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PlayStation 4 gets voice commands à la Kinect

As the next-generaton console war heats up, Sony’s taking a leaf out of Microsoft’s playbook, from the chapter “How to copy the competition”, and giving the PlayStation 4 voice command functionality.

According to Polygon, Sony has confirmed that the PS4 will support voice commands, though these would only work when users have the optional $69 (R700) Playstation Eye camera accessory. The Xbox One supports voice commands out of the box, since every console ships with a Kinect sensor, which has built-in microphones.

And since it’s a camera, the Eye camera will also enable facial recognition. That makes two features that Microsoft’s console boasted at its announcement. While it already had gestures and could sense depth, the addition of facial recognition and voice commands mean that the Eye mimics most of the Kinect’s functions.

It’s a big ol’ game of tit for tat, really. The Xbox One, amid massive criticism, has had its draconian DRM deleted, among other shifts in policy from Microsoft. The console will also no longer be region-locked, and indie developers will be able to submit their own games. Those are all features that Sony touted for the PS4, when it was announced.

With both next-gen machines boasting similar feature sets, the real differentiator will be how each is adopted by gamers and developers, and whether Sony’s developers can make the PlayStation 4’s hardware horsepower advantage play in the console’s favour.

Title image credit: Sony

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