Does Sound Matter In Games?

Recently the Game Developer Magazine's audio columnist made a poll regarding the importance of music and sound in games.

Click on the link for the article.
If you want to take the poll, click "Mister Poll: Video Game Sound" at the bottom of the article.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Yes

[Antan]

If not, i don`t get paid!................

[TruthHurts]

more than you could ever imagine.

[Lacarious]

Does Sound Matter In Games?

whoever asked this question should jump off a cliff into a sea of needles.

[snoop_dizzle]

that some people wouldn't think good sound is really important.

Sadly the importance of sound is quite underrated.

[TheExecutive]

I agree. Sound is quite underrated. I think a reason for this is the lack of people with good sound systems. However, once someone hears a game with good sound on a great sound system they would quickly change their minds.

[snoop_dizzle]

but i use optical for digital sound so i can still be immersed in a game.

Fortunetly for me, I'm getting a Harmnn Kardon 7.1 receiver for only 500 dollars. And from the looks of it and the stuff I've seen about it, its a really good receiver.

In some ways i think a good sound system is as good or better than a good HDTV. For me at least it immerses me more.

[PhinneousD]

If it didn't matter we would be stuck with midi on our current games.

[SKUD]

Don't let any one EVER tell you different.

[sjappie]

It really makes you play better since you are more aware of your surroundings. And a big-ass plasma hdtv helps out alot to.

[timmyp53]

.

[Why o why]

everybody seems to agree. Underrated and highly important

[Excalibur]

One of the best games I've played with the creepiest sounds was Condemned for the XBox 360.

[lil bush]

thats a dumb ?

[Bhai]

I was surfing the web just then, somehow I happened upon 'bloop'...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

That article struck my innermost desires for adventurous excitements,
I was all thrilled and said to myself that "Yes, this is what I have
been waiting for the last 6 years since I read Necronomicon...a
proof !"

Some better samplings of the sounds I found on this page below, .wav
files near the bottom of the page:

http://www.bloopwatch.org/t...

After that I searched for related stuff and got this excellent looking
art-inspired silent picture rendition of the great myth:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=...

The staged quality and retro-feel is all awesome but some thing must
not miss the ultimate atmospheric entity...and you do know what is
this entity...#sobbing#...SOUND !!!
Yes please...we need sound bad !!! #still-sobbing#

[spacetoilet]

Hey, ask anyone who's on Warhawk Beta right now if sound matters in games. Pfft.

[timmyp53]

.it was funny one day i was playing RFOM in the Bus Yard and it was too quiet and then i heard him walking... I turned around and meleed him to death... hahaha

[Adamalicious]

was quoted as saying that sound is at least 50% of the game experience and I couldn't agree more. One of my favorite things about the new "gen" of consoles is real 5.1 audio. My speakers and I have been waiting for this for years!

[specialguest]

A good surround sound setup is one of those things you wish you had discovered it a long time ago, because that 3d sound just takes gaming to a whole new level, especially for FPS.

[HaKeRsCanRotINHEL]

Of course it does, what kind of asinine question is that!? Unless, they were polling deaf people over the inter-net?

@ my nizzle, snoop dizzle. I highly doubt that, a mono speaker!? To each his own I guess. :)

[snoop_dizzle]

i know a lot of gamers that aren't like that. Remember most of you here are hard core gamers. Granted some of my friends that are gamers are really into games, but not as much as you guys. The last thing i hear usually is sound design, or anything about it for that matter. They would be fine to play games through a mono speaker.

[anthonsh]

I think the question isnt "does sound matter" but "do you need 2 speakers or 5"

Asking if sound matters is like asking if having a tv matters. Some people would argue that you dont HAVE to have an HD tv, but you do need a TV (And good visuals, which you dont necessarily need an HD tv for)

[SmokeyMcBear]

yes sound is very important, and I can dig the 5.1 speaker set up, but when playing a FPS ( on the pc of course..its the best), i like to have a head set on. That way you just turn your head (on screen) to hear where footsteps are coming from, thats the way to play a fps.

[IRISHCALIBER]

I know a die hard Ps2 owner that always rivaled my XBOX 5.1 talk with, if it were important it would be there. What a tool, he thinks because Sony didn't implement Dolby Digital in all their games that he didn't need it or that on some level I guess he didn't even understand it.

By the time he bought a 360 after his extreme disappointment in the PS3 it was to late, Sony had already dumbed him down with the Ps2. So my guess is that only those that have been exposed realize how important digital sound is, and the rest think they care how it sounds but are to ignorant to really understand what discrete channels are. Everything being equal I bet everyone thinks they care, but I know better.

P.S.- 21.1 - As with everything else about the PS3 it doesn't meet the average Playstaion user base. Sony went from No Dolby Digital to 7.1, and most are saying "ummm duh"! Sony just cut it's user base by 75%, thats the way ring in a new generation, that I quote said "next gen starts when we say it does"! Haaaa haaaaa haaaaa haaaa haaaa haaaa

[SmokeyMcBear]

don't lie, you don't have any friends... Funny thing though, Sony is the one implementing 7.1 uncompressed sound in their games.. interesting.

[snoop_dizzle]

ill have a good 7.1 receiver. Which is awesome. The only issue is, we need more good titles to make it worthwhile. Fortunetly thats happening soon.

[Danielson]

not too long ago i bought an onkyo 7.1 system, and upgraded the sub too a velodyne dps-12 and i cant get enough of this system i couldn't imagine
have mono sound in games, it really adds to the experience of the game when the whole room shake when explosions and things are going on
i think that the people that say sound does not matter in games might
not have a good surround sound system and not everone does, but boy are they missing out....i can't wait for warwawk that game is going to crazy
plane coming up from behind you and stuff, and i think it's 7.1 LPCM too.

[CLX]

Sound can make or break a game. With only tin can tv speakers sound is still a huge part of a game. A good surround system can change the entire experience. For example i replayed many of my old games when i upgraded to 5.1 surround. What I am saying is anyone that says game developers don't need to focus too much time on sound is a mentally retarded peice of s#!+ [email protected]$+ard F*%k head!

[ChickeyCantor]

Video game music is one of the reasons i kept on Gaming.
So yess.