Kinect 2.0 Supports Eight Languages at Launch

[Steven Bogos]

Kinect 2.0 Supports Eight Languages at Launch

Microsoft clarifies earlier statements that only five countries [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127297-Xbox-One-Voice-Commands-Limited-to-Five-Countries-At-Launch] would support the device.

If you're excited about Microsoft's Kinect 2.0, you had better hope to be fluent in one of the eight languages that will be compatible with it (although if you're reading this, one would assume English proficiency). Furthermore, of the 13 countries the console is set to launch in, only 10 of them will support voice commands at all, and only five of those will fully support every voice command.

The Kinect 2.0 will support the following languages when it launches in November:

English - US
English - GB
French
Spanish - MX
Spanish - ES
Italian
German
Portuguese


If you consider that there are two variants of English and Spanish in there, it's really only six languages. To be fair to Microsoft, the languages they selected are the majority languages spoken in the countries the console will launch in. There's no word on when other languages will come to the system.

An official Kinect Neogaf [http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/get-the-facts?xr=shellnav] post. He said that these five countries are the only five to "fully" support voice commands. For example, the "Xbox On" command won't work in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, and New Zealand.

Penello says to sit tight, as a "chart that gives clarity on what locales, languages, and voice features are available in each country," is coming soon.

Source: Ausgamers [http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=79001409&postcount=520]

Permalink

 

[CJ1145]

If your shitty peripheral isn't actually done yet, don't launch it with all its features gutted out!

 

[Zhukov]

So... it can understand an American or a Brit saying "Xbox on", but not an Irish, an Aussie or a Kiwi?

It can understand a German saying "Xbox on" (or however you say that in German), but not an Austrian?

...

How does that make any damn sense?

 

[luvd1]

Well done MS. Just another 6,994 to go. For fek sake, there's 260 languages in Europe alone. There's 2,200 in Asia. This may take awhile.

And no Microsoft English US, English UK does not count as two languages, that's just dialects, if you count that as language then so is West Country and cockney.

 

[Saltyk]

I'm confused. How does the Kinect not support the ability to turn the system on in certain countries? If it supports Spanish, how come Mexican and Spanish players can't use it to turn the machine on? I would think that the Kinect wouldn't function differently in different languages. Wouldn't it just be a matter of supporting different languages?

Microsoft is making the same mistake as with the 360 aren't they? They're launching a system that is obviously incomplete and that they can't even hope to support. Any guesses on how long till we see RROD-2.0?

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

Are... Are they honestly implying that it's that fucking difficult to tell whether someone with an un-american/british accent is trying to say 'Xbox On'? Are they really?
Well, as I was told multiple times by rabid fan-boys, 'there is no Xbox One without Kinect', and hey, looks like my version of the console won't be worth a fucking damn on launch by their logic then. Too bad for you then, I'll stick to my bloated Steam library. At best I'll be buying a proper gaming PC from Microsoft.

Captcha: Indeed. Microsoft, as for your excuses, just 'save it'.

 

[Ruley]

I don't understand why you deleted the original news story about this a few days ago? Should have just kept it and updated it.

OT: Something nobody wants and will disconnect within seconds of buying the console is stopping microsoft from releasing the console in more countries at launch... And how is this thing supposed to make money?

 

[rofltehcat]

Does it also support
Bavarian German
Northgerman German (several variants)
Swiss German
Austrian German
Frankonian German
Schwäbisch
...
I could continue adding dialects but this is basically what they did in their list. There are differences between GB and US English but the differences between those can be much smaller than the differences between some US dialects.

They are really decreasing their lists in the last few weeks: Less launch countries, less supported countries... what is next?


Captcha: "hoity-toity"... I just love this site's captcha system

 

[Mojo]

It can understand a German saying "Xbox on" (or however you say that in German), but not an Austrian?

Spoiler: XBOX! AN!

I guess you could count that as Austrian too though
[small]Sorry...[/small]

Also: Don't say your console supports eight different languages Microsoft. English GB and US are not two different languages....

 

[Yopaz]

I don't understand why you deleted the original news story about this a few days ago? Should have just kept it and updated it.

OT: Something nobody wants and will disconnect within seconds of buying the console is stopping microsoft from releasing the console in more countries at launch... And how is this thing supposed to make money?

Are you talking about the article about how it would launch in 5 countries? If so it's actually linked to that one in the article. Twice.

OT: I don't really care one way or the other. I live in one of those countries that have been confirmed won't be getting it this year and I honestly can't say I care if we get it next year or the year after. I don't have any interest in it so why would I care about a delay? I don't want to use the Kinect and thus I don't care if it supports my language.

However I do find it hilarious that people are complaining about this. They hate on Microsoft for their console, they hate the fact that they're shoving the Kinect down our throats. Now they delay it and it's a big deal. Now the Kinect won't be fully functional and we complain. We don't want the console, we don't want the Kinect, but when it's taken away from us we still get angry. Does anyone else see the analogy to a kid not getting his way here?

 

[MennyRus]

Still don't know how they will make the Kinect understand the Russian, even Apple's Siri doesn't have Russian language support :\

 

[Teoes]

Yeah, good luck understanding weegies! Not a chance.

Kinda reinforces the impression of which countries Microsoft cares about. The rest of the scrubs can just wait until they're allowed to hand over their cash.

 

[Lightknight]

How many languages did the original kinect support (I say this knowing full well that the original kinect was optional and so limited language support was acceptable whereas this is mandatory).

Also, why German? Germans almost always speak English. I learn as much German as I can and while there all they want to do is speak English with me. Is it just an easy language for software to comprehend? If it was German or another language I'd have gone with any nation that doesn't have mostly bilingual individuals who also speak English.

 

[Ruley]

I don't understand why you deleted the original news story about this a few days ago? Should have just kept it and updated it.

OT: Something nobody wants and will disconnect within seconds of buying the console is stopping microsoft from releasing the console in more countries at launch... And how is this thing supposed to make money?

Are you talking about the article about how it would launch in 5 countries? If so it's actually linked to that one in the article. Twice.

OT: I don't really care one way or the other. I live in one of those countries that have been confirmed won't be getting it this year and I honestly can't say I care if we get it next year or the year after. I don't have any interest in it so why would I care about a delay? I don't want to use the Kinect and thus I don't care if it supports my language.

However I do find it hilarious that people are complaining about this. They hate on Microsoft for their console, they hate the fact that they're shoving the Kinect down our throats. Now they delay it and it's a big deal. Now the Kinect won't be fully functional and we complain. We don't want the console, we don't want the Kinect, but when it's taken away from us we still get angry. Does anyone else see the analogy to a kid not getting his way here?

Nope, i'm talking about the news article entitled "European Xbox One delayed due to localizations" Which discussed the languages the Kinect would support. not the one entitled "Xbox One Voice Commands Limited to Five Countries At Launch"

Additionally, i agree. Any discussion about microsoft is pointless these days. it turns into Xbox One hate. I went for the PS4 after being a 360 fanboy for years before because of many considerate reasons whereby i just didn't want an Xbox (Price, exclusives, software and hardware offerings). But you can't say that these days, its all "ooh, kinect spies on you" or "always on!? what if my isp sucks!?"

 

[BrotherRool]

If Microsoft are having all this trouble at launch, can you imagine how much trouble it must be for a small developer to try and incorporate voice commands in their game as anything but a piece of gimmicky tat?

Are... Are they honestly implying that it's that fucking difficult to tell whether someone with an un-american/british accent is trying to say 'Xbox On'? Are they really?

And if that's the case, how the heck is it going to work across the whole of Britain and the whole of the US? If it can't an Irish accent, how can it understand a Scottish or a Welsh accent? How can it understand the Irish people who are a part of Britain? Did Microsoft just forget about the existence of Northern Ireland as one of the four Kingdoms of the UK? Are you telling me it can do Cockney, West Country, Yorkshire, Cornwall, posh British, northern British, Liverpudlian, Brummy, Indian, Pakhistani, Chinese... and not Australian? British accents sound nothing like each other, just because most actors from regions of Britian with strong natural accents surpress it, doesn't mean the rest of the people living there can do that. (and heck, Northern Welsh, Valley's Welsh and West Welsh are all pretty distinct accents)

Heck what do Australians living in Britain do?


How is it going to cope with people with lisps and speech impediments?

 

[luvd1]

Sort that out eye of saron.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

And if that's the case, how the heck is it going to work across the whole of Britain and the whole of the US? If it can't an Irish accent, how can it understand a Scottish or a Welsh accent? How can it understand the Irish people who are a part of Britain? Did Microsoft just forget about the existence of Northern Ireland as one of the four Kingdoms of the UK? Are you telling me it can do Cockney, West Country, Yorkshire, Cornwall, posh British, northern British, Liverpudlian, Brummy, Indian, Pakhistani, Chinese... and not Australian? British accents sound nothing like each other, just because most actors from regions of Britian with strong natural accents surpress it, doesn't mean the rest of the people living there can do that. (and heck, Northern Welsh, Valley's Welsh and West Welsh are all pretty distinct accents)

Heck what do Australians living in Britain do?


How is it going to cope with people with lisps and speech impediments?

Anytime an EN-GB XB1 is addressed in anything but perfect RP English, it fires a DVD of My Fair Lady at their face.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I think the bigger question we should be asking is; Who will be using Kinect, at all?

 

[Yopaz]

I don't understand why you deleted the original news story about this a few days ago? Should have just kept it and updated it.

OT: Something nobody wants and will disconnect within seconds of buying the console is stopping microsoft from releasing the console in more countries at launch... And how is this thing supposed to make money?

Are you talking about the article about how it would launch in 5 countries? If so it's actually linked to that one in the article. Twice.

OT: I don't really care one way or the other. I live in one of those countries that have been confirmed won't be getting it this year and I honestly can't say I care if we get it next year or the year after. I don't have any interest in it so why would I care about a delay? I don't want to use the Kinect and thus I don't care if it supports my language.

However I do find it hilarious that people are complaining about this. They hate on Microsoft for their console, they hate the fact that they're shoving the Kinect down our throats. Now they delay it and it's a big deal. Now the Kinect won't be fully functional and we complain. We don't want the console, we don't want the Kinect, but when it's taken away from us we still get angry. Does anyone else see the analogy to a kid not getting his way here?

Nope, i'm talking about the news article entitled "European Xbox One delayed due to localizations" Which discussed the languages the Kinect would support. not the one entitled "Xbox One Voice Commands Limited to Five Countries At Launch"

Additionally, i agree. Any discussion about microsoft is pointless these days. it turns into Xbox One hate. I went for the PS4 after being a 360 fanboy for years before because of many considerate reasons whereby i just didn't want an Xbox (Price, exclusives, software and hardware offerings). But you can't say that these days, its all "ooh, kinect spies on you" or "always on!? what if my isp sucks!?"

Ah, I missed that one, but I found it when I searched for it, but as you said the article itself is removed. I guess I can see the point of posting a new article, but not why they would remove the previous one.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Sort that out eye of saron.

I believe that is a scottish accent and that the Kinect will be fully functional for them.

But not for Irish, Australian and New Zealanders (apparently) due to issues with accents.

Yep.