HawkVoiceDI™ end user information

HawkVoiceDI (HVDI), which is currently in beta testing, allows developers of multiplayer games and other applications to quickly add real-time voice communications. HVDI is portable software, which means it can be used on almost any computer, such as Windows 95/98/ME/2000/NT/XP, MacOS, Linux and other UNIXs. A multiplatform, multiplayer game using HVDI would allow players to talk to each other, even if some were on Windows, some were on MacOS, and others were on Linux.

You may be aware of the fact that Microsoft® has included voice support, DirectPlay® Voice, in DirectX8. Since most games still do not use DirectPlay® for their networking, they cannot use DirectPlay® Voice until they first switch to DirectPlay®. That switch requires an almost total redesign of a game's networking code, and most game developers would not consider that. So, Microsoft®'s DirectPlay® Voice will likely slowly appear in new game titles, but not as updates to current games. Also, since DX8 is only available for Windows, other platforms cannot take advantage of DirectPlay® Voice. This creates another incentive for new games to be Windows only.

This is why I created HVDI; not to directly compete with Microsoft®, but to give game developers another choice for voice support. It is my hope that later this year, you and I will be able to play a multiplayer game with Windows/MacOS/Linux players, and be able to verbally express ourselves to each other.

If you would like more technical details, or are a software developer interested in trying HVDI, check out the main HVDI page.

You can listen to some actual voice samples on the HawkVoice codecs page.