Microsoft will greatly improve its speech recognition technology inside the next Xbox, The Verge has learned. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s Xbox plans have revealed that Durango, the codename for the next Xbox, will support wake on voice, natural language controls, and speech-to-text. The improved capabilities mean that Xbox users will be able to walk into a room and simply say “Xbox on” to wake up the new Xbox. We understand that Microsoft is also investigating scenarios where a Kinect sensor will detect individuals in a room and suggest appropriate multiplayer games after a user queries the Xbox using voice. The support will include natural language detection, similar to Apple’s Siri service, that will let users ask things like “what are my friends playing” to receive a friends list. Xbox will also reply back to users with answers to queries, making it an improved search service too.

Read the full story at The Verge.