Dolby Surround Sound Coming to Online Console Games

Posted by Adam Larck on 03.11.2010

GDC: PS3, 360 and Mac owners will be able to experience Axon later this year.



While much of the news out of GDC has been game related, let's not forget about other features as well, such as surround sound.

Dolby announced today that the Dolby Axon will be available soon for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Mac computers. The Axon allows for surround sound voice chat.

Developers will get software developer kit ports in April to start implementing this in their games. Currently, PC games such as Dragon Nest, ZT Online and Mission Against Terror have already been using this feature.

"The game development community responded very enthusiastically to Dolby Axon because it helps them to reimagine the voice chat feature into an engaging and dynamic element of game play," said Matt Tullis, Marketing Director, Games, Dolby Laboratories. "In addition to this, the ability to use surround sound voice and communication provides gamers with a competitive edge."

The system will allow for noise and echo suppression during voice communication to make it clearer, as well as surround sound voice chat in headset, speakers and 5.1 playback systems. It will also be compatible with any stereo headset.