Fri, Aug 27, 2010 | 08:07 BST
360 headset chat quality to be improved this fall
Microsoft confirmed it’s to improved the quality of 360 headset chat this year, speaking in the UK yesterday.
The firm said it’s to upgrade the codec used by the 360 headset when it revamps the console’s firmware for Kinect this autumn, according to this Eurogamer report.
“The codec we used when we first launched was a low bit rate codec and we stuck with that,” said Xbox Live Studios boss Jerry Johnson, speaking at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival.
“We launched and we said we required broadband. We required a 64k connection, which not many people think of as broadband any longer. But that was the minimum requirement to run the service at the time.
“It’s time for us to move on. Especially if we want to think about broadening – a crackly headset on the top of your head – not what people think of when they talk about popular entertainment.”
Microsoft introduced voice chat to the original Xbox with the November 2002 launch of Xbox Live.
12 comments
#1
JimFear666
27/08/10, 8:27 am
playstation did it like… 2 years ago…
#2
LordCancer
27/08/10, 8:55 am
by the gods bout fucking time!
#3
freedoms_stain
27/08/10, 9:00 am
I hope they bump up the volume too, it’s fine when using the stock headset, but if you’ve got a combined voice + headphones headset it can be hard to hear the chat over the game.
#4
The_Deleted
27/08/10, 9:05 am
But do we really need to hear some of the whinging twats you get on LIVE any clearer..?
#5
Nozz
27/08/10, 9:21 am
yay! now i can hear more screaming a-holes shout abuse to me in better quality…
#6
freedoms_stain
27/08/10, 10:28 am
Yeah, but you can really appreciate being called a faggot when it’s crystal clear.
#7
Blerk
27/08/10, 10:31 am
You’ve not truly been called a faggot unless you can hear the spittle hitting their microphone.
#8
Moonwalker1982
27/08/10, 11:30 am
You never have to hear these annoying lamers if you don’t want. Just get in a party with friends and all is well
#9
Aimless
27/08/10, 11:44 am
@3 This.
I game using 5.1 headphones with the headset around my neck, voice set to pump through the ‘speakers’. Despite this I can’t hear what anyone’s saying unless I manually adjust the game sound levels down to about 30-40%, and bizarrely some titles — like Halo — don’t even give you the option to do that.
Whack a safety warning confirmation box in if that’s the problem, but I’d really appreciate being able to at least double headset volume.
#10
TerryWogan
27/08/10, 12:13 pm
What headphones do you use? Sounds like you need some non-shit ones.
#11
Aimless
27/08/10, 12:33 pm
Very constructive.
For the record I use a Sony MDR-DS3000 setup.
#12
LOLshock94
27/08/10, 12:52 pm
they improved it ages and nw improvin again