NEWS - Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Kinect Will Recognize Three Languages at Launch
Theres been some confusion out of Microsoft over just how much voice recognition functionality would be included in Kinect when it launches in November, but now theyve finally confirmed the extent to which Kinect will know what youre saying -- and the regions where it wont. Speaking to Eurogamer Spain, Microsoft revealed Kinect will only recognize American English, British English, Japanese, and Mexican Spanish at first.
On top of this, though, Microsoft also says Kinects voice recognition will be region locked. What this bizarrely means is that even if you live in a country where one of those isnt the official language but you can still speak it, you still wont have the option to use voice commands -- and this includes Canada and all of mainland Europe. These regions wont get Kinect voice support until a patch is released later next spring.
So sorry, every Canadian who can say "about" with a perfectly immitated American accent -- you still wont be able to tell your Kinect what to do until spring. Kinect launches in North America on November 4, and Europe on November 10.
Source: http://www.1up.com