voice posts

It's likely that you already know this, but if you don't: Bioware's upcoming MMO, The Old Republic, set in the Star Wars universe, will be the first massively multiplayer online game to feature full voice acting for every single one of its characters. There have been characters with introductory voice greetings in many MMOs before, but never on this scale. And because the storyline is set so far back in the past, before the movies have taken place, there won't be any conflict with sound-alikes, attempting to imitate well-known voices of famous characters.

How will this affect the MMO experience? Does it make or break immersion when you hear a character's voice? Will other MMOs pick this up? Is full voice the future of online video games?

One Voice Technologies Inc. has released a beta of Say2Play, a voice-command program that allows users to speak the names of in-game actions rather than press their respective keys.

"Say2Play revolutionizes the gaming experience by providing voice control to the world's most popular PC games," according to the official Say2Play website. "Now, with Say2Play you can keep your fingers on the most important controls, like the fire and movement keys, and use voice commands, like "flak cannon" or "show map" to change weapons or instantly access any other keystroke using only your voice.

Offering support for titles such as Age of Conan, Crysis, Unreal Tournament III, World of WarCraft, BioShock, Doom 3, Battle for Middle-Earth II and more, Say2Play claims to offer "tremendous competitive advantage with the ability to instantly execute any one of thousands of preloaded commands by voice."

Users interested in trying Say2Play for themselves are encouraged to download the program's beta.