MS confirms Kinect voice lockout

Xbox 360 platform holder Microsoft has finally admitted that many countries will not enjoy voice recognition support for Kinect when the device arrives in Europe in November.

In August MCV ran a story based on information given to it by Microsoft at Gamescom claiming that voice recognition would not be a launch feature for Kinect. Microsoft denied this, but refused to clarify the extent to which speech recognition would be implemented on a regional basis.

Today it was claimed that only three languages would be recognised by the device from the off – English, Japanese and Mexican Spanish.

Speaking to Eurogamer Spain, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that all other regions will have to wait until spring of next year before Kinect will be patched to recognise their language.

Further to this, Kinect will actively lockout users in regions who have not yet been granted official support.

So this means that the likes of Canadian and Spanish users, who should in theory be able to get on perfectly well with the English and Mexican Spanish options built into the software, will see the functionality automatically blocked until next year.

MCV is still waiting on official clarification from Microsoft.