Pending Xbox update to improve voice chat
Microsoft has this week shed some light on what gamers can expect in the Live service update this Autumn, according to Eurogamer. The update being released to coincide with the release of the Kinect on November 4th, upgrading the codec and audio infrastructure in turn making for much clearer voice chat for players. Xbox Live Studio Boss Jerry Johnson made the announcement at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival addressing that poor sound quality had been a long standing complaint of Live users, and expressed the company’s desire to improve:
“It’s time for us to move on. Especially if we want to think about broadening – a crackly headset on the top of your head – not what people think of when they talk about popular entertainment.”
The voice chat feature was originally instigated in 2002, with the launch of Xbox Live on the original Xbox console. Johnson explained that a lot of the problem comes from the system simply using older technology that was no longer up to requirement.
“The codec we used when we first launched was a low bit rate codec and we stuck with that.”
“We launched and we said we required broadband. We required a 64k connection, which not many people think of as broadband any longer. But that was the minimum requirement to run the service at the time.”
The update is anticipated for late October, followed by the launch of Kinect on November 4th.
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Nice!! It’ll be interesting to see if a conversation can be carried out without missing entire sentences or shouting “Helllooooo?” repeatedly into the mic. :P
^^ This!
As funny as it was to say, ‘Can you yeeaar me?!’ in a Welsh accent down the headset during frequent cut-offs, I am looking forward to having strong and clear chat. Hopefully some of the connectivity issues that have been springing up of late with party chat will be fixed as well.
I hope that’s not a piss take out of MY Welsh accent! IT’S LUSH BOYO!
Haha! Gavin and Stacey really has a lot to answer for =P
All I really want to do is go out, get shitfaced and have a curry and a fight down Caroline Street.
OMG! THAT’S REALLY WHAT CAROLINE STREET IS LIKE!
Although surely you meant chips and curry sauce, right? Cos us Cardiffians don’t have one without the other once there’s alcohol inside us.