So Close, Yet So Far With Xbox One's Kinect

Very nice change of pace. I like it.

Loved the video, Patrick. Gimme more!

Great video! I want to see more.

Good video, Patrick!

This kind of reminds me of the old video reviews (which I loved), just not with the speaker in the shot.

Would like to see more of this!

This is fantastic. I'd love to see more stuff like this.

I like this, Patrick!

When a poor design implementation leads to user error, which many here are bringing up, the problem lies with Microsoft not with the end user. One must also realize that Patrick doesn't really have any accent that could confuse the Kinect. He's the optimal user for them.

This was a cool thing. I found myself wondering if you were just reciting this in front of a Kinect, or editing your "Xbox..." commands in later.

This is a great format! There's a lot of info presented very well, especially considering it was produced by a single person. Great job Patrick!

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@patrickklepek Great video, duder! One tiny tiny suggestion from me would be to knock the music level down by about 10%, dat sax got a bit hot in the mix for my liking. You write and speak and show content pretty damn well in this format, looking forward to seeing more soon!

x

Five...

"Next page... Next page... Next page... Next page... Next page..."

...out of five.

Really liked this feature, Patrick! I would enjoy seeing more things like this from you (and the staff) in the future. : )

Nicely presented. I'm certainly open to more scripted monologue type stuff. Basically like an article, but I'm too modern to read.

Loved the video Patrick. I agree with you, I love the voice stuff for Kinect, but it is so frustrating and not uniform throughout the system interface. Keep doing videos like these!

Great video Scoops.

Very nice work Patrick! More of this kind of thing would be great, but maybe dial down the background music just a tad...?

I really cannot stand the Xbox 'experience' as it exists today. I've hated the whole 'Metro' thing since it's inception and that trend continues. I find it un-intuitive with a controller alone, even before slightly shonky voice controls are thrown into the mix.

Also the lack of voice searching in Netflix, which of course already requires gold membership to even access, is flat out unacceptable.

Whoever decided that controller-input text searches should be carried out on one long A-Z strip in all these apps needs bloody shooting! There's a 'perfectly' functional software keyboard that could be used instead!

Excellent video Patrick. Would love some more like this.

Also something about Patrick's delivery in this video makes me think he could do a really good cover of always wear sunscreen.

Seems i'm late to the reply party but, yes, more like this please!

Whose responsible for building the apps like Netflix or Amazon? Is it the owners of those services or the microsoft guys or a mix of both?

Good video anyway. I enjoyed the classy jazz music.

More stuff like this! I like this featurette, the best part is it isn't filled with hot babes and Halo ads like other sites.

More please! Screw Reading, 2014 son, gotta get that video essay done, son!

Good jorb.

I like it Patrick. More!

Great job. I'm all for more edited video content on Giant Bomb.

More, please.

More of this please, Mr Klepek

Excellent feature, nice job Patrick.

I enjoyed.

You should learn how to use the voice commands first before making a video like this.

I'd be interested to see the new Kinects failings as it has quite a few which deserve to be exposed, but within the first 30 seconds you say the commands wrong, so I stopped watching.

It's 'Xbox go to Netflix' or 'Xbox Select Netflix'. Not 'Xbox Select go to Netflix'.

Learn to use it first next time please.

Yes. More like this. It's like animated audio books for articles. =)

More like this! Great stuff! Good job scoops

Really nice video. It felt like if your articles were transformed directly into video. Only suggestion I'd give is dialing back the volume of the music a bit. This was especially noticeable during the "Next Page" bit; although less music would make it a bit less comfortable to sit through, that was meant to make you uncomfortable.

Good job, Patrick. u #1 GB Chicago

Half-baked or not, I find myself using the voice stuff a lot for television, especially changing channels, where it works pretty well for most major stations. I don't use any of the voice-command "Snap" crap, but I do use it for navigation and turning on/off the system with about an 80 or so percent success rate. I find that you really have to be loud when you give commands, which sucks because I don't really have a loud speaking tone, so I have to amplify it and that can be a little awkward.

I absolutely hate how absurd TV stations are with their HD numbering systems. Seemingly randomized, four-digit channel numbers phased me off of TV entirely, so now at least I'm more into watching sports and other programs live that way by saying "Watch ESPN" instead of fumbling with remembering the digits and trying to get the remote.

The voice search stuff is at least pretty inventive and miles away from anything Sony is doing, so at least the Xbox One is capitalizing on some sort of unique "media experience", even if it's still not absolutely there yet. I end up using that Xbox One remote for a lot of the things the voice commands fail at, which is pretty nice, all things considered.

Solid journalism on this Patrick, great video.

i want to see more of this patrick!

Great video! Pretty much matched my own experience. The 80% or so success rate in understanding my voice is... sufficient to keep using it. But the interface can be a major drag. The dashboard and default areas are well designed, and then as soon as you get inside an app it falls apart.

More stuff like this please, Patrick!

@boldspud: Thirded.

I was puzzled as to what I was watching. No faces + no "Quick Look:" tag = trailer, in my mind. As I got further in it started making more sense as a short commentary, or Video Essay as you said.

Great job Patrick!

I'd love to see more features like this. I also think that you did well for your first time producing a video like this, I'm sure Vinny and Drew are proud.

Good stuff, would like to see more like this.

As did I. And so I ran and grabbed my trench coat, slapped my secretary on the ass while yelling "Keep up the good work, Toots". Then lit several filterless cigarettes and left them burning in ash trays around the room, to give the proper ambiance while I watched the video.

On topic though, the search function does say that it's listening when you're having to go through the letters with the controller. Maybe there's something being missed here?

If they would pick up the badass way that the PSN store filters out letters though, that would be cool too. For those that don't know: when searching in the Playstation store and you choose a letter, "F" for example, the search function filters out any letters that are not possible because they are not used by anything in their store. So, say there is nothing that starts with the letters "FP" in the PS Store, then P is taken away from the search, and it then eventually filters down to what you are going towards.

Just so you know, the reason your first command didn't work was because it's not a command at all.

You can't say "Xbox Select" and then "Go To Netflix". Xbox Select just activates all the text as green so you can read it and choose something. You could have said "Xbox Select" and then "Netflix" because Netflix was on the screen.

It worked after because you used the right command, "Xbox Go To Netflix"

Not sure if you knew this and were trying to make Kinect look worse than it is, but if not hopefully that helps!

I really enjoyed this. It'll be nice to see some shorter videos that can be finished in under 10 minutes. Like others, I found the background music a little distracting, but that could just be the volume?

@patrickklepek It does, both your video and his are very insightful, funny and above all entertaining. Will look forward to the next one.

@patrickklepek That was rather a neat video thing that I was not expecting! I can't imagine this would completely replace your text articles, as this is obviously harder to produce, but that thought is my only potential concern. This was really cool, but sometimes it's easier to read an article, so I wouldn't want to see it every time.

Otherwise? Yeah, this was pretty slick! I dig it.

Very cool video.

More like this.

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Great work @patrickklepek, would def like more like this. Also I was thinking about this the other day, I think the Amazon app works so well with voice because they had to code their app for their own voice controlled box, The Fire TV. So the functionality on the Xbox One is a happy by product. Keep up the good work!

I haven't watched any of those! I think it just means Danny and I are both super smart.

I agree they need to make the kinect understand more common phrases but postulating that the kinect is having trouble understanding a command as opposed to the commands themselves are not intuitive are too different things. One is a fault of the engineers not anticipating the needs and usability of a consumer and the other is an intrinsic fault of the technology not meeting the expectations of the user. It is a fine margin of error and i will say it is frustrating when the kinect does not recognize commands but i am just critiquing a critical piece for accuracy as presented. I think basically the point i was making was that slight changing to the language would provide a stronger argument from the author.

Regardless of the size of the netflix company, designers working there and implementing the technology are not the same as the ones working internal for microsoft or amazon. Unless microsoft instituted standards like the do with their games as part of their apps. I mean where i work, having different teams will result in vastly different solutions. Also the designers at netflix may have farmed the development of their xbox one app to a 3rd party vendor (most likely), or developed the app during an early development kit as it was part of the launch. Getting funding for an update of the xbox one app may not be part of their scoped budget as those apps seem to update annually. I agree, that app needs some vast improvements and take advantage of the multitude of updates microsoft has implemented for the kinect for better speech recognition as i am not sure that when the xbox one updates (which is quite often) that the improvements trickle down to the apps and games already developed. For instance, while Patricks use case for this and many users is Netflix, and microsoft would be smart to personally improving that app, we do not judge the competency of a DS on a 3rd parties implementation of the available technology, though we do lament when that technology is not being used for it's greatest potential.

I do use the kinect a lot, i think it is fantastic. But it more often than not does have issues. And my xbox one is collecting dust as i play dark souls and dark souls 2. I mainly use my x1 for apps. I think between the kinect, controller and the smart glass apps that getting around the system is really quick when using the right tool for the job.

I still think that this was a great style for a video piece and would like to see more of them. I have been following this GiantBomb crew since the beginnings of the Hotspot and On the Spot. and i have been watching Patrick move about the industry for a long time.

There is too much hyperbole on threads, as is the nature of the internet forums and threads. It may seem like being critical of the app or as i think of it, acknowledging the realities of creative design corporate culture as someone that works in corporate design is not excusing the creators of said app from their responsibility of providing a clear and hassle free UX (user experience). What i am saying is that another company created it that did not create the technology. I do understand that from a consumer standpoint they will not recognize the app separate from the machine serving them the app.