Online gamers set for cool experience with ICE

Stan Beer
Thursday, 18 May 2006 20:16

Your IT - Home IT

Smart Internet Technology Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), a joint venture between Australian universities and the NSW Government, has tested what it claims is the latest in online gaming audio technology. Called Immersive Communications Environment (ICE), the technology is an audio service that offers the ability for groups of people to communicate online naturally.

With communication between people playing a growing role in some of the world’s most popular games such as World of Warcraft, and Counter-Strike Source, CRC believes ICE is poised to dramatically enhance the online gamers’ experience.

Gamers can currently communicate verbally through tools such as text chat and walkie-talkie style audio solutions. ICE enables players to communicate realistically with fellow gamers, matching the voices of other players with their visual cues. For example, someone closer in the virtual space will sound louder, and whispering will become more audible on approach, bringing geography and landscape into the communications tactics.

A major feature of ICE is that it can scale to crowded environments, such as cities with thousands of players, which are common in online games such as World of Warcraft. Players can walk into these online cities and hear the buzz of activity and listen in on conversations in common areas where people congregate to meet. This can be done over current consumer broadband connections.

Darrell Williamson, CEO, Smart Internet said, trials conducted by the CRC showed that gamers prefer ICE enabled games over current traditional ones and are further willing to pay a premium to play ICE enabled games. "ICE will provide significant market differentiation for game developers, publishers and service providers looking to increase market share and revenues," Mr Williamson said.

The ICE project was developed by the Smart Internet CRC with partners Telstra Corporation and the University of Wollongong and is now in the early stages of commercialisation.

ICE will be presented during the 2006 CRC Conference "CRCs making an impact" to be held May 17 – 19 in Brisbane. More information on the conference can be found at www.crca.asn.au.