VoIP functions were built into the Dreamcast and users could chat via the browser. For comparison’s sake, Xbox Live took 2 years to reach that number of users. Sega’s SegaNet service had 1.55 million registered users just a month after its launch. For example, it was fully online enabled with a blazingly fast 56K modem. The Dreamcast marked the beginning of the 6th generation of video game consoles, and while it did not find enough success to halt SEGA’s exit from hardware manufacturing, it was forward thinking in many ways. This would all change in 1999 with the launch of Sega’s final console, the Dreamcast. Even the Famicom was even able to go online way back in 1988, for example, but it was never actually used for gaming (although several game prototypes, were, in fact, made). True, big game devs had been experimenting with internet functions since the 80’s, but most endeavors never managed to break in a big way. A larger issue was the lack of online functionality on home consoles throughout the years. Part of the reason for this is that third party options just were not as viable since game consoles tend to run on a closed system. VoIP on consoles was a little slower to take off. Voice chat applications have continued to grow on PC since then, with third party apps such as Dischord, Mumble, TeamSpeak, and Ventrilo often be chosen by gamers over native VoIP options in games. Games such as Activision’s MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat, also released in 1995, included VoIP options for players. It quickly found its way into the gaming sphere, however. At the time, it was used primarily as a way for individuals to place phone calls from PCs to phones. This technology was first used by the Israeli company VocalTec in 1995. ![]() “Voice Chat” is done using VoIP, or “Voice over Internet Protocol.” To put it in simple terms, it is merely the act of transmitting one’s voice in real time from one IP address to another. Let us take this opportunity to look back at voice chat in gaming and perhaps we can see just how we arrived at the point we are at today. Even the much maligned Wii U had voice chat built in, after all! Gamers have been conditioned to expect voice chat as a feature… it’s a given not a bonus. Using an external app, as opposed to having voice chat be a native feature, strikes many as odd. Nintendo’s voice chat solution for the Switch is, to put it lightly, divisive.
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