SOE adds their voice to games accross the station.

In an announcement today, SOE will be providing Station Voice, a voice chat system powered by Vivox and integrated into some SOE Station games. The first games to roll out with the new Station Voice include Everquest II and Star Wars Galaxies. The new system will be integrated with the Station Launcher and will be available for subscribers and non subscribers alike. You read that right, people who have Station Launcher installed can use the system to chat through the system.

Vivox has been hailed as an excellent system, and SOE is making the most of the psuedo partnership they have struck up. The system is available currently for the games mentioned above, and will be available for Everquest next month at no additional cost. From the press release today:

"In-game voice chat is an enhanced new feature gamers of all levels can enjoy. Now, SOE's players can easily talk to one another and better enjoy the online gaming experience," said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. "The integration of Station Voice into these initial games was seamless, and we look forward to incorporating this added gaming experience into other SOE titles, as well as implementing the next phase of features to come soon."

The initial launch of Station Voice will allow players to:

* Talk person-to-person in game with any microphone and headset combo
* Chat with their party, guild or any other group in game
* Play and communicate without worry of a significant increase in game lag
* Manage group/user participation with moderator controls
* Individually mute and set volume per user
* Set up easily without the need for separate software, accounts or registration

"SOE's commitment to the player experience and their game communities is unrivalled and presents an incredible opportunity to demonstrate the power of voice," said Rob Seaver, CEO of Vivox. "Through a magnificent implementation, SOE has delivered high quality voice chat, seamless access, instant groups, intuitive controls and a fantastic and immersive experience for their players."

In addition to these current features, SOE is planning to implement other Vivox services into Station Voice later this year, such as voice fonts and the ability to connect to games from Station Launcher. SOE's plan to integrate the service with Station Launcher should allow anyone who uses the Station Launcher, even if he or she doesn't otherwise subscribe to an SOE game, to take advantage of these powerful voice chat capabilities. These features, which are intended to support hundreds of players in a channel, are also slated to be extended to other current and future SOE titles, such as The Agency™.

That last line is very telling. The Station Voice system is a solid voice platform SOE can add to multitudes of games they have in the pipeline.

More information can be found on the SOE website .


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our EverQuest II Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

Comments