Sony has announced that it will commence testing PS5 voice control, among other new features, as part of its second software beta.
The company’s Senior Vice President of Platform Experience, Hideaki Nishino, has written a post on the official PlayStation Blog explaining that the new PS5 system software beta is rolling out today.
This beta will feature “new ways to personalize your console experience across party chat, Game Base and accessibility settings”.
In addition, English speakers in the US and UK get to test out voice commands on your PS5. Using these, you’ll be able to open games and apps, as well as control media playback, using spoken commands.
We’re instantly reminded of the Kinect voice command system that initially came bundled in with the Xbox One. This one sounds like it’ll be implemented more organically, however.
After enabling Voice Command (Preview) from the Settings menu, participants can call out “Hey, PlayStation” followed by a command.
Sony explains that this feature is in an “early testing phase,” so we wouldn’t expect it to hit final PS5 hardware too quickly.
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Elsewhere in the beta, Sony is testing out new party chat features for PS5 and PS4. You can now choose whether your party is open or closed, which affects whether your friends can join freely or require an invite.
Sony has mades some tweaks to the UI as well, including the welcome ability to pin up to five games or apps to the home screen. The number of games displayed on the home screen has also been bumped to 14.
New accessibility features being tested as part of the beta include more screen reader languages, and the ability to switch headphone output to mono, complete with an audio enhancement option for those with unilateral hearing loss.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
