Hampton Hotels Santa Clarita - Don't Worry, You Can Yell At Your PS4 If You Want To

Source       - http://www.forbes.com/
By             - Paul Tassi
Category   - Hampton Hotels Santa Clarita
Posted By  - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

 

Hampton Hotels Santa Clarita

Microsoft MSFT -0.45%‘s big job over the next few months is going to be convincing players that the added functionality of the Xbox One is worth $100 more up front than the PS4. The bulk of that price and feature differential is for the Kinect, and so far, Microsoft is proving me wrong by not offering a Kinect-less bundle for $100 less, which would level the playing field between the two consoles once and for all.

People often forget that Sony SNE -1.09% does have a device that’s similar to the Kinect, the PlayStation Eye Camera. It too can peer into your living room and track you as you wave your limbs around. Now, they’re taking things a step further and giving the Eye camera one more power to compete with Kinect: voice-control. A Sony rep confirmed as much to Polygon:

“Sony Computer Entertainment can confirm that PlayStation Camera allows for voice recognition and we will look forward to sharing more details in the lead up to the launch of PlayStation 4 on November 29.”

To remind everyone, the PlayStation Eye camera is NOT packaged with the PlayStation 4, and costs $59 extra. And for as much hate as the Kinect gets, the Eye is empirically just not as advanced as a motion control system. Voice control could influence a few enthusiasts to pick up the device however, and not feel like they’re missing out on a feature the One has that the PS4 doesn’t.

Voice control has yet to really explode across any technology sector however, gaming included. Yes, you can yell at Siri to direct you to the nearest fast food joint. Yes, you can yell at your car to play a song over your iPhone wirelessly. And yes, you can yell at your Xbox to make your squadmates find cover in Mass Effect. But for the most part, voice control still faces a number of issues and is hardly the mainstream. Perhaps that will change and Sony wants to be on board, but I have a hunch this isn’t going to be a must-have feature for a while.

Microsoft is, however, investing a lot into the “coolness factor” of being able to say things like “Xbox On!” and “Xbox TV!” instead of say, hitting a button on your controller or TV remote. Indeed there may be some vague sense of Star Trek about it, but until it becomes more convenient to actually speak these commands instead of hitting that one button (which works every time), it’s not really going to catch on.

It’s not necessarily a bad idea for Sony to add something like this, but I’m not sure how many PS4 owners will be adopting the new Eye camera for their system. I’ve seen very little from the system that uses the Eye that actually looks worthwhile, and voice commands, unless they’re absolutely flawless, don’t seem like they’ll be the tipping point that will inspire a purchase.

Update: I am indeed aware that the EyeToy existed before the Kinect, though in this case, it is a well-known Kinect feature being emulated. Though I am not accusing Sony of “copycatting” when they’re simply trying to compete with their rival, a logical decision and natural progression of the technology.