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A typical example of a headset used for voice chats.

Voice chat is a modern form of communication used on the Internet. The means of communicating with voice chat is through any of the messengers, mainly Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, or Windows Live Messenger.^{[citation needed]} Voice chat has led to a significant increase in distant communications where two or more people from opposite ends of the world can talk almost free of cost.

Voice chat in gaming[edit]

Many video games with online multiplayer allow players to communicate via voice chatting. In 2000, SegaNet released the first voicechat compatible browser on Dreamcast. Internet services such as YahooChat! worked on the Java compatible web browsers with the ability of voicechat with the microphone, although it was already available for use in its HTML servers. This browser web integration became in standard in future game consoles. Long-distance telephone Programs such as Dreamcall was already integrated within the browser. Other games such as Seaman and Alien Front Online included voicechat via the microphone. In 2001, Sony released the Network adapter for their PlayStation 2 video game console, which allowed voice chatting with a headset. In 2002, Microsoft launched the Xbox Live service, which supports voice chatting through a headset bundled with the Xbox 360 premium package and the official starter kit. In 2005, Nintendo launched the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, an online multiplayer service for both the Nintendo DS and for the Wii. In March 2006, Metroid Prime Hunters was released, making it the first game to allow voice chatting through the Nintendo DS's microphone. Also, Nintendo released a Nintendo DS headset for voice chat alongside the release of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.

In the PC Online Gaming Voice Chat world, players often use either the game's built in VoIP engine (which was until recently rarely provided by the game developer), or a third party VoIP solution such as Skype^[1] (utilizing the Skype for Power Gamers Skype add-on software), Ventrilo, Mumble, TeamSpeak, or XFire.

History[edit]

Rocket Messenger and AOL were among the first to offer voice chat facilities. They were followed by Paltalk which became a quick hit. Later Yahoo! Messenger became the most dominant voice chat service as it provided unique features. These included individual voice chat with another person, as well as conference call type voice chat facilities categorized in Yahoo! Rooms.

See also[edit]

• VoIP or Voice over IP for an overview of all technologies available.
• Comparison of VoIP software

References[edit]