Speech Recognition in Video Games
Speech as a Controller
The video game industry is experimenting with voice commands as a form of controlling game play. One example is Odama, one of the only GameCube games that uses voice commands. Released in 2006, Odama is a pinball game with a twist - the player controls the giant ball called the Odama with their voice to crush opponents and their gates, in order to lead troops carrying a giant bell through the gates. While the game can be a bit frustrating at first, many critics claim that after playing for a while, one realizes that the voice commands work surprisingly well.
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Stacking Voice Commands
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There Came an Echo is a game that allows the player to use their voice as the controller. This video showcases how stacking voice commands can be used in the game play. At one point, it is notable that a command is not recognized, so the user has to repeat himself a second time for the command to be recognized. This indicates that the vocal command must be loud and clear to be properly implemented.
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Bias in the Algorithm
Lifeline is another video game that uses speech recognition. Bias occurs often in machine learning algorithms, as AI is only as good as the programmers make it. (Bias will be discussed in more detail on the next page.) This game was developed by Konami, a Japanese entertainment and gaming conglomerate, so it is not surprising that its speech recognition only works well with English paired with a Japanese accent. Unfortunately, this prevents the game from being accessible to all gamers.
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Voice Attack
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Voice Attack is software that can be applied to any video game to make speech recognition easier, especially for those with a speech impediment or accent. If something is said that Voice Attack still cannot understand, the user has the ability to see what Voice Attack perceived, and then change it to the desired command using the keyboard. This provides two alternative methods of communicating with a system without having to use the built-in speech recognition or controls of that game.
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