voicechat
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Blue Notes: Windfury and voice chat
Shaman's Windfury Totem is being hotfix-nerfed:Windfury Totem will no longer trigger for any "yellow" attacks unless they are on next swing attacks, such as Heroic Strike and CleaveThat is fairly significant, I think. And those of us who are anxious to test out voice chat (coming in patch 2.2) will be able to do so after a new PTR build being pushed tomorrow morning:We will be activating Voice chat on the PTR with the new build tomorrow morning August 10th.Voice chat is currently available only for parties, raids and custom channels; there is no cross-server battleground voice chat at this time.Hortus goes on to note that it won't work for PPC Macs for the time being, but a forthcoming build will fix that soon. It's probably a good thing that VC isn't going to be active for General chat and the like; I could see that getting annoying fast. It would be nice if it worked for guild chat though.[via World of Raids]
PTR Notes: New 2.2 features, including anti-AFK
The test realms for patch 2.2 grind on, and it looks like a new build is being pushed, since the patch notes on the European forums got updated. Here are the changes I found in the new notes; some we knew were around, like voice chat, and some we had been promised, like anti-AFK measures for battlegrounds. Voice Chat - The new Voice Chat feature is now available in game. Players will need to go into the options menu under Sound & Voice to activate it. Volume sliders are available for the microphone, speakers, and game-audio fade (which automatically lowers the game audio when a voice communication is received), as is a "push-to-talk" setting. Right-clicking on a player's name now includes the option to mute or unmute that player. Muting another player blocks all voice chat from him or her; the ignore feature now blocks both voice chat and text chat from that player. Chat Channels- New Chat Channel controls and functionality are now available under the chat tab in the Social Window of the interface. The interface will now show the channels players are in or are available, depending on the area of the world they are in, along with new private channel controls. A new feature for reporting players as being AFK in battlegrounds by right clicking has been added. When enough reports are registered, a 30 second debuff will begin to count down. Once the timer is up a new debuff will appear that will prevent the player from gaining any honor while it is on. This debuff can be negated as soon as the player engages in combat.
PTR Update: Hortus confirms and denies
Hortus has posted a sticky about the current PTR issues which addresses a lot of problems in and questions about 2.2. Most notably, he has confirmed that Zul'Aman and Guild Banks will not be in patch 2.2. He also has confirmed that Voice Chat will still be in 2.2, but it is not yet available for testing on the test server.In addition, Hortus addressed some of the problems people are having with premade character copies. Hortus says that if you get an error when trying to copy a premade, the queue is full and to try again later. He does not address why the error message doesn't just say that...Also, it seems that even though some premade characters are missing abilities or have abilities they are not supposed to have, they do not intend to fix them at this time.Side note not mentioned by Horus: Copying characters that are not premade to the test realms is also on a several day wait.Hortus denies that the Orc Shoulders are now bigger than before the bug: Orc shoulders are now the correct size, they are not any larger than they were before, it's your imagination. He also addresses Athlon errors, authentication issues and how not to get your post deleted.It seems that with all of these issues and Voice Chat not even being tested yet, Patch 2.2 is a long way off. What are you most looking forward to or dreading in 2.2? Have you successfully copied a premade? If so, any problems and how long did it take?
Voice chat coming soon to the PTRs
We missed it on Friday afternoon, but apparently voice chat is coming in 2.2. Previously, we'd heard that Zul'Aman and guild banks weren't showing up until 2.3, but there wasn't official word on when voice chat was arriving. PTR players have reported seeing a voicechat interface, but of course it hasn't been hooked up to any code yet.But Hortus now says we'll be seeing voice chat ingame sooner than we thought-- it will be coming soon to a PTR near you, and pending testing, should go live with 2.2. Wow. Blizzard must have done a lot of work on that behind the scenes, assuming that it is what they promise: a fully featured builtin voice chat client. Think it's coincidence that there have been a few sound bugs on the test realms lately?Which means that at some point we'll have to ask this question: What will happen to Teamspeak and Ventrilo? There's a nice bit of industry there-- players pay for servers all over the place, and while each server is pretty cheap, altogether they add up to a nice chunk of change, I'm sure. My guess is that TS and Vent aren't going anywhere (because players are so used to them, and not just in WoW), but until we see what kind of interface Blizzard has created, we won't know if they're worth leaving or not. Seeing as it's the PTRs, we should get a chance to play with it soon. [ via WorldofWar.net ]
Zul'Aman sneak preview at E3
We're here at E3 and, although not blown away by any major announcements from Blizzard, did get a chance to check out a preview of the new 10-man Zul'Aman outdoor instance in Ghostlands. It's going to be a more casual dungeon than Karazhan, ideally doable in a few hours' time investment, with six bosses and no attunement required. There will be quests included as part of the story line, with at least one rescue mission per avatar boss that will have a time-dependent element similar to the Baron Run mechanic in Stratholme, with better rewards offered for quicker completion. The six bosses include bear, dragonhawk and lynx avatars, a "god of evil," a witch doctor, and the final troll boss Zul'jin. Like Hakkar in Zul'Gurub, Zul'jin has a spiritual connection with the other boss avatars and is able to draw upon their ghostly spirits in order to change his shape and assume some of their powers and abilities. All the bosses and the trash mobs (which will be primarily forest trolls) will be social and able to call for help from additional mobs -- surely good for a few wipes whilst learning the encounters. Blizzard offered a few other small bits of news: voice chat and guild banks will be coming in minor patches before the big Zul'Aman patch is released. Voice chat will include a feature that automagically lowers the game volume when players are talking, and onscreen interface indicators to help keep track of who is talking at any given time. Guild banks will be endowed with some sort of permission system enabling guild masters to give access to specific items to some guild members and not others. Unfortunately, Starcraft 2 was not yet playable, but we'll be looking forward to that and far more megaton news to be forthcoming at Blizzcon -- it's clear this press conference was merely a teaser.
Hearing voices in the World of Warcraft
Clive Thompson (who I've enjoyed reading for a while now) posted a piece on Wired the other day about how voice changed the way he saw fellow players in World of Warcraft. It's a really interesting read, not least of all because of the two academic studies mentioned: one study found that women were "treated differently" when using voice chat, and another found that gamers made more solid and trusting relationships with friends they knew by voice rather than those that knew by text.I don't know if Thompson has heard yet that voice is going to be builtin to WoW very soon now, but it's true: voice is about to play a much bigger part in our game. And it's also true that voice changes things a lot-- in my regular guild, I will often jump on our Teamspeak server just to chat with my fellow guildies and friends, even if I'm not in a group. In It came from the Blog (the official WoW Insider guild in which I occasionally can be seen saying crazy things), we haven't set up a Vent server (although it's coming, guys), and so I had the strange experience the other day of running an instance with only text chat to keep me company. Don't get me wrong, I like all the guys in IcftB, but I don't know if the reason I don't know them better is just because I haven't been with the guild as long, or if I just haven't actually heard their voices.In the end, Thompson marks it down to a generational thing-- some people are willing to share their voices and hear others, he says, and some just aren't. I'm not sure if that's true necessarily (I am pretty conservative on, say, my Myspace page, and pretty free with my Ventrilo joining), but either way, the use of voice chat in videogames has only just started to make itself known.
Paid subscription a possibility for the future of PlayStation Network
Paying for a subscription would certainly seem to be a possibility, especially as the long-rumored feature upgrades come filing into the PlayStation Network. When speaking with Geoff Keighley on the latest edition of Gametrailers' Bonus Round, Eric Lempel spoke about the PlayStation Network's current free service and that, "in time, anything can change." Comparing the PlayStation Network to Microsoft's Xbox Live service, Lempel, Sony's director of Network Operations reconfirmed "we're working on an achievements system," describing its inclusion as "an important feature." Voice-chat across all games is also something (thankfully) that Mr. Lempel touched base on, saying "talking across games ... definitely builds momentum for games and actually migrate(s) users to other games and keeps you in touch with your gaming community." We couldn't agree more. Exactly when these implementations will make it to a PS3 near you, via firmware upgrade, is uncertain. "It's not in the next firmware update but it's something we're working on," says Mr. Lempel. We certainly hope so, though we are catching wind of the potential trade-off here. What do you think? Would you pay a subscription fee (similar to Xbox Live) for a plan that allows cross-game invites, built-in voice chat for all multiplayer games and a similar achievement points implementation? Or would you rather say the heck with all that, and voice to keep the PlayStation Network free for all, setting it apart from Microsoft's Xbox Live service? [Via Next-Gen]
Voice chat coming in 2.2.0
Coming in 2.2.0: Integrated voice chat.Tigerclaw, who I've never heard of either-- is he a dev? He says he's "in a whole other building than the CMs"-- has bad news for all of those Teamspeak and Ventrilo hosts. Apparently come 2.2.0, you won't need to run any extra programs, as players will be able to speak to each other via the normal client. Tigerclaw also says a PTR for the patch is upcoming, but he definitely does work for Blizzard: he doesn't give any clues at all as to when this might happen.So let the rampant speculation begin! Lately I've been playing a lot of the Halo 3 Beta (traitorous, I know), and I love the way voice works in that game: you can push a button to talk over a radio to your whole team, or just speak into the mic without pushing anything, and only players near you ingame will hear what you're saying. I doubt WoW will be that complicated (not to mention that a lot of players don't like that "feature"), but it's a cool effect, and here's hoping Blizzard comes up with some interesting ways to use voicechat onward. What if Hakkar's whispers were heard only in your own personal voice channel?
Make VOIP calls with your PS3
Voice communication is coming to the PS3 in a big way. A VOIP service provider by the name of Jajah, has tailored an interface with the PS3 in mind. Users can head to the Jajah website via the PS3 web browser to setup the number they wish to initiate a call with. Jajah already provides VOIP supports extensions for Firefox, Outlook and even PDAs. Gamers already have voice chat while in game over the PlayStation Network, if games decide to include and support it. However, Jajah's VOIP service could allow one solution for gamers, regardless of voice support, on all PS3 titles. While the process isn't quite as streamlined as another network we heard about, it's still a welcome step in the right direction. Solidifying the good news is word that Intel has invested $15 million in the company, via its Intel Capital arm. Perhaps this is the beginning of a more unified voice chat solution on the PlayStation Network?
Dude, can you get on Teamspeak?
I can't remember the first time I was invited on Teamspeak (some people use Ventrilo as well-- I've got both free programs installed on my PC, just in case) for an instance-- for some reason, I'm thinking it wasn't until I got invited to a raid at level 60, but considering the way that things are now, I'm really surprised it wasn't earlier. Maybe it's just because almost every instance I run is with guildies, but TS is basically a requirement for grouping-- a requirement that most of us are happy to comply with, but a requirement nonetheless.Yakov isn't so compliant-- he says Vent is a crutch, and the fact that every group he enters asks him to "jump on Vent" is rubbing him the wrong way. He says a simple 5 man run doesn't call for using Vent, and that he'd rather listen to his music then his guildies chatting it up on Teamspeak.I disagree-- not only is it more fun to chat with people on Vent (I tend to know the guildies I've talked to on TS better than the others), but it's just plain helpful, whether the instance is hard or not. If you're disappointed that your guild isn't asking you to come on more instance runs with them, and you haven't downloaded Vent or TS yet, that's probably why.Of course, like all things, Vent can go horribly wrong. You can be annoyed by your guildies' voices (I'll just say that some people's accents are a little offputting and leave it at that), or like Yakov, you can rather listen to music then random guild gossip. But especially if you're a player just getting to the endgame where there's a lot to learn, jumping on Vent is one of the best things you can do to make sure you know what's going on when. It's not a difficulty thing, although coordinating a pull on TS is much easier than typing strat in the chat channel. It's more of a communication thing-- the more and the faster comm there is, the better you'll all be.
DS headsets thrown into ring, forced to fight to the death
Did you pick up a DS headset today along with your preorder of Pokémon Diamond/Pearl? What will you be using to take advantage of the online voice chat feature? Nintendo's official headset, Turtle Beach's Earforce D2, or Datel's Communicator? Or will you be slumming it with the handheld's built-in microphone?If you're still in the market for a headset solution, Nintendo Gal has posted a comparison chart and her analysis on the three products. Testing their comfort, durability, sound output, and recording quality, she was able to determine which one deserves our hard-earned allowance money. There are even recording samples available that you can listen to and weigh in on yourself.We're surprised that the Earforce D2 was judged as the best of the lot, but seeing that it's also the most expensive at $19.99 (Nintendo's headset is on sale for $9.99 at Amazon), it's good to know that you're not paying that premium for nothing. Turtle Beach's headset outclassed the official one in every category except recording quality, while Datel's Communicator was laughed out of the competition.
Voice chat in the works for Phantom Hourglass?
Last week's issue of Famitsu hid more in its Japanese text than just the June 23rd release date for The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Zelda Universe's novice translation of the scanned pages indicates that the title might support online voice chat. Though this feature doesn't seem useful beyond setting up matches and trash-talking with your friends, it's a nice addition to the meager multiplayer mode.With upcoming games like Pokemon Diamond/Pearl and Panel de Pon also planning to use the Nintendo DS' VoIP capabilities, purchasing the uncomfortable-looking, official headset is beginning to make a lot more sense to us. Of all the titles we expected to eventually include voice communication, Phantom Hourglass was definitely not one of them. Update: Having a bit more experience with the Japanese language, The Hylia translated the Famitsu scans in an effort to confirm this news. Much to our dismay, The Hylia found that there is no voice chat support planned for The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.[Via Digg]
Gizmo Project 3
Gizmo Project, the internet telephony software for PC, Mac, and Linux, just hit 3.0. New in this release are: the ability to talk to folks on Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live, and Google Talk custom avatars file transfers history of your text chats group chats Gizmo Project is free, and requires 10.3.9.
Voice chat and the virtual identity
Terranova has a great little piece up about what they say is "the inevitability of voice" in online gaming. Blizzard has talked (ha! I just made that up!) about implementing a voice chat system into the default client, but at this point, they don't really have to-- I don't think I can remember a higher level instance run that I've done in a long time that hasn't been accompanied by a Vent or Teamspeak server with my friends on it.But the interesting thing about what Nate writes about online voice is that it's more than just being able to react quickly with strategy in a game-- with voice, we're moving ever closer to a deeper connection between our virtual and real identities. Part of the appeal of online gaming, way back in the beginning, was that players were able to keep their virtual identities separate from their real ones-- if you were an accountant during the day, you could hack and slash away at orcs all night, and no one from either world might ever know about the other.But now, with voice chat, the people you play with get to know more than they ever have about the real you-- first and foremost, your gender, which is why some women still don't bother speaking on Teamspeak. But beyond that, I know much more about my guildies-- their age, their professions, their locations, their situation in life-- than I think I ever would have if I spoke to them only in text. More than ever, as voice chat is commonly and conveniently found in more and more games, it's not just how you play the game-- it's going to be how you sound as you do it.
Ubisoft to doctor Rainbow Six Vegas
Ubisoft has released a list of some 36 gameplay issues that will be addressed in an upcoming Rainbow Six Vegas patch, including the now infamous voice chat bug. This latest development adds to the growing concern that console titles, particularly their online modes, are being governed by a 'ship now, fix later' mentality.Who will protect us from such lax development standards?[Via 1UP]
Third-party X360 Bluetooth headset beats MS to the punch
Datel's 3rd-party Xbox 360 Bluetooth headset has popped up on Amazon UK with a shipping date of the 30th of June and with a price tag of £59.99/$109. Originally the headset was said to ship on the 17th of March, but there's still no mention of it on the company's website, so it's possible that Amazon jumped the gun by placing it on their site. If it does ship when they say, it'll have the market for wireless Xbox 360 headsets to itself for quite a while; Microsoft hasn't said anything more about when their official headset will be released.The device itself is a bundle of what appears to be a relatively generic Bluetooth headset--it looks strikingly similar to Motorola's HS820 headset--coupled with a dongle that attaches to the controller's standard headset port, packaged together in a standard Xbox-green and white box. [Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
