Voicecom - Yey or Neigh?

[Remux]

when playing HW did you ever concider typing in game a bore.. or sumtimes getting your point accross a tiresome experience?

Well, should there be a Voicecom system built into HW?

[Murph]

hell no. If voicecom replaces regular typing, Im going to be severely pissed. As it is, that just means im gonna be slower on the uptake and not be able to play as well with allies if we do have voicecom.

(for those of you that dont know, im deaf)

[edit] Not much reason to put it in hw2. You can play hw with battlecom and such as it is.

[ÜberJumper]

I hope Relic investigates how easy it is to integrate something like Roger Wilco or Battlecom into the game. Perhaps even MS Game Voice (Share and Full).

If it's a minimal investment, and provides a decent return (IE: it looks good on the features list yet doesn't cost much extra to support) then they should add it.

They could also, of course, release it un-supported, in a patch.

[DLROWEMOH2]

yeah but it can be hard on lower end systems like mine but you could always use it like in tribe2

if they put it in there should be a way to turn it off from the recieving end I mean u dont want just crap flying around from some kid who thinks hes the coolest person in the world just cause he has one ya know

[FallenSoloSLS]

Voice Comm should be an option on a game. I think O.R.B. will have it, at least there've been rumors on the O.R.B. forum about it.

BTW, if you've a low end system, something under 750Mhz and lower than a 32MB graphics card, I'm suspecting that a game released after the start of 2003 will not be for you - some serious upgradage is in order.

Don't expect HW2 to run on a system that was new in 1998, or whenever HW was released.

[UFO64]

I object to any game that has a built in system to talk virbaly to other players. I say this for a few reasons.

1. If on guy gets ticked, he just starts to try and spam the server with his voice.

2. Its easy for some perv. to start saying wierd things (i had a run in with a guy who was convinced i wanted to touch him on Mplayer).

3. Not alot of people have systems that can handle it (eather to slow of conections, processers, ram or just no mic.)

the list gose on, but i think you get the point.

[YOU GO BOOM!!]

I'm not too sure if it is a bad thing or a good thing, it would be nice not to have to type so often, but it might slow the game down a bit, and thats really annoying.
No Opinion

[skywalker]

1) Voice com couldn't get easier, it's integrated into directx 8 (meaning fast). I could probably do it.

2) You can ignore people with voicecom too, so you don't have to listen.

3) Typing definately wouldn't be pushed aside, due to the fact that many people may not have microphones.

I don't see where it could go wrong. Micromanaged teamwork would also be easier.

[Murph]

voice com is just one more thing that will alienate deaf people from games like this. It certainly wont make the odds even. Oh well, just gives me one more reason to gloat if I win ;)

[UFO64]

*gets ready to do something that most likly is very dumb*

can anyone name a game that did well that had/has a voice com system(built in that is)? I do just fine text typeing in games.

[skywalker]

tribes 2

[Savage]

nah not really

if i played with skilled players, we would communicate easily on enemy activity long before it was a real threat, or at the very least before it was too late

this will prolly be something that newbies will drool over

plus i find, third party voicecoms work WAY better than any built-in voicecom

teamsound is my pick

[x-crispy]

Half-life has now has voice-comm after a patch.

[MrNonchalant]

I like the uniformity and anonymity of text. Listening to other people's (complete strangers) voices would just kill the game for me.

[Alliance]

to who ever said that eny one with a 3d card slower then 32 mg:

i think you are very wrong, that would meen that half the people that wanted hw2 would have to upgrade ther computer's a thing that actaly cost's money...

darn i jest upgraded to a geforce2, and that costed my quit alot,
as i am using a weak curency, not only americans play hw, Im from israel, and 3d cards cost heaps here... do you think that lets say 30 million people would up-grade jest for 1 game???

i think that hw2 would suport old card's it would look like hell, but i think that my card should be able to run it in a up to resabla rate, darn, last year it was the hots card...

i dont know how strong it is exactly but i think that a normal card for a kids computer( they dominat the games sales) should be able to run it, and not only hardcore gamer's that up-grade a real lot!
thats my two cents

[Zepherian]

I have mixed feelings about voice coms.

1) If implemented everyone in a multiplayer game should use it. Or no-one should. Or at least have the option. It is too much of an advantage, as you can esily speak and use hotkeys, while typed coms means you have to stop macro and micromanagement, slowing you down inevitably. Even if, like me, you can type fast you still slow down.

2) People who die should be removed from the voice com if the game engine suddenly gives them "Gods eyes" when they die as is the case with the HW games. TWP for example where often accused of this because they all used Roger Wilco, and If I had to bet from the times I played them I would bet that in team games they would on occasions use the dead players as a super recon. This IMO is an exploit. Note: This does not alter the fact that most TWP where excellent HW:C players. Im not calling them cheaters, im just pointing out a flaw in game design.

3) Only official in game voice coms should be used. If I had my way HW2 would take over the sound card and not let programs like roger wilco be used. This so as to avoid the situations Ive described above. I care passionatley about fairness in multiplayer games in all its aspects (cheats, system specs, connection latency, etc), and the whole voice over net issue is something that has bugged me for a long long time.

So a word of advice to Relic: Do not underestimate this issue when trying to give us an enjoyable MP experience. Voice com is not just a matter of throwing the feature in, it needs to be balanced. /rant.

[Matrix]

I have reservations about voice com.

I used it once b4, for freespace2. it was great for the group leader to issue attacking oreders, but serious backchat lead to disrespect. maybe for command situations it would be a good idea.

I think it might be a good idea for interfacing with homeworld, for large fleet battles it can get hectic when your forces are spread across the map. and it would be good if you could voice cammand the fleet instead of, or maybe alongside hot keys, so you could have

GROUP ONE: [1]

DOCK: [D]

It might sound silly, but the amount of times ive been watching the screen and not the keyboard, seen a missile destroyer gone to press d to dock my strike craft, missed and hit s a couple of times and scuttled the ship by accident. im sure alot of ppl have had similar incidences. this would stop that.

This would also allow for an unlimitted number of shortcuts, allowing more illaborate fleet actions. lets face it there is only so many keys on a keyboard.

[Ash]

Matrix: what you are talking about is voice commands, a system exists that allows you to bind voice commands to key commands (last time I checked it was pretty bad0

Voice communications are whereby you chat with a mike to the other players....

Voicecom really lags up a game and unless there is a way to translate it into text, should not be used

They had it for Tribes 2 and anyone who used it pretty much got kicked/banned/voted out

Unfortunately HW/HW2 doesnt/probably wont have a way to kick people (legally without hacks etc)

[UFO64]

skywalker, tribes 2 dose not have a voice-com system. It has a command system, in which the computer has pre-recorded messages, but it dose not have a voice com (or i have jsut yet to find it, but i have never seen it used and i played a lot for the first 4 months i had the game).

As for halflife, thats a patch. I want to here of an original game.

Once again i wanna say that i could be wrong about this stuff!

[FallenSoloSLS]

I'm not an expert in this field, but I imagine that if the developers cater too much to the low end systems, those of us with even moderately more power, will not get the most that the game could be.

I guess that my beef is people trying to play brand new games on what should be considered antiquated systems.

IMHO, a person with, say a p3 or Celeron 700Mhz, a Voodoo 32 MB graphics card, should be considered by a game developer.

But what was a mid-level system in 1998? A PII 300 Mhz w/ an 8 MB graphics card - does that sound about right? It seems to me that if the developers cater to such systems today, those of us who have systems with more capability will lose out.

[ÜberJumper]

UFO64: Tribes 2 had voice comms built into it from the get-go (initial release). I was using it the first day the game was released. It worked, when you weren't on a pub and the people knew how to use voice comms.

I've been playing DoD lately, which is basically a 'new' game but based on the half life engine. I LOVE playing with voice comms turned on for that. There's nothing like yelling "GRENADE" into the mic and watching people scatter... saving their "lives" in the process. Or yelling for ammo for my MG-42 when I'm out and hearing someone yell back "WHERE ARE YOU?". You then shout back "I'm near flag 3!!! HURRY!! Barrel's overheating and I need backup too!!".

Valve did voice comms right, you can speak to your own team-mates, you see who's talking via a yellow speaker above their head and see a flashing light on the side of the screen with the person's name by it (similar in Tribes 2), and you can't speak or hear your teammates when you're dead/respawning, just like you can't see what your teammates are saying when you're dead and that you can't type to them when you're dead.

There's three things you need to do well when you're an Infantryman. Shoot, Move and Communicate. Fail at any one of those 3, and you're ineffective. Typing can be inefficient at the same time as it can be efficient. There's been times when I was running the company radio net for an excercise and I'd wish I could send a typed message to someone so they could see the word, number or gridreference I was trying to communicate.

Regardless of what Relic does with the comms system in Homeworld 2, it's got to be made "better" than Homeworld 1. How much better remains to be seen.

[Remux]

Originally posted by Zepherian

2) People who die should be removed from the voice com if the game engine suddenly gives them "Gods eyes" when they die as is the case with the HW games.




right Voicecom in CS is structured like so.. You cannot talk when dead to live players but you can talk to dead players,

[John Sheridan]

I think it would be a great feature, if made optional. It is an unfair advantage when some people in the game can't use it.

Unfortunately my dilemma is whether voicecom or battlecom would be more effective in HW. The two are not compatible after all, unless you have to hit a key to switch from speaking to your units to speaking to other players.

[The5thElephant]

Many people use Voice Comm on Counterstrike. But it only works well if they have a good kind of Voice Comm. Otherwse it justs sounds like a conversation between two dying giraffes: 'Hurraaannnhhhh! Hurraaannngg? Whhaarrrananaanaaa! Nuuurraannnh....'
But when ppl have good voice comm systems then it can be pretty fun. No one spams on Counterstrike with it, and no one was being sick or perverted. It has its upsides and its downsides we shall see if it comes with HW2.

[Remux]

In regards to the bandwidth issue.

I am (but soon I wont be:P) a 56ker. I play CS (I own my own clan). I get about 160 - 200 ping on CS. it goes quite well. Ok so sometimes I end up jumping into a wall :| and othertimes I am around a corner then I end up infront of the other team (FFS!).

CS in my opinion has a good voicecom system for the bandwith. You can ( If you have a good sound card) hear people on the other ends quite clearly.

I recently went into a newbie server for a laugh. and there was some french guy who couldnt get a hold of himself.. Instead of talking normally - he was yes u guessed it talking french in a UK2.net server. All well and good theres nothing wrong with that. But still when we asked him to stop in british AND IN FRENCH he persisted.

I dont know whether my french was proper french as I only did a year in school of french (did german for GCSE - Big Mistake :P) I tried my best.

But back to HW2. If this mindless behaviour of spamming and when someone askes a person to stop they dont. Then this will be annoying.

yet the wonderfull thing is the MUTE button.

Homeworld 2 would be different in all aspects to CS but wait read on see where I am going with this. HW2 you would only hear your partners in a game via voicecom.

Now if it was implemented the question would probably then arrise about the muting issue. Well it should be an option

rem

[OmegaRenegade]

I can see the benifits of it, esspecially when timing strikes and such, but I agree with most of the issues/disadvantages of it posted below. I'm not sure its actually worth it, in a game like freespace 2 or descent 3 or half-life, I can see it being really benifical but for stratagy games... I suppose it all depends on how its incorporated