Product: Vivox Brings Voice Communication To Second Life

Vivox and Linden Lab have announced a new partnership that will see Vivox supplying its real-time voice communication services for Linden Lab's massively multiplayer virtual world community Second Life. Second Life residents will be able to speak with each other in-game, simply by walking up to other players and beginning a conversation. Vivox officials also note that solution will mirror real-life communication, including spatial audio, which will allow allow residents to hear each other based on their positions thanks to technology licensed from DiamondWare. Other Vivox features will include controls for both residents and land owners to manage participation in conversations. The techology will also make available friends lists, presence, speaking indicators and other tools that will allow players to stay connected with each other. The addition of Vivox enabled voice communication to Second Life continues with the company's aggressive push into the MMOG field, having also recently implemented its technology within 1GPN 's Ragnesis Online as well as signing an agreement with CCP Games to bring the service to the popular EVE Online in May 2006. "Integrated voice is a natural extension of the virtual world our residents are building,” said Joe Miller, vice president, platform & technology development at Linden Lab. “Voice will further enrich that community and introduce new opportunities in social development and commerce.” He added: “Vivox’s high-quality scalability and rich feature set make it a perfect match for our efforts. Vivox understands the community and its needs and we could not ask for a better partner to bring voice onto the Second Life Grid.”