Microsoft to employ Halo voice actress for Siri rival, and also to to bring Cortana voice-assistant with Windows Phone 8.1 in April .report says

Jen Taylor, who played the role of AI character Cortana in the Halo video game series, will reportedly be the voice for Microsoft's personal assistant, set for a beta release on Lumia devices in April.

Video game fans became giddy last fall upon hearing that Microsoft was developing a Siri competitor for Windows Phone code-named Cortana, after the AI companion of protagonist Master Chief in the Halo series. Now, it looks like Microsoft is going all in on that sci-fi vision for its personal assistant: Jen Taylor, the actress who played Cortana, is onboard to become the voice behind the information service, Microsoft blog MSFTnerd reported Thursday.

Little else has been dug up regarding the progress of the Cortana project or its arrival other than that it would likely come in one form or another with Windows Phone 8.1 sometime in early 2014. MSFTnerd is claiming as much, slating a Cortana beta launch on Lumia devices for this April, which coincides with Microsoft's annual Build conference in San Francisco.

MSFTnerd is also saying that Cortana will make its way to the Bing app for iPhone this fall and American Xbox One and Windows users in 2015 with the release of Windows Threshold, Microsoft's next-generation OS currently in the works.

With the rise of personal assistants like Siri and more ambitious plans to weave them into much more than our phones -- as Google is doing with Google Now -- it's no wonder Microsoft is trying to differentiate its service with a pop-culture staple and a commitment to making it as true-to-the-original as possible.

And with films like Spike Jonze's "Her" popularizing the notion that our personal computing futures will be abound in human-like AI companions, a personal assistant with a distinct name, recognizable voice (at least to gamers), and well-developed personality thanks to multiple Halo releases has an undeniably cool factor. While it may not create an excess of Windows Phone converts, it will certainly influence the AI landscape if it does in fact arrive soon on desktops andtablets with Windows Threshold.

Earlier this month -- when Microsoft announced that the Xbox One had surpassed 3 million units in sales -- it omitted Halo when discussing upcoming Xbox One titles to celebrate. That caused many fans to bemoan the wait for what is presumably Halo 5, a flagship Xbox One title that currently has one ambiguous trailer, shown last May, to its name. A Microsoft PR spokesperson quickly confirmed that Halo would in fact be arriving by the end of the year.

As the Cortana personal assistant is built out, and most likely retains that moniker from code-named beta to full-fledged service, we can only assume that the Halo series and its iconic characters will become an even larger cornerstone of Microsoft's greater voice and AI efforts in 2014. Though for those privy to the Halo universe and the nature of Cortana's character, it will surely be interesting to see how Microsoft juggles the rollout of its service alongside this new Halo release and its potential plot points.

Additional information has reportedly been revealed about Microsoft's rumoured voice-assistant expected to act as Siri's counterpart in Windows Phones - Cortana.

According to MFSTNerd, the Twitter handle of a purported Microsoft source, the proposed voice-assistant is said to reach Nokia Lumia models by April this year and will be voiced by Halo's Jen Taylor, who is the voice behind the game's artificial intelligence (AI) character, Cortana.

Microsoft has been rumoured to be working on its voice-assistant feature since September, based on the character of the firm's own published gaming title.

The rumoured app made its first appearance back in September 2013, when screenshots of an early Windows  Phone build leaked online, listed as 'zCortana'. Reports by The Verge also showed some screenshots of Cortana which indicated that the service will offer weather information, notifications, and calendar, in addition to alarms and phone calls. The screenshots also indicated that the app will be location-aware, as well.

It has been also speculated that Cortana might arrive with the latest Windows Phone 8.1 OS for smartphones. Last month's report revealed that the Redmond-based company is gearing up to ship itsupcoming Windows  Phone 8.1 with two new features - a notification centre that can be accessed by swiping down from top of the screen, just like Android and iOS, apart from a voice-based assistant believed to be codenamed 'Cortana'.

It's worth pointing out that Windows  Phone already offers the TellMe voice-based assistant, although it's nowhere close to Apple's Siri or Google Now in terms of functionality and accuracy. It is yet to see what Cortana has in store for the Windows  Phone users.