Wii Gets Voice Recognition and Karaoke Functionality

EA may end up pushing back the release of Boogie, their unique dancin’ and singin’ music game for the Wii, after they hear this news. Fonix Speech, Inc. announced today that their VoiceIn technology has made it into the Wii’s third party tools program and will soon enable developers to incorporate voice recognition and karaoke functionality into their games.

“Offering VoiceIn to Wii developers represents the latest coup for Fonix in our quest to be the number one supplier of speech technologies to the gaming industry,” says Tim K. Hong, VP, Fonix Games. “Fonix technology nicely complements Nintendo’s philosophy of fun combined with innovation. Now Wii title developers can add Fonix’s award-winning voice recognition to their games. VoiceIn allows for new and interesting player interfaces via voice commands, while VoiceIn Karaoke makes it possible to increase the accuracy and quality of karaoke games.”

The software is available in an array of languages and requires minimal memory and processing requirements. Could it somehow end up downloaded onto Wii Remotes, coupled with that mysteriously unused audio chip that was recently spotted inside each and every controller? Or is another dangly, tangly corded peripheral required to get my sang on? For EA’s sake, I sure hope they’ve got time to incorporate it into Boogie. That big black microphone looks unsightly next to the petite white Wii Wand.