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Australia won't get voice commands for Xbox One at launch

Once again, Australians won't be able to use voice commands for the Xbox One Kinect system when it launches in November.

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Nic Healey Senior Editor / Australia
Nic Healey is a Senior Editor with CNET, based in the Australia office. His passions include bourbon, video games and boring strangers with photos of his cat.
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Nic Healey

Back when the Kinect initially launched in Australia on 18 November 2010, it was unable to use the much-vaunted voice commands in Australia.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

In fact, that functionality didn't arrive until December 2011, 13 months later. Now it looks like we'll have the same issue with the Xbox One.

The Xbox One comes bundled with Kinect worldwide, but an updated product page now has the footnote:

Xbox voice commands will not be available in all markets on the product release date. Voice commands will be available at launch in US, UK, CA, FR and DE.

So, that's the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and Germany. The other countries in the initial 13 launch regions — Australia, Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain and New Zealand — will be left silent.

It's not clear when — or even if — voice control will be added. We'd definitely assume that it will come eventually, but will it need another year-long wait? CNET Australia has contacted Microsoft for comment, and we'll update if the company responds.

Locally, the Xbox One is expected to launch in November, and will cost AU$599. The bundle includes the console, a controller and the updated Kinect sensor.