Although I'm sure this system puts limits on acting, natural-sounding voice synthesizers could work wonders for reducing the cost and storage needed for video game voice work, as well as adding to the immersion of video games (wouldn't you like to pick a name other than Shepherd in Mass Effect?). I'm not really sure what limits or requirements the software has, but imagine a downloadable game with dozens of hours of fully voiced dialogue because all it needs is a synthesizer, a few voice profiles, and text files for the dialogue.
Picked this up via gonintendo:
Cambridge, U.K.-based Phonetic Arts today announced that David Braben, Chairman of Frontier Developments and one of the pioneers in the U.K. game industry, has joined the company's board of directors. Phonetic Arts is an in-game dialogue middleware company that has created a unique technology for generating natural, dynamic in-game speech.
"Many computer games currently make extensive use of voice actors; but it is important to realize though that these are just plain recordings of their voices. As a key element in all modern games is to capture and recreate realism, the inability of a game to generate dynamic speech is a severe restriction," the company explains. "Phonetic Arts has developed a unique technical solution to this problem. The center-piece of the technology comprises a speech synthesis engine and voice development environment, which allows games to speak with any voice and say any sentence. The speech produced is completely natural and will for the first time enable games developers to generate voice content which matches the high quality of other parts of the games."
David Braben commented, “Having spent a lot of time with the guys at Phonetic Arts I’m really excited at the potential offered by their technology. In-game dialogue has come a long way but there’s still so much it can accomplish. I believe that the team at Phonetic Arts has a compelling product that will add new depth to games.”
Paul Taylor, who co-founded Phonetic in 2006 and serves as CEO, added: “We’re delighted to have David on the team. His expertise, hands on approach and knowledge of the industry will be of enormous benefit. The fact that he has never before taken a non-exec role of itself speaks volumes.”
Having a game with dynamic speech would certainly add tremendously to the feeling of immersion, but we also remain skeptical about just how well-acted the computer generated voice will be. Voice actors, if talented, can really enhance a game and pull you into the experience, much in the same way a good actor can draw you into a movie.
The Phonetic Arts web page offers a short demonstration of what their technology can do here:
http://www.phonetic-arts.com/generator.php
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