In July 2012, less than a year after being acquired by Microsoft, the Skype team embarked on a monumental project: developing Skype for Xbox One. Last week, the world began enjoying the fruition of that project, and on Tuesday, the Skype blog chronicled the journey.
“There were three core things we knew we needed to get right: performance, simplicity and Kinect integration,” notes Todd Roshak. “All the while, knowing full well, Skype needed to run seamlessly and efficiently in the background and in tandem to all other apps and services.”
As Roshak relates the various milestones and accomplishments, he notes that the overarching goal with Skype for Xbox One was to create a total communications experience.
“The technology was a joint effort between Microsoft Research, Information Platform & Experience, Xbox and Skype,” he says. “You use your voice to call your favorites. Just say: ‘Xbox, call Mom.’ Or ‘Xbox, answer’ when someone is calling. You can call land lines and mobile phones with low-cost Skype credit. All of these commands are supported with local language recognition intelligence where available.”
For the rest of the story, and to see four videos demonstrating the technology advances, head on over to Skype’s Garage & Updates blog.
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Steve Clarke
Microsoft News Center Staff