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Konami's Lifeline Goes Voice All The Way
Mechanik writes "A new CNN article details Konami's new PlayStation 2 game LifeLine, which has a very interesting twist on control schemes. The piece explains: 'Unlike some other games, voice commands in 'LifeLine' are not optional -- they're the only way to control the action. With the help of a USB headset... you talk to characters and they respond by following your commands and/or answering your questions.' Apparently, the developers know just how we gamer geeks think too... 'Of course, if you have a virtual hottie like Rio at the center of an action game, some players will try to command her to do more than just run and shoot. 'I love you,' 'Take your clothes off,' 'What's your sign?' We have responses for most of those,' [the developer] says'." This title has only had a couple of reviews thus far, although they seem to paint it as a flawed experiment.
I don't know, try the demo: lifeline pc voice recognition demo, I got it to work 80% of the time, seems kinda sloppy though, thing crashed on me after a while too.
Check out IGN's hands (or maybe "lips?")-on video demos of the game, and their review.
"Each time you smile, it'll only last awhile. Life may be scary, but it's only temporary."
I played a fair amount of Rainbow 6 on Xbox, and that has voice recog. in it. It's only a matter of time before you try putting on an Irish brogue (or the closest you can get) and other accents, to see how well they work. I found that R6 was pretty solid in that respect, and there were a few commands that worked more consistently with accents applied. Of couse, we all have an accent, but if a computer game can understand what I'm telling it when I'm talking in a ludicrously exaggerated Birmingham (England, not Alabama) accent, someone's doing something right... I also tried drawling my words as fasr as I could before crossing the recongnition line, and there was a fair amount of slack there, too. Be nice if the game characters answered you with the same affectations...
That wasn't QUITE voice control, since you did many things with the controller; you had a virtual "hand" that you operated. The microphone was used more for voice recognition, i.e. when speaking with the Seaman.
A fine line of difference, but I wouldn't call Seaman "voice controlled".
Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
Voice interactive, at least. Talking to Seaman was a vital part of the game, and no ammount of cleaning the tank or grabbing unmovable objects would let Seaman progress in his evolution. Only through your voice interaction would he grow.