Alienware Forms Software Division, First Project Is Voice Chat for Gamers

Alienware is getting into software. The gaming PC maker announced today that it is forming Alienware Technology, Inc., a new division dedicated to software programs and utilities for gamers, and its first project is First Contact, a multiplayer voice communicator that lets you actually talk to other players while you play games on the Internet.

First Contact sizes up each session on its own, weighing connection speed, the CPU power available for encoding and decoding voice data, and which codecs are on hand, then keeps bandwidth use as low as possible. It runs on a client-server setup or peer-to-peer, and Alienware says the impact on the game is minimal either way, with no added latency or lag. When a server is found, it uses a proprietary technology called Adaptive Bandwidth Utilization, which lets each player push their own hardware as far as it goes without penalizing teammates on slower connections or slower PCs.

Typing “behind you” while getting shot has always been the worst part of team play, so I want this one to work. A beta version arrives in mid to late June.