Topic: Wii calls you out!

[MaryJane]

So that interview with Miyamoto that IGN posted he states that Nintendo is developing a game in which four player play with one Wii-mote and passing it around. The controller will call out the name of the person who's turn it is.

I'm assuming that when he says name he doesn't mean "Player 1" but rather, "John" or "Mike" or even "Bubba". So this makes me believe that in Nintendo's effort to include everyone, will some sort of voice input be included in the Wii? It kind of goes against Nintendo's new strategy if the Wii can't say Chandradeo, that one person who's gets "Player 4" instead of their name called would be a little left out. It's been discussed in other threads about either using the speaker on the Wii-mote, or the DS' microphone for vocal input. Personally I'd prefer to use the DS microphone, which would only encourage more Wii/DS play and buying brings in the loot for Nintendo.

One other thought is that I'd find it oddly satisfying to hear the Wii say "*Name* is the King of Super Smash Brother" or "*Name* is the best player of the day" but especially "*Friends Name* just got his a$$ handed to him by *Name*". LoL i can't wait.

P.S. Nintendo kept the speaker in because 3rd parties wanted it, yet last I heard 3rd parties haven't had too much access to it? So they listened to 3rd parties, but then aren't too open with it. idk maybe they've just been refining it.

[Dirk Temporo]

Text to speech, maybe?

[Kraven]

Wouldn't it make more sense for you to say your name into the controller?  Maybe Miyamoto was hinting at microphone inside of the controller.  Is there a way to convert what you say to another universal voice for everyone?   Like the voice from SSBM?  Or they could get the technology that Microsoft has for that speech thing in Windows, but SSBM voice and not Microsoft Sam.    

[MaryJane]

What I was saying about the Wii not being able to say Chandradeo would be how would a text to speech program pronounce that name? The Wii is supposed to be the system everyone can play, it should be able to say everyones name.

[Smoke39]

I don't know how voice recognition programs work, but maybe it would be possible to have a player speak their name to teach the game how to pronounce it, then a voice synthesis program could take that pronunciation data to speak everyone's name in a unified voice that fits the game's context (e.g., announcer's voice in SSB).

[AnyoneEB]

Text-to-speech programs have gotten a lot better since the old Microsoft text-to-speech (which I think actually supports different engines, so you could theoretically install a modern engine). Teaching a text-to-speech program by talking is an interesting idea. I do not know of it being done before, but it seems like it should not be too difficult.

[Ceric]

Well Dragon Speaking has just gone to a ~99% without training.  Though it would be expensive to licence but its IBMs so they might a get a discount.  I have to think though that there be better/cheaper (in all ways) way of converting someone voice to sound like someone elses.

[MaryJane]

I think if Nintendo is serious about implementing gameplay where the system calls out names, they're going to have to include some system of universal inclusion. I'm excited about the possibilities that are possible with such technology.

[EasyCure]

even if they dont use my name in ssbb, hearing andt he winner is (on the tv) and then LINK or some one on my wiimote when all my friends are just sitting there waiting for the results screen would be GREAT.

[Donutt007]

Maybe you can chose a character name instead. For example, I chose Tiger, and my buddies chose Hawk, Lion, and Eagle. It would announce your nickname as opposed to your actualy name. Similar to the arcade game "The Grid".