Voice Studio: Help Kinect, Get Free GamerScore and Avatar Items

Written by Ryan Johnson (RyanDJ) Friday, 16 March 2012 06:00

Are you a GamerScore hound, picking up Hannah Montana for the easy 1000 GS? Do you like cornball Avatar items like the ones that came out with the Xbox Live Labs? Do you just want to help Microsoft make Kinect work better? Perhaps you should download the Voice Studio, a new app put out this week by Microsoft.

Within Voice Studio, you will put in some basic demographics, as well as information about your room. You will then be asked to move about the room and say particular sentences. The recorded information is then sent off to Microsoft to help them better the device. 

What I find the most interesting is some of the phrases that are more important than others. While most are gibberish, ones that stand out to me are "Xbox, open tray," actor's names, and things like, "Show me all films with Jim Carrey." I've always wanted the simple open tray option with Kinect (as I often plan far ahead and have the game in my hand already), dropping names could show a better search engine function, and the last sentence shows a more natural conversation style with the Xbox rather than the stuttered "XBOX BING THE OFFICE" or such.

There are eight tests in total, and each takes five minutes or such to go through once you put in your demographics. It's rather simple, I actually did it while folding laundry. Gamerscore hunters get 50 GS to add to their total, there are a few fun avatar items you get for free, and you can help Kinect work better in the future. It is not in the Game Marketplace, however. You actually find this under the social tab in the Apps Marketplace. So check it out and have fun with it.  Download it without telling your spouse, and start saying gibberish while talking to your television and see how long it is before they come ask what the heck is going on. :)