Vorbis - Oct 2000 - Games...

>>As a fellow "lead programmer at a" [not-so-major] 
   >>"game comapy" I understand your predicament. But 
   >>instead of waiting for some volunteer to do it 
   >>for free, why don't you convince EA to put someone 
   >>on the task? I realize that good optimizers are 
   >>expensive, but surely EA is looking at way more 
   >>than one programmer's salary in FhG licensing fees. 

I'm not waiting for any volunteers; I am planning on 
doing it myself. I just don't want to do it until I 
have some reason to believe that what I do will not have
to be redone again later after it changes. Why don't 
I "convince EA to put someone on the task"? I have convinced
EA (well, Maxis) and that person is me right now, though 
we have others that could do it too. I am simply more
motivated than they are at this point. In actuality, Maxis 
sound programming is totally separate from EA Sports sound 
programming which is separate from Westwood sound 
programming. So each division will have to write their 
own wrapper (if they want to use Vorbis) and that is not 
a big deal, really. 

As for EA paying FhG licensing fees, AFAIK, we don't do 
that. I personally would rather use no MP3s than pay 
licensing fees for it, and in fact that's what we've 
done. I think other studios within EA have taken a 
similar approach.

Paul

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>>instead of waiting for some volunteer to do it 
>>for free, why don't you convince EA to put someone 
>>on the task? 
>
> I'm not waiting for any volunteers; I am planning on 
> doing it myself. I just don't want to do it until I 
> have some reason to believe that what I do will not have
> to be redone again later after it changes. 
First, let me say sorry for the tone of my response.  I 
didn't mean to sound confrontational.  I only said that 
you shouldn't wait for someone else to do it for free 
because that was the gist I got from your original 
post.  "The day Vorbis is ready with a decent level 
of first-cut optimization is the day I start incorporating 
it"  I just read that as "The day the existing Vorbis 
developers are ready with a decent..."
> Why don't I "convince EA to put someone on the task"? 
> I have convinced EA (well, Maxis) and that person is 
> me right now, though we have others that could do it 
> too. I am simply more motivated than they are at this 
> point. 
Excellent - sorry for jumping to conclusions.
> In actuality, Maxis sound programming is totally 
> separate from EA Sports sound programming which is 
> separate from Westwood sound programming..
Yeah... I just meant that EA in general (and all other
game developers) would benefit from any free alternative 
to mp3.  That's why I said "convince EA" and not 
"convince Maxis."  The cost to Maxis of paying someone 
to optimize vorbis might not equal the savings vs some 
expensive alternative, but EA-wide the savings would 
surely be more than enough.
>> more than one programmer's salary in licensing fees. 
>
> As for EA paying FhG licensing fees, AFAIK, we don't do 
> that. I personally would rather use no MP3s than pay 
> licensing fees for it, and in fact that's what we've 
> done. I think other studios within EA have taken a 
> similar approach.
Ah... I see. Well, then... my reasoning just went out 
the window.  Even more kudos to Maxis then for devoting 
resources to improving vorbis.

Joe Soroka.
Inphinity Interactive
where the games begin...

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