I posted this on my twitter the other day, thinking about Siri:
"Early days, but siri could be as big a deal for games as touch. Apple just added a new *sense* to the UI. Yes we've had voice rec b4, but..."
I'm definitely seeing parallels between the introduction of Siri and the introduction of the first iPhone.
In both cases Apple took an input technology that had been around for a long time and made it actually robust and viable. Clearly in the case of touch this has been transformative to both games and also the broader computing field.
I'm wondering if Siri will end up doing the same for voice. Obviously we've had voice rec for a long time (Kinect has it, and it's not too bad, I also have Dragon Go on my iPhone which is actually pretty impressive) but Siri makes it a fully integrated part of the OS in the way that it hasn't been before.
The "just lift phone and talk to Siri" interface paradigm is a new level of natural and intuitive interaction in an OS that already sets the high bar for natural and intuitive. I think this could have a profound impact on games. We may be entering a world where robust voice control becomes as much of a user expectation as touch. And we've all seen the kids who can't wrap their heads around non-touch screens, or even magazines that don't respond to their gestures! For various kind of async games, especially, real voice control could be transformative.
"Early days, but siri could be as big a deal for games as touch. Apple just added a new *sense* to the UI. Yes we've had voice rec b4, but..."
I'm definitely seeing parallels between the introduction of Siri and the introduction of the first iPhone.
In both cases Apple took an input technology that had been around for a long time and made it actually robust and viable. Clearly in the case of touch this has been transformative to both games and also the broader computing field.
I'm wondering if Siri will end up doing the same for voice. Obviously we've had voice rec for a long time (Kinect has it, and it's not too bad, I also have Dragon Go on my iPhone which is actually pretty impressive) but Siri makes it a fully integrated part of the OS in the way that it hasn't been before.
The "just lift phone and talk to Siri" interface paradigm is a new level of natural and intuitive interaction in an OS that already sets the high bar for natural and intuitive. I think this could have a profound impact on games. We may be entering a world where robust voice control becomes as much of a user expectation as touch. And we've all seen the kids who can't wrap their heads around non-touch screens, or even magazines that don't respond to their gestures! For various kind of async games, especially, real voice control could be transformative.
