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Gamasutra is reporting that Vivox and NCsoft have signed an agreement to offer voice communication services across the entire NC games library. NCsoft joins the likes of Multiverse, Sony Online Entertainment, CCP, and Wizards of the Coast in using the Vivox tech to connect players over IP.

As with these other companies, Vivox will offer "voice fonts", voice mail, in-game transmissions to external phone and text services. There are no details as of yet whether this technology will be incorporated in any way to the NCLauncher the company uses to update its games. NCsoft, of course, is publisher responsible for MMO titles such as Lineage II, Guild Wars, Tabula Rasa, and City of Heroes.

Text communication is perhaps the easiest to grasp for a new player. The key difference between text chat in EVE and text chat in many other games is the sheer volume of available channels. By default, every player is in the channel for their local chat, their corporation, and their alliance (if applicable). In addition, there is an uncountable number of channels out there that you could be chatting in.

Metaverse development company Multiverse has announced a partnership with Vivox, the voice service provider for virtual worlds and MMOs of many stripes. Being able to provide integrated voice chat, 3D positional audio, presence, speaking indicators, and management tools right out of the box will be a definite selling point for developers who are interested in using Multiverse's platform to create their virtual worlds.

Vivox is keeping influential company -- other partners include Wizards of the Coast, IBM, metaverse developers Electric Sheep Company, and EVE Online's CCP Games. With strong strategic alliances like these, they're quickly rising to the top of voice provider solutions for the industry. Let's hope their grasp doesn't exceed their reach.

[Via Business Wire]

Ryan McDougall has announced the formation of a new Sourceforge project, called VoIP for Virtual Worlds. The long-term goal is to create an interoperable open-source standard for all virtual worlds.

To help the project find its feet, the initial short-term goal is to create an open-source replacement for the existing Vivox component (SLvoice) that is used for voice in Second Life that can communicate with a SIP-based backend server. Developers who are interested in the effort can start with the project's new mailing list.

We don't presently know if an open-source solution could be fully compatible with the existing voice system in Second Life as the existing system relies heavily on Vivox servers and backend software.

Sony Online Entertainment has announced the most comprehensive voice chat plan ever, according to a press release dropped at GDC today. They've teamed up with a company called Vivox to not only bring integrated voice chat into all of their games, but also some features that MMO players have never even dreamed of. Vivox says they'll be able to bring voicemail into games, join raid chats via landline or cell phone, and even use voice manipulation over the connection.

Apparently the voice chat service will be also available just through Sony's Launcher, so you won't need to be in-game to use the applications. Gamers will have buddy lists, and games will all have volume controls and channel controls, but the other features they brag about apparently won't be available at launch-- while voice and guild chat channels will be available right away, the other features, like voicemail and "voice fonts," are only "anticipated" for later. Still, John Smedley, SOE President, is quoted in the release as being excited about bringing the two services together, so only time will tell how it will all work.

Time, and our interviews, that is. Massively has a few correspondents on the floor at GDC right now, and we are planning to speak with both Vivox and SOE before the end of the week. Stay tuned for more on these services and just what they'll entail for players in-game.

Linden Lab wants to know your thoughts on voice. As Eric Rice/Spin Martin puts it "after it's installed and after months of community bitching. Awesome."

Feel positive about Second Life voice? Negative? Ambivalent? Take the time to do the survey and let Linden Lab know - but you'll need Javascript enabled for qualtrics.com in order to make the survey work properly and store the results.

According to Wagner James Au at GigaOm, Benchmark Capital has joined the board of Vivox. We're not sure how much Benchmark Capital invested directly. The total was $7.8 million US dollars in Series B financing, some of which also came from Canaan Partners and GrandBanks Capital.

The man behind the deal was Mitch Lasky, formerly with Eletronic Arts' mobile division, now general partner at Benchmark Capital.

Linden Lab advises this-morning (and we're certainly seeing it reflected in the figures) that while they thought the issue had been resolved on Saturday evening, that it was not, and that the issues that plagued the Second Life grid over the weekend are still ongoing.

Additionally, all voice services went dark at 2:06AM SLT (US Pacific).

Linden Lab reports that "many" Second Life users are unable to join or create voice chat sessions. We're not sure what "many" means, exactly. The voice system doesn't actually operate as a part of the Second Life grid, per se, and the servers and software that make it go are all the domain of their voice partner Vivox.

Naturally, many people at both ends are running around in a dignified state of panic as they attempt to diagnose the flaw. Voice is not widely used by Second Life users - however, those that do use it, rely on it heavily.

[UPDATE: The official blog reports this as fixed at 9:19 am Second Life Time]