Destiny 2 fans will know that you get your own virtual assistant of source in the game world – Ghost, who sort of floats around and guides you. The new Alexa skill for Destiny 2 allows you to ask Ghost to do a number of things for you, including provide guidance about your in-game mission, calling backup, equipping different armour and weapon sets and providing lore and fictional world background info.
This is clearly an example of ‘brands being brands’ ™ and teaming up to make each other look cool, but the integration is actually pretty neat, especially because it works with a physical, Wi-Fi connected Ghost speaker accessory that Bungie and Activision also revealed. The speaker doesn’t have Alexa on board directly, but can pair with Alexa devices and provides an even more realistic simulation of actually speaking to the in-game companion character.
Alexa-based voice commands for calling up info and doing things like equipment and inventory management without having to open sub-menus and dig through complex visual interfaces in games actually sounds like a super cool feature that could be applicable to a range of different titles and genres beyond Destiny 2.
The Alexa skill for Destiny 2 requires only the game, and an Alexa device like an Echo to work. But if you want to grab the Ghost speaker, it’s an $89.99 pre-order with a ship date of December 19, 2017.
I already use Alexa to control my home theater, fans, my lights, my thermostat and a lot more, so why not also use it to up my gaming skills? Here’s hoping this turns into a trend.