Well, the wait is finally over. Microsoft has finally launched the Xbox One as promised, a mere week after Sony launched its coveted next-gen PlayStation 4 and directly on the cusp of the holiday shopping season. The console is powerful and flexible as DT’s own Adam Rosenberg outlined in our Xbox One review, and comes equipped with an intuitive set of voice commands engineered to work hand-in-hand with the console’s bundled Kinect. The peripheral also touts a few motion controls, but most users would probably rather speak their mind than perform a bunch of cumbersome, yogi-like maneuvers to navigate the dashboard.
While you could sock away your Kinect after the device’s initial setup, you’ll be doing yourself a huge disfavor. Voice commands allow users to do everything from turning on the console and recording gameplay footage, to sending messages and launching apps in Snap mode, all which can be done by simple saying “Xbox” followed by the appropriate voice command. It’s incredibly useful and quick, even if it is somewhat limited at launch and requires you to say the exact phrase.
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Here’s a quick-hit list of the Xbox One voice commands as outlined by the good folks at Microsoft. Also, check out our Xbox One tip guide for some additional tips to make the most of Microsoft’s new offering.
An Xbox PC Game Pass exclusive just got a release date and no one noticed
Xbox is going all in on strategy games. On Wednesday, it announced that Ara: History Untold is coming to PC on September 24 and will be available on day one with PC Game Pass.
Weirdly enough, though, the news coverage has been slim, despite Xbox releasing a whole podcast about it and the soon-to-release Age of Mythology: Retold from the Age of Empires team. It's also strange that the news didn't pop up in this summer's Xbox Game Showcase, which took place days ago. The podcast and blog is all there is to show how Xbox is committed to real-time strategy.
Studio behind one of Xbox’s biggest upcoming exclusives hit with layoffs, studio closures
Approximately 50 people have been laid off from Avalanche Studios Group, the company behind the Just Cause series and the upcoming Xbox console exclusive Contraband, according to the studio.
In an official blog post published Monday, the company also announced that it will be closing two of its five locations: the one in New York and the other in Montreal. It's unclear of the exact number of layoffs, but the post says "around 50" workers were affected, or around 9% of the workforce.
Gamesharing is one of the best features the gaming world has seen over the past decade. The Xbox One was one of the first consoles to fully embrace this feature, and the simple process allows you to give a person you trust access to your library of downloadable games. This feature would carry forward to the next-generation Series X and S consoles as well.
Additionally, you can gain access to the games on your trusted friend’s Xbox account. The Xbox One, Xbox One S, and Xbox One X make gamesharing easy, but this process does come with a few restrictions that you should know beforehand.
