The Xbox One Is About to Become Even More Windows-Like

Your Xbox One is about to talk back to you, but in a good way -- or at least a slightly better one. Let's clarify, especially for those who bought the Xbox One without Kinect, Microsoft's optional motion-control sensor that's also a microphone into which people can bark voice commands to make things happen. Today's Xbox One is a language desert, a place where you can issue just a few dozen two- or three-word phrases as shorthand for functions you'd otherwise perform by tapping buttons on a gamepad or traditional remote. Tomorrow's Xbox One--which is to say literally this week's Xbox One if you're in the Xbox Preview program, where the feature is due imminently--will let you do that using Cortana. As in Windows Cortana, the semantic voice recognition feature bundled with Windows 10 and named after the fictional artificial intelligence integral to Microsoft's Halo video game franchise.