Product of the Day
Google Assistant comes to Xbox One
Controling an Xbox with Google Assistant is on the horizon, with the recent announcement of Xbox’s public beta of voice assistant on the console.
Team Xbox has announced they have implemented feedback to integrate Google Assistant into the Xbox One.
It said in a media update: “We’ve heard loud and clear is that you’ve wanted more options for using digital assistants to interact with your Xbox.”
Based on customer feedback, it has expanded the voice command capabilities with the release of the Xbox Skill for Alexa and Cortana last year. This is expanding further with the Xbox Action for the Google Assistant. The new Xbox Action for the Google Assistant releases to public beta on Xbox One today and is available to all customers in English during the beta period.
The Xbox Team says Google and Xbox are working together to expand language support before launching more broadly to the Xbox community later this fall.
With the release of the Xbox Action for the Google Assistant, users can now interact with an Xbox One in more ways using just voice, including the ability to turn the console on and off, launch games and apps, play and pause videos, among many others, from the Google Assistant and Home-enabled devices, as well as the Google Assistant apps on iOS and Android.
To get started with the beta:
- Join the Google Group with the Google Account you intend to use
- Sign into your Xbox
- In the Google Home app for iOS or Android:
- Tap “+ Add”
- Tap “Set up device”
- Tap “Have something already set up?”
- Search for and select “[beta] Xbox”
- Sign in with the Microsoft account you use on Xbox
- Follow the instructions to link your Xbox and give it a device name
Once it’s all set up, here are a few actions to try to started with controlling the Xbox One with Google Assistant:
- “Hey Google, play Gears 5 on Xbox.”
- “Hey Google, turn on Xbox.”
- “Hey Google, turn off Xbox.”
- “Hey Google, launch YouTube on Xbox.”
- “Hey Google, pause on Xbox.”
- “Hey Google, resume on Xbox.”
- “Hey Google, volume up on Xbox.”
- “Hey Google, take a screenshot on Xbox.”
The default device name for Xbox consoles is “Xbox”; however, this can be changed in the Google Home and Assistant apps if you have more than one Xbox in your home. When triggering an action, use the device name you set in your commands. For example, you would say, “Hey Google, turn on Living Room Xbox.”
For a full list of commands, setup instructions, or for troubleshooting, please visit the Xbox Insider Subreddit.
