Integrated voice coming to 'Second Life'
Second Life users who want to chat up those cute avatars across the virtual room can soon try to lure them over with voice rather than text.
Next week, Second Life publisher Linden Lab plans to unveil a small beta trial in which, for the first time, people will have access to integrated voice chat.
The company plans to launch the beta for all users by the end of March, it said.
Many Second Life residents have been clamoring for voice since its launch in 2003. Until now, Linden Lab had been vague about if and when it would incorporate voice directly into the Second Life client software.
But with the proliferation of Skype and other applications like TeamSpeak or Ventrilo--which people often pipe into Second Life and into online games like World of Warcraft--the technology has appeared to be more possible. And it seemed more like a matter of when--not if--Linden Lab would get on board.
"We've been working on this for quite a while," said Joe Miller, Linden Lab's vice president of platform and technology development. "I think there was some skepticism that we'd be putting something out this soon. It's been in the works for 8 to 10 months in earnest. Voice has been viewed as a key missing piece to the overall solution."
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