This week’s reading delves into a few different issues revolving around sound and videogames. Most prominent is the advancement of the technology that delivers sound to the player of the videogame. This advancement is affected by a variety of issues. Sound generation has been a limiter for games in the past, as the sounds were created on the console itself. A transition occurred towards recorded sounds due to the limitations of sound generating technology. Once recorded sounds were being used, the issue of memory space was once again limiting the game. As speaker technology advanced, the use of surround sound increased. All of these factors remain dependent on one another. Speaker technology, a force outside of the realm of the videogame or the console, determined what sounds would be incorporated into the game. The memory of the game disk then determined what sounds would be included, while the limitation of the consoles processing power determined how many sounds could be played at once. What could be different?
Role Playing (video)Games represent a new spectrum of sound development for videogames. The realistic elements of some RPG’s require realistic sounds, aside from the unrealistic, aesthetically focused, sounds associated with other videogames. Sounds began to focus on these realistic elements, and they continued to develop in that spectrum. Is it possible that a new area of sound emerge? With a new game, console, or development of speakers, I feel that the sounds present in videogames could transform again. This wouldn’t need to affect all videogames; it could only develop for a limited focus. But what would that new focus be?
I challenge everyone to think about a new sound presence.