Microsoft patent promises to clean up online gaming
Oct 24, 2008
A Microsoft patent uncovered this week could indicate the high-tech giant is working on a way to make online gaming less offensive.
The patent filing describes a system capable of analyzing speech in real time, detecting objectionable words, and either rendering them incomprehensible or removing them entirely. In other words, it could automatically censor bad language in online chat sessions such as those which accompany every Xbox Live online game.
Microsoft's Xbox Live service was the first online gaming platform to implement widespread audio chat, and has acquired something of a reputation for foul-mouthed or otherwise abusive players. But the technology could have implications beyond the online gaming sphere: it sounds ideal for live phone-in TV or radio shows, for example, where callers who use undesirable language could be censored or disconnected automatically.
Although it could be years before this technology starts turning up in games, it'd be a great way to enable online gamers to choose the level of trash-talk they want.
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