The Billy Bass Assistant is a Raspberry Pi–powered voice assistant embedded inside a Big Mouth Billy Bass Animatronic. It streams conversation using the OpenAI Realtime API, turns its head, flaps it’s tail and moves his mouth based on what he is saying.
This project is still in BETA. Things might crash, get stuck or make Billy scream uncontrollably (ok that last part maybe not literally but you get the point). Proceed with fishy caution.
Features
Realtime conversations using OpenAI Realtime API
Personality system with configurable traits (e.g., snark, charm)
Physical button to start/interact/intervene
3D-printable backplate for housing USB microphone and speaker
Support for the Modern Billy hardware version with 2 motors as well as the Classic Billy hardware version (3 motors)
Lightweight web UI:
Adjust settings and persona of Billy
View debug logs
Start/stop/restart Billy
Export/Import of settings and persona
Hostname and Port configuration
MQTT support:
sensor with status updates of Billy (idle, speaking, listening)
billy/say topic for triggering spoken messages remotely
Raspberry Pi Safe Shutdown command
Home Assistant command passthrough using the Conversation API
Steam’s longstanding dominance in the PC gaming market often raises questions about how close it is to exercising monopoly power. Although the storefront does not meet the technical definition of a monopoly, many developers are concerned about their reliance on Valve’s platform.
In a survey of over 300 executives from large US and UK game companies, 72% either slightly or strongly agreed that Steam constitutes a monopoly over PC games. Furthermore, 88% said that at least three-quarters of their revenue came from Steam, while 37% reported that the platform accounted for 90% of their total revenue.
Steam is by far the largest PC game distribution service, having recently exceeded 41 million concurrent users. Many customers are so adamant about only purchasing games through Steam that the industry’s largest publishers, including EA, Ubisoft, and even Microsoft, have tried – and failed – to withhold their titles from the service.
Still, Steam does not technically control the entire market. The Epic Games Store and the Windows Store are attempting to compete using free game giveaways, Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription service, and lower sales commissions, but they remain far less popular than Steam. Meanwhile, alternative storefronts such as GOG and itch.io have carved out a niche by focusing on indie and retro titles. Moreover, some of the most popular PC games, such as Fortnite, Minecraft, League of Legends, and World of Warcraft, are not available on Steam.
Despite these caveats, Steam has previously drawn accusations of using its dominant market position to control pricing – a key sign of monopoly power. Last year, a class-action lawsuit started by Wolfire Games decried the store’s standard 30 percent revenue cut and alleged that Steam discouraged companies from lowering prices on stores that took smaller sales commissions.
Atomik Research conducted the recent survey on behalf of Rokky, a company that helps game publishers minimize the impact of grey market key resellers on prices. In addition to opinions on Steam, developers also answered questions about the PC market’s biggest challenges.
The increasing popularity of free-to-play games such as Fortnite, DOTA 2, Counter-Strike 2, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Roblox topped the list of concerns for 40% of respondents. Approximately a third mentioned market saturation and discoverability, echoing data that suggests there aren’t enough players for the thousands of new titles released on Steam each year. A similar portion of survey respondents also expressed concerns regarding subscription services.
A monopoly is still a monopoly if there are other players in the market, especially if they are so much smaller. However should there be only a small amount of equal players in the market, the dangers are the same, due to risks of collusion and price fixing as well as only having one other competitor to watch.
