ZdNetItalia : V-Chat

Chat online with visual effects
As a chatter or a viewer, Microsoft's V-Chat adds a 3D, almost-VRML perspective to your online chatting. You use an avatar (a graphical representation of yourself) to move around in various 3D scenes. You can sidle up beside someone and chat with them "face to face" using a variety of expressions and gestures. Mouse-cursor dragging or arrow keys move you around the room, which can have a 360-degree rotation as you look around to see who else is there. All chatting happens through a text-entry bar. Sound effects accompany many actions, along with appropriate background sounds for a lobby or a fireplace-equipped lodge. Microsoft servers provide the background imagery and linkages, so you can expect response speed to vary with Internet connections load. A custom avatar editing package is available separately. Reviewed on Mar 5 1998.