Avault weet te melden dat Microsoft een gestripte versie van Battlecom in DirectX8 gaat doen onder naam DirectPlay Voice. Hier is het hele verhaal:Microsoft today announced plans to incorporate real-time voice technology, called DirectPlay Voice, into the next version of its suite of multimedia application programming interfaces. The technology was adapted from the Battlefield Communicator application created at ShadowFactor Software, a Canadian company acquired by Microsoft in June 1999. The new DirectPlay Voice technology will be integrated into the DirectPlay API and optimized for use in multiplayer games.

In addition to enhancing PC games, the incorporation of voice technology could enable computers based on the Windows operating system to be used for the development and operation of additional PC-to-PC voice applications, including voice-rich web pages, real-time document sharing with voice collaboration, and web-based customer-service voice applications.

The BattleCom voice application has been available to consumers for purchase though the ShadowFactor website since 1997. However, effective Feb. 18, Microsoft will offer BattleCom as a free download. The ShadowFactor website will continue to function as the distribution site for BattleCom until the release of the next version of DirectX, scheduled for this summer. At that time, BattleCom and the ShadowFactor Web site will be phased out. De gratis download van battlecom kan je op deze plek vinden