Microsoft Corp has acquired ShadowFactor Software Inc, a Canadian games company, on undisclosed terms. Microsoft wants the company for its Battlefield Communicator technology, also known as BattleCom, which enables players to talk to one another while engaged in multiplayer Internet gaming, rather than communicating by typing.
The acquisition was announced during the Meltdown 99 Conference in Seattle, where DirectX developers have gathered. Jay Torborg, director of graphics and multimedia in Microsoft’s Consumer Windows Division, said the technology will be incorporated into DirectX 8.0, a forthcoming version of the multimedia API set, due for release late in the summer of 2000. Once integrated into DirectX, BattleCom will be applicable to all multiplayer online game titles, Microsoft said.
