is NOT rushed. It's obvious.

[JoshHerrera]

anyone know where I can find a full list of differences between the Xbox 360 and Xbox One? same for PS?

[Rai]

I never really felt the console it self was actually rushed, it was just the policies they had to catch up on..but now...the one thing MS kept talking about isn't fully ready for launch, talk about rushing it.

[TheGreatGamer]

They made a huge mistake bundling the kinect, ps4 is launching in 32 countries, x1 is only launching in 13 and not even half will have working voice commands at launch.

[Kayant]

So to summarise then the true Xbox one experience can only be had in the US at launch because everyone else wouldn't have the Tv features and some countries now won't have voice as well which is not the Xbox one experience MS showed people at their reveal.

[FullMetalTech]

It just just gets worse for them. I know localization of languages isnt easy but they are a software comapny first and had the same issues from what others were saying with the original Kinect. Those countries will just end up having thier kinects collecting dust even after they get it working.

[pyramidshead]

Sooo... it's launching in 13 countries but only 5 of those countries can use the essential integrated voice kinect features that sets it apart from the other consoles.

OK. :/

[Godmars290]

Wonder what this is going to say about overall support. There's yet to be one generally successful launch of an online game or service.

[christocolus]

No problem with that.ms has actually been doing great lately ,I think kinect voice commands and integration this time is going to be a complete and comprehensive part of the xbox one system.. this news isn't a big deal.MS just keep doin what you have to do to keep me interested I.e continue to bettr your relationship with 3rd party devs as you make more deals with them, create even more studios,more games ,don't brag about your aces,make xbox live even greater than it was on xbox 360,continue pushing indie support, kinect and just give me halo, GOW and a new kameo and banjoe K.....and finally pls would you just release the console already.....I want to start raking up my zombie kill counts in dead rising 3..... (: ))

[BlueBlood17]

-__-

[Animal Mutha 76]

It wont take long for them to add the other localizations I'm sure.

Lets not make a big thing out of this because its not and will not affect the overall use of the console. Chances are the people making a thing out of this wouldn't use it anyway or is just another excuse for negative spin.

As for UK some of our accents are quite strong. I'm from Norfolk but don't sound like a bumpkin and my Kinect can deal with the locals here in Essex as well. Toats Amaze!

[Bathyj]

Xbox on.

XBOX ON!

Xbox?

No voice commands after touting it as such an important feature is as bewildering as forcing everyone to buy Kinect and then not having a game that uses its at launch.

So why is Kinect Xbox again? Can someone tell me why this thing even exists other than surveillance and advertising.

[asmith2306]

Go raibh maith agat M$! Another reason not to buy an X1.

[BattleTorn]

Way to shun your Australian fan base Microsoft

*slow clap*

To be fair, the software being behind isn't as bad as hardware being rushed. But it's always not a huge leap to say they go hand in hand.

[wishingW3L]

and people say that they are not rushing this....

[FAT MAN GO BOOM]

So MS is pushing the TV aspects of this console and Voice commands...

but out of the 13 countries the Tv will only work in one country and the voice control in only 5 countries... at launch... Thats not even half....

WOw... talk about letting things slip slip slip away...

[BlueBlood17]

This is hilarious.

This was the reason they gave to cut the launch countries down to 13 - localisation etc.

Clearly that was another lie.

[Phoenix76]

Wow! Suddenly the ps4 eye is looking like an attractive alternative as will feature all of the same features that kinect offers, but at a lower price........ Oh and it's optional lol

[MatriXcian]

Kinect is Xbox One huh? Seems like both the Kinect and Xbone are being rushed out the gate just like the 360 was. RROD anybody?

[MasterCornholio]

They probably mean 5 languages because otherwise English speaking people who live in Spain wont be able to use voice commands even though the USA has voice commands in English.

[prodg52]

Is it like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[HmongAmerican]

I hope customer service for the XBOX One prepare for the day people call to complain about the voice recognition complaint.

[riceking]

so...they went from 21 to 13 countries because of voice recognitions wouldn't work for everyone and now only 5 of the 13 countries will only have it at launch working.