Skyrim's Kinect add-on isn't designed to revolutionise how you play Skyrim. It's not going to Dragonshout the rulebook out the window. What it will do, however, is make that rulebook a lot easier to scan. Bellowing your own Flying Lizard Magic is the obvious payout, but the more important triumph is how the functionality overcomes Skyrim's legendary menu management troubles. Bethesda's marketing boss Pete Hines sums it all up: "what we've done is basically given you a ton more hotkeys".
There are over 200 voice commands, in fact, many of them customisable. You can bind specific spells, weapons and potions to generic commands like "equip right hand" or "equip healing spell", allowing you to switch tactics mid-battle without running your finger down the Favourites menu. Simply call out "assign" followed by a hand, item or ability type ("assign right fire spell", for instance) as you browse your inventory to lock an item to a voice command.
Speaking of Dragonshouts, you can utter them in English if your Dragonese isn't all that sharp, but there's a catch - you won't be able to unleash the first or second forms of a Shout unless you employ the original language. English is evidently too mighty for anything short of a full-length Fus Ro Dah.
Getting back to the fiddly stuff, you'll be able to rearrange your inventory via commands like "Sort by weight" or "Sort by value". We're particularly keen on the idea of setting loot limits: call out "set loot limit 100", for instance, to automatically collect only those treasures that are worth 100 gold or above. Pillaging is now officially less of a headache. Perhaps best of all, you can also use voice commands to quick save.
The implementation isn't perfect, alas. We sampled the goods in a fairly quiet hotel suite, and the game still missed the odd word. As with Kinect voice recognition in general, your mileage will vary. Still, the roster of Kinect commands promises to rejuvenate Skyrim's somewhat clunky internal structure, and given that we're getting all this for free, it's hard to complain.
According to reports, Skyrim's Kinect features hit Xbox Live next week.
17 comments so far...
Clanger67 on 20 Apr '12 said:
Sounds really good.The best use of Kinect yet in my opinion,it would make me want to get it,just for this.Two hundred is a lot though,a case of plenty of A4 paper about for all the commands,lol.
glavias on 20 Apr '12 said:
Yup definitely gonna give this ago!
Incidentally has anyone noticed how Skyrim seems to be referenced on TV lately... Game of Thrones latest episode kid lying there with a arrow in the knee!! and arrow in the knee mentioned by McGee in NCIS.. funny
NCIS SKYRIM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1eo_dI2Uf4
Decent_Jam on 20 Apr '12 said:
Presumably the loot limits will still be available for those without Kinect as well?
Otherwise that's a bit...mean.
Still counting down the days to summer before I surrender to getting this - then everything you've all been going on about for the past six months might start to make sense!
GHOSTY05 on 20 Apr '12 said:
Maybe one day everything you go on about will make sense!.. or not.
Decent_Jam on 20 Apr '12 said:
Aww
that makes me a sad panda
michaelhill2110 on 20 Apr '12 said:
when i first heard about this i was woried you had to equip the shout befour you could use it. i.e. equip fire breath and thats all you can shout unless you equip something els. i actualy know half the shouts (in dragon language
). it will also be useful for changeing between my frost bow and my fire bow. so all in all my kenect whill have something to do (so far its been subjected to dance central and sonic)... any idea on the relese date?
GHOSTY05 on 21 Apr '12 said:
Well as patch 1.5 has destroyed my skyrim game all together.
I will have to resort to damage limitation before attempting to use the new features.
Unless of course the new DLC will patch over the problems caused my 1.5.
msbhvn on 21 Apr '12 said:
That was great!
Anyone think that McGee looks anorexic since he had a chin tuck? Or is it just me?
glavias on 21 Apr '12 said:
Yeah he looks really weird, still can't get used to it!... needs to put a bit of weight back on!
msbhvn on 21 Apr '12 said:
It's don't think it's to do with his weight, I suspect he had plastic surgery to remove his double chin, which went a bit too far. It's not like he was tubby or anything before, he just had a double chin.
michaelhill2110 on 25 Apr '12 said:
seriously... WHEN is this being releced??
SidTheSloth on 25 Apr '12 said:
I'd read it was meant to be released this week, but a lot of sites are just sticking to the 'end of April' line so that'd suggest it's in MS certification right now and will be with us imminently - fear not, good things come to those who wait and all that jazz...!
What did make me laugh was on an article i read about 'Skyrim gets kinect support' was somebody asking if it was only available on xbox - but then remembered pc has kinect (officially) too now so maybe not such a stupid question?
GHOSTY05 on 25 Apr '12 said:
Agreed im pissed off with waiting now!
michaelhill2110 on 25 Apr '12 said:
i am usualy patent about most things...i just hate it when you get a relece date then it gets delayed... dont give us a date then say "... welll noo." if ur not definate then dont say it in the first place
... *takes deep breath* 
realy looking forward to this
GHOSTY05 on 30 Apr '12 said:
Well where is it then??????????????
fReeZingFleA on 1 May '12 said:
Kinect add-on update available today 1st May
libbybug on 26 May '12 said:
While I wouldn't go out and buy a new Kinect for this, I will happily set mine up again! The thing I'm most excited for is the quicksave function! And being able to yell FUS RO DAH at my tv without it being as weird.