"Hey Google, turn on Xbox."
Voice commands such as that are now possible, as Microsoft is now adding Google Assistant support to the Xbox One.
This move follows the integration of Amazon Alexa, which is among the third-party voice assistants that can serve as an alternative to Cortana on the console.
Google Assistant On The Xbox One
Xbox Senior Program Manager Harrison Hoffman went to Reddit and Xbox Wire to announce that the public beta of Xbox Action for Google Assistant is going live.
That means the virtual assistant can now do things like turn the console on or off, take a screenshot, and many others.
Now Google Assistant won't exactly run on the Xbox One itself. Instead, it's going to run on a separate device, such as an Android smartphone, iPhone, Google's Home speakers, or anything else that supports Google Assistant, and send commands to the console.
To join the public beta, users have to join a Google Group first, as Hoffman outlines in his posts. After that, it's just a matter of setting things up on the Xbox One and the Google Home app.
The Voice Commands
When everything's up and running, users now have access to a wide variety of voice commands, such as "Hey Google, turn on Xbox," "Hey Google, play Gears 5 on Xbox," or "Hey Google, take a screenshot on Xbox," to name three.
The full list of supported voice commands is available on Hoffman's post on Reddit. In total, there are 16 actions, from controlling volume levels to recording a game clip or rebooting the console.
By default, the device name is "Xbox," but it can be changed in a snap via the Google Home and Assistant apps. This is more or less a necessity for those with multiple Xbox One consoles at home.
Microsoft is set to launch a broader rollout of Google Assistant's integration with the Xbox One sometime during fall.
