Battleangel | Personal

I decided to make better use of the headset I acquired last spring. I have to admit that it has been gathering dust for some time now. More or less since I gave up Planetside. But enough of that game, it’s old news.

Voice communication software can be a jungle. Especially if you’re a big fan of efficient programming and anti “bloatware”.
Another must for a any voice communication software is that it is can coexist with online gaming. Since most games out there don’t have built-in support for voice, gamers are forced to consult 3rd-party applications.

The foremost alternatives include:

Roger Wilco (Recommended)
TeamSound
TeamSpeak
Game Voice (Microsoft)
BattleCom (Outdated)

Some ppl will no doubt wish for more comprehensive software. Remember that small is beautiful. Think about what you really need and don’t go overboard.
Bottom line is that either Roger Wilco, TeamSound or TeamSpeak is fine. Most ppl still use Roger Wilco I think because of old habit. It is also generally the best and possibly simplest program to configure and use. Others might have more advanced features though.
If you (like me) decide on Roger Wilco, visit Echota.org and see if you can get a free base station for your little cohort of friendly gamers.

As for video communication, the technology is still in it’s infancy. Most of the webcams out there do not live up to any kind of minimum standard. That’s just a fact. But it is still an option that I would like to explore. Especially for this webpage and possibly surveillance. It’s on the todo list. Also on the same list is finding someone to actually talk to. This entire endeavor is like playing soccer if you’re blind.

Hmmm, seems to be lots of things happening in the online community. Most of it over at Anandtech. LOL. Well, it seems certain key elements are finally falling in place.

Anandtech: Plextor 708A: First exclusive look at 8X DVD+R
Anandtech: Halflife 2 Performance Revealed
Anandtech: Halo PC has gone gold!

Also I finally had to activate the MSN plugin for Miranda. Yeah I know. Never thought I’d see the day. Just the fact that you can’t send offline messages is kind of bugging me. By just comparing instant messaging capabilities it is quite obvious which protocol is the best choice.
Of course I am a little biased since I’ve been using ICQ since the very beginning. Whatever. About the plugin, it only seems to enable the basic features (like messaging) of the v.8 MSN protocol. No video communication for instance. No phone. No emoticons. No fancy stuff. Find me if you can …