Blizzard has announced the World of Warcraft Tap Chat, a foot pedal designed to be used as a push-to-talk device in conjunction with the Sound Blaster World of Warcraft Headset. Developed by Creative, creators of Sound Blaster, it is exclusively available at the Blizzard and Creative online stores. There do not appear to be product pages for it in either location as of yet, though there is one on the UK Creative store website. Based on its £25 price tag there, a direct conversion to USD would put it at around $38, but it may well be cheaper in the US. Also included are a pair of interchangeable lenses for the aforementioned Sound Blaster Headset, pictured above.
While I admit to being vaguely intrigued by this concept, I’m not sure exactly how big the market really is for this product. A number of WoW players probably do have problems with push-to-talk systems for voice chat in the midst of a tense raid, but honestly my first thought if I wanted to buy something to solve that issue would be to get a mouse with more buttons or something to that effect. I can also definitely envision a lot of accidental stamping on this pedal during the heat of combat. If you try this product yourself, please let me know in the comments and give me your impressions.
There are USB pedals out there that can be programmed to press anything you want. Why buy something that is limited tom JUST that headset and JUST for talking? Just more Acti-Blizzzard cash-in crapware.
June 28th, 2010 at 10:32 pmQuote
we are trying to find where we can buy the sound Blaster world of warcraft tap chat.
June 29th, 2010 at 12:29 pmQuote
@Qix213
The product says that you can use it as a macro as well, so, I would assume that it would be similar to the pedals you are talking about that, “can be programmed to press anything you want.” This is noted on the products own webpage: (http://us.store.creative.com/Sound-Blaster-World-of-Warcraft-Tap/M/B003BQKCUI.htm)
[quote]The Sound Blaster® World of Warcraft® Tap Chat™ foot pedal gives you an edge over others, as it can be used as a push-to-talk key or to trigger a favorite macro, keeping your hands free to have total control in the game.[/quote]
Dana, that page is also a location as to where the item can be purchased. :)
June 30th, 2010 at 1:36 amQuote
I use a USB foot pedal currently but have been having issues with it working on my new machine so I am curious what software setup they are using to control this. As far as function, a foot pedal actually works great fro chat–and frees up the mouse buttons or keys for other stuff.
July 1st, 2010 at 9:46 amQuote
Im gonna bind my pedal to /spit.
Ill be tapin’ all day baby!
July 1st, 2010 at 11:55 amQuote
This would be of interst to many people if it does not require their headset, and can be mapped to a key macro for use in any software.
October 14th, 2010 at 10:57 amPeople aren’t going to drop £100/£200+ sennheiser headsets for creative ones for it, and it would be very useful for any voicecoms software or transcription.
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This is a real shame -
Minimum System Requirements
* Sound Blaster World of Warcraft Wireless Headset or Sound Blaster World of Warcraft Headset (sold separately)
http://uk.store.creative.com/products/product.aspx?catid=1&pid=19725
lost a large market there.
I havn’t seen a pedal that wasn’t seriously cheep and nasty, or seriously overpriced till now.
but trying to get it to drive sales of their other hardware will mean this will never be a coveted piece of equipment.
October 14th, 2010 at 11:04 amQuote
Actually it had been a while since I looked, I just found an near identical looking one for £10 that works as a Human Interface Device in windows so works with anything.
October 14th, 2010 at 11:26 amjust look for usb hid peddle on google.
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it works on anything you do how ever have to download headset drivers to map the keys you want. Am using this on my teamspeak3 server with my Blue Yeti mic and have no problems with it.
December 26th, 2010 at 3:37 pmQuote
Problem with the tapchat is that it required the software from the headset. otherwise you just have a footpedal that does ctrl+alt+del as that is the factory default.
April 21st, 2011 at 4:58 pmNO, you cannot dl and install the headset software separate unless the software installation package pre detects your headset. which it don’t unless you have it.
The headset is not required to run with the tapchat, just the software that comes with the headset. so basicly $185.00 for a 1 button foot pedal.
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edit:
April 21st, 2011 at 5:02 pmtapchat 29.99
wireless headset 159.99 -or-
headset 99.99
So at minimum $130.00 for a footpedal
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