   Speech Recognition
  Anyone have thoughts on use of speech or voice recognition in games?  I know it can be used for chat (SOCOM: Navy Seals) and for some AI stuff (SWAT, Ghost Recon).  But what kind of place does it have in game development?  Will we see more games and features using this technology?Can speech replace the use of hotkeys (when there aren't enough available) or to navigate clunky menus to change character properties in RPGs.  I can think of many uses.Any thoughts?Thanks.PK[edited by - PacKrow on February 5, 2004 5:09:53 PM]
  Using speech for menus? In my opinion, I think that is the most ridiculous waste of good technology. Of course, it may be a novelty, but I would rather navigate menus via keys than using voice commands...i don''t know...just my preference..Of course, the things you can do with speech recognition is virtually unlimited:most of them can be categorized under unit control:giving orders to squadrelaying commands to units in an RPGrelaying general commands to a platoon in an RTSmaybe speech can replace hotkeys, i mean, in "real life", who uses to mouse to cast a spell? we go, "hocus pocus"but i wouldn''t like to see speech extended to the area of "drink potion"then you can go "drink potion drink potion drink potion" and boost your health really quick (diablo2 style).just my thoughts ;  Well... if you get speech recognition to work, I guess you can use it to what ever you like, right? ;  As usual, the skeptic has a point... ;I wouldn''t expect people to say "drink potion" 3-4 times.  With a sophisticated built-in vocabulary one would probably just say: "Heal all" and would use up as many potions/mana required.  A quick command "inventory" followed by "potions" would help you check what the status after the heal.Again, I wouldn''t expect the actual inventory to show up.  There would probably be a status bar where the number and name of potions just appears - a quick check feature.Same thing for cycling weapons.  For power gamers it''s easy to cycle weapons.  But the newbie looking for the Railgun is probably getting minced.  Just being able to say "Super Shot Gun" or "Railgun" makes things easier.That it just IMHO. ;  Remember that voice control REALLY should only be used for actions that would take longer using the game''s primary interface.For example, in a first-person shooter:BAD:  The player has to say "shoot" to make the character fire his weapon.GOOD:  The player can simply say "Cover me!" to make his computer-controlled teammates provide cover fire.For a good example of using voice control to streamline the interface, see SOCOM II (PS2).;  I think voice should be extended only to giving commands to AI units. ;  Anyone heard of LifeLine by Konami?http://www.konami.com/lifeline/This is a complete voice activated action adventure game.  It was release in Japan under the title Operator''s Side.Check out the amazon.com reviewshttp://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00007L4X1/ref=sr_aps_vg_/249-1691104-6378739Yes, they are in Japanese, but look 5 stars by all.  Not too hard to understand!!The voice recognition is powered by this company: ScanSoft.http://www.scansoft.com/games/ps2/-Krow 