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Reader Comments (73)

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 10:33AM Tezz said

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Seriously you are all up in arms about voice recognition. You do realize how infantile voice recognition development is. Rant and rave all you like about Microsoft failing to deliver but the joke is on you if you didn't realize the voice recognition would be unable to accommodate a wide variety of accents.

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 11:02AM xreadmore said

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@Tezz
Wide variety of accents? We're talking about Canada. We have less varying accents then the US. And voice recognition has been around for as long as I remember. We're talking about Xbox control here. No one is dictating letters or opening obscure programs. If my Windows 7 can do it, why can't Kinect?

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Posted: Sep 1st 2010 12:07PM ddealss said

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@Tezz It just speaks to me like Microsoft is rushing this "unfinished" product to the shelves. How seriously can I take this if my own country (80% english speaking) can't utilize this product to it's fullest? What else has microsoft promised that is going to be updated later? I feel like this is just been one downward spiral for Kinect ever since it was first mentioned.

That's really why I'm not buying this product.
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Posted: Sep 1st 2010 10:38AM Danzaiver said

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Well I speak Spanish from Panama but I play all my games in English so I guess I will just speak in English.

About Spanish accents there are like 10 different accents just in Latin America so I wonder how that work will because not everyone speaks Spanish like the one in Mexico. For example if you compare Spanish from Mexico, Colombia and Argentina they are very different.

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 11:41AM Lagunamov said

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@Danzaiver The easiest way for Latin America would really be just making it "castellano neutro" in case Kinect is really that sensitive over accents. Argentina alone has several different accents depending on the region, some being just intonation while others changing the way some words are pronounced completely.

I still don't understand why they can't just release it worldwide with English and then start pathing the other languages in new updated firmwares, instead of just gimping it. Just because someone lives in a non-english speaking country doesn't mean they can't use english voice commands.

"Oh, they live in Spain, they only know spanish, so english recognition will be useless there," jerks...
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Posted: Sep 1st 2010 10:42AM (Unverified) said

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Seems worth $10 extra bucks a year...

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 10:46AM RedRabbit said

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I'm going to assume that it saying Canada won't support voice commands at first means they're talking about French Canadian. There is absolutely zero reason why our English wouldn't be recognized.

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 11:03AM Samz2 said

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@RedRabbit I hope that's the case.

Knowing Microsoft Canada though...
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Posted: Sep 1st 2010 11:14AM andysexton said

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@RedRabbit I wonder if it's due to bilingualism regulations in any ways?
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Posted: Sep 1st 2010 12:15PM furious said

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@RedRabbit
Blame Quebec.
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Posted: Sep 1st 2010 10:52AM xreadmore said

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@Grimcicle
I blame Newfoundland. Thanks a lot Newfoundland!!!!!

/jk, I love those crazy newfies.
//not getting Kinect anyway

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 10:59AM fakethis said

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@Grimcicle
I blame Québec. I assume there's some French localization to do since it won't be available in France either.

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 7:54PM Tezz said

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Development in voice recognition is still in it's infancy even though it may have been around for awhile. Voice recognition is a complex complex area of development as analyzing sounds and having a computer interpret then is harder than you obviously think
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Posted: Sep 1st 2010 11:12AM Lerkero said

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Looks like Microsoft is trying to get all their bad news out in one week so people forget about it by the holiday season and buy the stuff anyways.

1. Announce all bad news for consumers
2. Wait a week
3. Release Halo Reach
4. Profit

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 11:29AM Metalfacedoom said

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I would love to see the puzzled look in Milo's face when spoken to in French. Ohh wait..... -_-

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 12:10PM Snap Count said

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Dear Microsoft,

I was actually going to buy the first cosole/kinect bundle with 250GB HDD I saw.....not now...

Love Canada

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 12:19PM Snap Count said

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Oh and if it is a Canada/Quebec/French/English issue would not Microsoft be barking this from the rooftops to calm us down. I know I would be. CRTC sucks ass.

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 12:30PM DudeGuyMan said

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@Snap Count

Good point Snap. If everyone loses out because of the French language, then that is the CRTC's biggest joke of a decision I have heard.
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Posted: Sep 1st 2010 12:28PM DudeGuyMan said

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Even CANADA!?!?! That's the last straw Microsoft....you can forget about Kinect in my household.

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 1:02PM killer rin said

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Honestly Who Cares about the French, The English Speaking/Bi-Lingual Population BLOWS their French-Only population out of the water.

Just Update in French, Give us Voice Control, then throw in an Update/Download that adds french

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 5:08PM NasalBaton said

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Okay that's the final straw. I've been defending kinect up until this point, but this is just ridiculous. How the f can it not do voice recognition in canada? It's one of the biggest features on kinect and it's the sam damn language. I'm cancelling my preorder forsure now. I'll get it some other time. What a fail.

Posted: Sep 1st 2010 5:27PM darcylussier said

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Ok ok, simmer down everyone!

I sent out a tweet and got this reply from JadeLive, one of the XBOX Canada Twitter peeps. She said:

"We will absolutely have voice controls for Kinect in Canada English at launch Nov 4, French Spring 2011 :)"

So relax, Canada is getting English voice controls and French is soon to follow.

DL

Posted: Nov 10th 2010 12:38AM djsiek said

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I cannot wait for the day Sony brings Voice control to the PS3.. I have a ps3 eye sitting on top of my tv that hardly ever gets used (hint : it has a high quality mic)

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