Use of multiple player real-time voice communications on a gaming device

A method for enabling a plurality of players on a game console to verbally communicate through the game console during play of a game, comprising the steps of:

• (a) for each of the plurality of players who are participating in the game, providing an audio sensor and an audio transducer coupled to the game console for use by the player, said audio sensor producing an input signal to the game console in response to a verbal utterance produced by the player, said audio transducer producing sound audible to the player in response to an output signal from the game console;
• (b) encoding the input signal from each audio sensor into a format used by the game console for transfer to at least one intended recipient from among the plurality of players;
• (c) for each intended recipient, decoding from the format used by the game console, to produce the output signal for the intended recipient;
• and
• (d) for each intended recipient, producing an audible signal corresponding to the output signal, using the audio transducer of the intended recipient so that the intended recipient hears a verbal communication from another player of the game.

A system that enables verbal communication between players who are playing a game, comprising:

• (a) a multiplayer game console that includes a processor and a memory in which are stored machine instructions for causing the processor to carry out a plurality of functions, said functions including executing an instance of a game;
• (b) verbal communication input and output devices for each player who will be verbally communicating during a game, each verbal communication input and output device comprising:
• (i) a sound sensor that produces an input signal indicative of sound incident on the sound sensor;
• and
• (ii) a sound transducer that produces an audible sound in response to an output signal that is applied to the sound transducer;
• (c) an encoder that encodes the input signal applied to the encoder from a sound transducer, producing an encoded signal;
• and
• (d) a decoder that decodes the encoded signal, producing the output signal that is applied to at least one sound transducer.