Kinect Voice Activation to be Region Locked
Voice control not coming to mainland Europe until Spring
Not only will languages other than English, Japanese and Mexican Spanish not be supported by Kinect at launch - it has now emerged that the functionality will be region-locked initially, too.
That means, in a nutshell, that if you're not in one of the regions voice activation has been localised for, you won't be able to use it at all. Eurogamer Spain reports that even Canadians won't be able to use the feature because the English offered by the service is American and British English.
It will be Spring 2011 before Kinect owners in mainland Europe will be able to use voice activation.
Similarly, those fluent in one of the supported languages but living outside the dialect's native countries will apparently not be able to use voice activation - they'll have to wait for their localised language packs.
The decision to support Mexican Spanish rather than European Spanish initially was apparently based on numbers. There are apparently 104m Spanish speakers in the US and 13m Mexicans with games consoles. That stacks up against 45m people in Spain.
That means, in a nutshell, that if you're not in one of the regions voice activation has been localised for, you won't be able to use it at all. Eurogamer Spain reports that even Canadians won't be able to use the feature because the English offered by the service is American and British English.
It will be Spring 2011 before Kinect owners in mainland Europe will be able to use voice activation.
Similarly, those fluent in one of the supported languages but living outside the dialect's native countries will apparently not be able to use voice activation - they'll have to wait for their localised language packs.
The decision to support Mexican Spanish rather than European Spanish initially was apparently based on numbers. There are apparently 104m Spanish speakers in the US and 13m Mexicans with games consoles. That stacks up against 45m people in Spain.
Companies:
Microsoft
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