AMAZON ALEXA

Amazon: Alexa to control video games in the future
Gambling with the help of Alexa? Amazon wants to make this possible.
It's exciting to see what new capabilities Amazon is equipping its voice assistant with. In the future, Alexa will not only be able to answer questions, play music, stock shopping lists or regulate lights, but also help gamers in video games.

The Group recently announced corresponding plans at the Gamescom trade fair. At the end of August, after the two pandemic years 2020 and 2021, this took place live in Cologne for the first time.

"Alexa Game Control" is the name of the feature that Amazon has launched in this context. It is intended to enable the digital companion to take on certain tasks in the virtual worlds of video games.

Change weapons and operate lamps with "Alexa Game Control"
Specifically, it is about changing weapons or talking to characters, as Computerbild reports. Alexa should perform such tasks on voice command. However – and this is the special thing about "Alexa Game Control" – players do not need an Echo speaker to use the function. Only a microphone into which they speak is therefore necessary.

The concrete use of Alexa also works a little differently within the video game adventures than in real life: Because an activation word is not needed. To let Alexa perform the desired activities, you either have to press a button (so-called push-to-talk function) or you simply use "voice activity": This is "a mode in which you set which commands Alexa accepts," it continues. Just without an activation word.

And another treat on top: The new function allows Alexa to be operated as usual with a view to smart home devices: Just as you can also switch lamps on and off via the voice remote control of the Fire TV Stick, for example, such actions can also be carried out via "Alexa Game Control".

Alexa Premiere in Zombie Shocker
The new Alexa feature will start with the game "Dead Island 2". This is a zombie game with an open world, in which you slit and slaughter what you can. The game has a long production time behind it and, after numerous changes and repeated changes of the studio, should finally see the light of day in February 2023.

According to the director of the Alexa Games Control project, Steve Bernstein, players can use voice commands to get in-game advice or activate special abilities. Fans in Germany will also have to wait even longer for the feature, because at launch it will only be available in North America and in English.