LOL, that's a spirited reaction! I'm not slamming it or anything, I just see these old speech synth modules to be more novelty than anything else. I don't see how they really make these games more fun to play, but maybe it's because I'm only watching rather than playing them myself. The few Amiga games that made use of speech synth never really impressed me either (Alien Fires springs to mind here). I think a few of the Amiga Infocom games used the speech synth as an option, but I hated it.
When the guys says "B-17 Bomber!!" I chuckle every time. What in the world were they thinking?
That's like criticizing the graphics of the day, though. Speech synthesis was a big deal back then. Now, it's nothing because you just record real voices, but in the past it typically had to be computer generated or very short and highly compressed samples to get anything of the like going. Again, it comes down to personal preference, but I find class speech synthesis infinitely charming. It adds to the game like a surprise animation, end sequence, good graphics, excellent response, whatever, might add to a game in my opinion. In fact, I'm terribly excited that I may have found a way to get my Votrax Speech Synthesizer working with my Tandy Model IV. Hopefully I can for a blog post sometime soon...
Vintage Games book!
Xbox 360: billlog | Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
*************************** Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
LOL, that's a spirited reaction! I'm not slamming it or anything, I just see these old speech synth modules to be more novelty than anything else. I don't see how they really make these games more fun to play, but maybe it's because I'm only watching rather than playing them myself. The few Amiga games that made use of speech synth never really impressed me either (Alien Fires springs to mind here). I think a few of the Amiga Infocom games used the speech synth as an option, but I hated it.
When the guys says "B-17 Bomber!!" I chuckle every time. What in the world were they thinking?
That's like criticizing the graphics of the day, though. Speech synthesis was a big deal back then. Now, it's nothing because you just record real voices, but in the past it typically had to be computer generated or very short and highly compressed samples to get anything of the like going. Again, it comes down to personal preference, but I find class speech synthesis infinitely charming. It adds to the game like a surprise animation, end sequence, good graphics, excellent response, whatever, might add to a game in my opinion. In fact, I'm terribly excited that I may have found a way to get my Votrax Speech Synthesizer working with my Tandy Model IV. Hopefully I can for a blog post sometime soon...
Vintage Games book!
Xbox 360: billlog | Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.