“Once upon a time, there was a game called Wing Commander II. Featuring a branching storyline and space-based fighter combat, Wing Commander II also offered something else: characters talking. But if you wanted to listen to them, you had to have a Sound Blaster sound card (the original, ISA version) and spend an extra $15 for the speech pack, which shipped on seven floppy disks. Making it work was an exercise in freeing up enough lower memory. By today’s standards, it was all pretty primitive, but it was something of a phenomenon for PC gamers at the time.”Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Icemat Siberia In:Ear Headset Review @ Bigbruin
- Microsoft Zune Review @ Digital Trends
- X-Micro F610 Music Video Player @ Rbmods
- SteelSeries SteelSound 5H v2 @ techPowerUp
- iBeam Speakers for the iPod @ CoolTechZone
- Etymotic ety8s Earphones: Wireless Yet Ugly @ CoolTechZone
- Kensington SX 3000R Speakers for iPod Review @ CoolTechZone
- Super Talent MEGA Screen 2GB Mp3 Player @ Overclockers Online
- Meizu miniplayer 4GB (PMP) @ Hardware Zone
The sound of gaming
It’s hard to recall the days when audio in games barely existed, now that even a PC POSTing has something to say, but they were real. ExtremeTech takes a quick look back, and then focuses in on the current state of PC audio and what is coming soon.