"Ooooohhhhhhh won't you tell me again? Oooooooohhhh oh can yo feel it? Oooohhhhhh won't you tell me again tonight? Tonight?" I'm also partial to Peter Gabriel's The Voice from his 1986 So album.
Hah, I thought this sounded a lot like the speech synthesizer on the TRS-80 Color Computer that I had as a kid. Indeed, both of them are based on the same chip (SP0256).
Oh man! My wonderful parents bought me this system, and the voice module, and a bunch of games back then - and I LOVED it! It's the one system from my youth that I'm MOST nostalgic about! Great video Sir!
The games you had there were actually interesting in the Odyssey's lifetime. The KC Krazy Chase was actually created due to a lawsuit by Atari that the first KC game was sued for fully being a Pac-Man clone, this was Odyssey's way of getting back, fine well still have KC but now we will have it go after your Centipede too :) As for Turtles, it was one of very few Arcade games that got on to the Odyssey. It's a fair game in the arcade, and while the Odyssey only had what amounted to a beeper speaker (think 1 channel only) it was trying it's best with what little it had to produce ANY music. As for getting audio direct from the Voice, it would only be doable with some modifications, so good work there Benny :) If you need any more game info of the past, I'm just down I-29 from ya now that ur in the Empire city :)
I've only just found this video as well, it might be worth tagging this Philips G7000, Philips C52, Videopac. Hmm, it seems O2EM doesn't seem to have emualtion of The Voice (enabled by default) But the Videopac was a surprisingly good system, it really could do with some more hoebrew and demoscene love.
Voice modules are pretty cool. It's unfortunate that Intelivision and Odesey 2 didn't take off like Atari 2600. I would like to see a port of Berserk on Odesey 2 it would probably work out pretty good.
I know this is a very old thread, but I happen to have The Voice and in reality, it was an attempt to give Mattel Intellivision competition for its own voice synthesizer. They are bases on the classic Vortrax system (same chip used in Gorf and many arcade games) using a phoneme based system and both Mattel and Magnavox used part voice encoded chips for their games except for Type and Tell which actually does the voice as typed for better or for worse. Both were gimmicks but did open up what we have now.
I'm still not sure whether the speech is handled by predefined sounds in The Voice's hardware or if it's generated at run-time, because I recall there being a few games that share the same sounds (I think I've heard K.C. Munchkin's laugh in another game), though it could've been an issue regarding emulation or something.
The Moody Blues song actually does predate The Voice module...barely. The former was released as part of the Long Distance Voyager album (one of their best IMO) in 1981, the latter in 1983.
On the Type and Tell, my friend in elementary school would type in all zeros. At first it sounded like seero seero seero but after awhile, it would sound like cedar bum, cedar bum, cedar bum. I don't know if there's a name for this phenomenon, but after hearing the same word repeated over and over, it starts to sound different. 🤔 Edit: I found the term for when repeating words sound different: semantic satiation.
I still own one of these. Lol My parents got this when I was a kid. And it's been around since. I don't have Turtles. Also, you can keep a look out for these. Nimble Numbers Ned and Smithereens. K.C.'s Crazy Chase was one of my favorites. :-)
7:24 not the first time we've encountered turtles in the Oddity Archive. For me personally, the first thing that comes to mind when I hear "turtles" is actually the University of Maryland (to be fair, those are Terrapins, but still) ... but then you reminded me of Bert the Turtle of a certain Cold War public service film. And now, this. Fortunately, I like turtles -- with or without an exclamation point.
KC's Crazy Chase is actually a big raised middle finger to Atari that sued them over the original KC MuchKin for being a Pac-Man clone that Crazy Chase lifted the centipede to give them another middle finger :)
Having played with one in-store--during my youth--and then gotten & again played with one some time later, can tell you this; Sometimes, to get it to pronounce certain words properly, you need to get phonetically-creative with the spelling... as in: "Dig that chit!" BTW: you forgot "SMITHEREENS!".
Any thought to reviewing the early to mid 1990s subscription VHS phenomenon known as Rock Video Monthly? The sarcasm/irony meter would be best handled by an expert such as yourself.
Shoulda typed "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that".
The Voice is the coolest thing about the O2 imo.
"Ooooohhhhhhh won't you tell me again? Oooooooohhhh oh can yo feel it? Oooohhhhhh won't you tell me again tonight? Tonight?" I'm also partial to Peter Gabriel's The Voice from his 1986 So album.
You should have typed in, "Would you like to play a game?" and "The only winning move is not to play." and "How about a nice game of chess?'
Let's play Global Thermonuclear War.
Hah, I thought this sounded a lot like the speech synthesizer on the TRS-80 Color Computer that I had as a kid. Indeed, both of them are based on the same chip (SP0256).
Oh man! My wonderful parents bought me this system, and the voice module, and a bunch of games back then - and I LOVED it! It's the one system from my youth that I'm MOST nostalgic about! Great video Sir!
I remember playing with this at Montgomery Wards half a lifetime ago.
The games you had there were actually interesting in the Odyssey's lifetime. The KC Krazy Chase was actually created due to a lawsuit by Atari that the first KC game was sued for fully being a Pac-Man clone, this was Odyssey's way of getting back, fine well still have KC but now we will have it go after your Centipede too :)
As for Turtles, it was one of very few Arcade games that got on to the Odyssey. It's a fair game in the arcade, and while the Odyssey only had what amounted to a beeper speaker (think 1 channel only) it was trying it's best with what little it had to produce ANY music.
As for getting audio direct from the Voice, it would only be doable with some modifications, so good work there Benny :)
If you need any more game info of the past, I'm just down I-29 from ya now that ur in the Empire city :)
I've only just found this video as well, it might be worth tagging this Philips G7000, Philips C52, Videopac.
Hmm, it seems O2EM doesn't seem to have emualtion of The Voice (enabled by default)
But the Videopac was a surprisingly good system, it really could do with some more hoebrew and demoscene love.
And that tune is now stuck in my head.
The one in "Turtles!"?
yep
Voice modules are pretty cool. It's unfortunate that Intelivision and Odesey 2 didn't take off like Atari 2600. I would like to see a port of Berserk on Odesey 2 it would probably work out pretty good.
YEAH!!!!! Glad it worked!!!!
I know this is a very old thread, but I happen to have The Voice and in reality, it was an attempt to give Mattel Intellivision competition for its own voice synthesizer. They are bases on the classic Vortrax system (same chip used in Gorf and many arcade games) using a phoneme based system and both Mattel and Magnavox used part voice encoded chips for their games except for Type and Tell which actually does the voice as typed for better or for worse. Both were gimmicks but did open up what we have now.
"B17 BAWMERRR".
Cole Thompson Lynch Wrong console
I was just going mention that. How did they get robots with the sort southern drawl!!
I'm still not sure whether the speech is handled by predefined sounds in The Voice's hardware or if it's generated at run-time, because I recall there being a few games that share the same sounds (I think I've heard K.C. Munchkin's laugh in another game), though it could've been an issue regarding emulation or something.
If it's anything like the Intellivoice, than it's probably a mixture of the two.
Each unit had a small Pixie captured inside it. The speech is the pixie's cries of pain in response to small electric shocks.
The Moody Blues song actually does predate The Voice module...barely. The former was released as part of the Long Distance Voyager album (one of their best IMO) in 1981, the latter in 1983.
Brillemeister That's a fun fact!
On the Type and Tell, my friend in elementary school would type in all zeros. At first it sounded like seero seero seero but after awhile, it would sound like cedar bum, cedar bum, cedar bum. I don't know if there's a name for this phenomenon, but after hearing the same word repeated over and over, it starts to sound different. 🤔 Edit: I found the term for when repeating words sound different: semantic satiation.
I still own one of these. Lol My parents got this when I was a kid. And it's been around since. I don't have Turtles. Also, you can keep a look out for these. Nimble Numbers Ned and Smithereens. K.C.'s Crazy Chase was one of my favorites. :-)
7:24 not the first time we've encountered turtles in the Oddity Archive. For me personally, the first thing that comes to mind when I hear "turtles" is actually the University of Maryland (to be fair, those are Terrapins, but still) ... but then you reminded me of Bert the Turtle of a certain Cold War public service film. And now, this. Fortunately, I like turtles -- with or without an exclamation point.
I wish we were best friends, Benny boy. I'd buy you beers and you could entertain me by waxing philosophical about old technology.
KC's Crazy Chase is actually a big raised middle finger to Atari that sued them over the original KC MuchKin for being a Pac-Man clone that Crazy Chase lifted the centipede to give them another middle finger :)
I loved that game and voice synth….great memories.
kinda like Q Bert but those would sound cool with some techno/ electronica music just a thought.
While Turtles is based on an Arcade game of the same name... It was a niche game but quite fun after you get used to it.
I'm really disappointed you didn't type "soisoisoisoisoisoisoisoisoi" into it.
YOU WATCH THIS TOO? fuck man you are becoming like the best person.
+Jake Nash The people you find watching OA can be amazing.
@Freako All aboard teh ROFLcopter!
Having played with one in-store--during my youth--and then gotten & again played with one some time later, can tell you this;
Sometimes, to get it to pronounce certain words properly, you need to get phonetically-creative with the spelling... as in: "Dig that chit!"
BTW: you forgot "SMITHEREENS!".
So the Killer Bee game uses The Voice to have random warbling and to say "4 4 4" at the end of a level? Yeah, that seems like money well spent
I think those are supposed to be buzzing sounds, and he's saying "more more more" after clearing the level.
Turtles acid theme.
Be the Bee Ben, you must be the BEE!! :)
Four Minutes, Jim
John Madden John Madden John Madden John Madden John Madden, aeiou
Killer Bees is essentially a clone of Exidy's Death Race. And it sounds like you have bad sticks. I have no problem controlling KC and Turtles.
Killer Bees?
Bees. My God.
killer bees *from mexico*
Any thought to reviewing the early to mid 1990s subscription VHS phenomenon known as Rock Video Monthly? The sarcasm/irony meter would be best handled by an expert such as yourself.
106.5 is a Michigan radio station
What was the Mexican Bee joke a callback to?
SNL....
try "4 Q" in the Type & Tell game!
I kinda like that voice though .. :) just ad a microphone then feed it into audacity :)
*S E L E C T G A M E*
The controllers are crap on these. It’s easy to rewire to atari compatible db9 connectors.
Song sounds like farts
$100 for it to say what you type, and say things like "hurry!" and "More, more, more" during games? I suspect many people were disappointed.
"Ha ha ha! Incredible!"
"I should be able to test this pretty good" that made cringe
Well, I agree.
1:33-1:38 Well come on in butthurt comments, you always do one way or another