XBox goes vocal with Fonix

If you were afraid that Xbox 360 was not going to support anymore the technology that allowed gamers to communicate by voice, than the news that Microsoft has decided to extend its partnership with Fonix Speech won't leave a shroud of doubt.

The voice recognition technology allowing Xbox owners to communicate when playing online or watching a movie was one of the key factors for the development of the Xbox Live service.

The partnership between Fonix and Microsoft by means of which the Xbox 360 consoles will be able to support voice transmissions has been extended, but no comments regarding its financial value were made.

Microsoft tried to convince several game developers to include the Fonix technology in their titles and currently the following Xbox games allow gamers to have a real time voice communication: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 Black Arrow, Tom Clancy Rainbow Six: Lockdown, and Tom Clancy Ghost Recon 2, all from Ubisoft.

The technology is also supported by Delta Force-Black Hawk Down, distributed by Novalogic and SWAT: Global Strike Team, distributed by Vivendi Universal Games.

Fonix Games, another Fonix division, promised to develop new games that would take advantage of the technologies offered by Fonix Speech.