The big picture: Digital voice assistants are seemingly everywhere these days, from smartphones and home speakers to eyeglasses and even jewelry. It's no surprise, then, that they're also finding their way to other devices we use on a regular basis like game consoles.
The Google Assistant is now available on Microsoft’s Xbox One… well, sort of.
The new Xbox Action for the Google Assistant is out today in beta for English-speaking customers. With it, you’ll be able to turn the system on and off, launch games and apps, manage video playback and more simply via voice commands.
Of course, you’re not really installing the Google Assistant on the console but rather, simply using it to receive commands from other devices that run Google’s voice assistant.
As The Verge clarifies, you’ll need to link your Xbox to the Assistant app on your Android or iOS device or pair it with something like Google Home to accomplish this. Microsoft outlines the necessary steps you’ll need to take to get started with the beta over on Major Nelson’s website. There’s also a full list of commands – surprisingly, there aren’t really all that many – over on the Xbox Insiders subreddit.
Pro tip - if you’re having trouble, be sure to enable the Digital Assistants setting on your console.
This isn’t the first voice assistant to find its way to the Xbox One. Last year, Microsoft rolled out the ability to control its console with voice commands via Alexa and Cortana.
https://www.techspot.com/news/82086-xbox-one-can-now-controlled-google-assistant.html
