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Dolby Announces New In-Game Voice Tech to Boost Immersiveness

Paul Lilly — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:02:22 -0500

Dolby isn't necessarily looking to improve the quality of your voice while chatting in-game, but it would like your vocals to interact with the gaming environment in a more realistic fashion. That's the idea behind Dolby's Axon technology, a tool the company introduced today at the Austin Game Developers Conference in Austin, Texas.

The basic idea is that this new tool will make it possible to enable surround panning and distance attenuation, so that your character will sound different if, say, he's behind a wall or closed door as opposed to both you and your teammate standing next to each other in the same room. Think of Creative's EAX technology, only this time it's applied to your voice.

Voice fonts come part of the package too, so if you choose a female avatar, you can sound the part no matter what body organs you may or may not have in real life. And according to Dolby, its Axon software has been designed to consume very little bandwidth, capable of supporting thousands of users per server and able to scale across multiple servers.

No customers have yet been announced, and it's consumer interest that might ultimately decide how many developers jump on board. With the increasingly popularity of Skype and stalwarts such as Teamspeak, is the prospect of customized and realistic in-game chat enough to convince gamers to turn off their third-party voice-chat programs?

Hit the jump and let us know what you think.

Maximum PC's Guide to Friday at 4:00 PM

Benson Hong and Reed Porter — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:15:00 -0500

It’s the final hour—the last stretch in your race to freedom. Paper footballs litter your desk and paper basketballs surround the trash can. Yet even after these sporting events have ended, the little hand continues to hold a grudge against the 5. It’s high time you find a more efficient—and less obvious—way to pass the time.

Consider this your go-to guide against workplace stagnation. We’ve spent dozens of hours scouring the Internet in search of the most enjoyable and alt-tabbable browser-based games. They require no installation and, best of all, are 100 percent free. When the boss man walks by, you can easily switch to that budget report for accounts payable—he can’t fault you for grinning like a fool at a spreadsheet!

Grin like a fool at totally work-related stuff after the jump.

Quick! View the New Max Payne Trailer Before it's Gone!

Paul Lilly — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:05:52 -0500

A new trailer for 20th Century Fox's upcoming Max Payne movie has been leaked on the web, but if you want to see it, you'll have to be quick. The trailer's already been pulled from YouTube, but at least two other sites are still hosting the teaser.

The PG-13 flick opens October 17 and stars Mark Wahlberg as the main character (can anyone else picture Mickey Rourke playing the part 10 years and 50 pounds ago?), with a supporting cast that includes the likes of Chris O'Donnel, Beau Bridges, Mila Kunis, and Ludacris. Wahlberg looks to be a good fit for the videogame icon gone Hollywood, and here's hoping he can atone for his performance in The Happening.

Catch the trailer here or here while you still can, and post your impression below.

Assassin's Creed

Norman Chan — Tue, 27 May 2008 12:24:31 -0500

The death-defying urban acrobatics of free running—seen recently on the
big screen in the Casino Royale remake, The Bourne Ultimatum, and Live
Free or Die Hard—are replicated to great effect in Assassin’s Creed, an
action-adventure console port that puts you in the nimble shoes of a
12th-century assassin. Light feet and tremendous upper-body strength,
rather than overwhelming firepower, are your greatest assets as you
scale walls and barrel across rooftops in one of the most refreshing
games we’ve played.

Click Read More for more.

No BS Podcast #56: The "Whale Versus Wail" Edition

The Maximum PC Staff — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:10:52 -0600

This week, Dave, Will, Gordon, and Andy spend hours upon hours dissecting all the hot news from this week's Game Developers Conference. We also chat about all the fun stuff we're doing in the Lab--including media streaming and virtual machines--and answer your crazy reader questions!

Subscribe: http://feeds.feedburner.com/maximumpc/1337

Maximum PC's 2007 Gaming Awards

The Maximum PC Staff and Norman Chan — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:05:37 -0600

Maximum PC takes a look at the best (and worst) PC games of 2007. And there were a lot of both. Also, there's cake!

Sins of a Solar Empire and Me: A Story of Addiction, Heartache, and True Love

Will Smith — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:37:20 -0600

Will Smith says: The turn-based 4X genre is dead! Long live the real-time 4X game!

Scrabulous: I-N-F-R-I-N-G-I-N-G ?

Erin Simon — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:47:12 -0600

Popular Facebook application Scrabulous faces the wrath of Hasbro over possibly infringing Scrabble's trademarks