Installation
Installation of the Microsoft SideWinder GameVoice is a breeze. However, you should make sure that you install the driver software in Windows before installing the hardware. After you've installed the software it's time to hook up the gear. You connect two plugs from your headset (mic/headphone) to your command module. And once more two plugs from the command module towards your soundcard. Insert the USB cable and you are ready to go ...

As said earlier the Microsoft SideWinder GameVoice has two primary functions, the first one we'll handle is Chatting over LAN/Internet.

Chatting over LAN/Internet
A mega cool feature of the Microsoft SideWinder GameVoice is the ability to chat with each other. The GameVoice has a built-in compression technology that enables live chat/speech options for even the lowest bandwidth limited gamers. Even if you have a Internet connection as low as a 56k modem you can use this technology by selecting the appropriate bit rate for your situation in the GameVoice properties.

As you can see in the image above compression ranges from 'poor' quality but reasonable to hear 1.4 kbit/sec towards an excellent 32 kbit/sec (4kb/sec) compression scheme. We recommend a LAN or Cable connection to enjoy speech though. We are using a cable connection and set the properties towards Cable/ISDN compression. Sound was good towards reasonably good. While talking to each other there is a small delay of about one second, however it's mega cool to be finally able to talk to your friends over the Internet.