It's true that many of us are captivated by pretty graphics BUT

How about the Audio side of things? I mean it seems like many times we get excited about advancements in graphics and go on and on and on about the newest graphics card that can push nano crystal quantom dots but completely ignore audio. While the truth is that Audio can actually be more immersive as far as making you feel like you're actually there more so than video (VR not withstanding since it's technically in its infancy at this point)

With the arrival of the original xbox and ps2 I remember people being excited that we finally could get things like dolby digital in games but it seems like since then things have kinda just been stuck there.

Where's 3D sound? Do we even have games that support lossless formats like dolby true HD or DTS HD MA

I know that the latest battlefront actually supported dolby atmos? (Someone who owns the game can confirm) since I'm not touching that game but still that's good to see.

I know most pc gamers tend to play with good set of 2.1 speakers or headphones but still I feel like devs could do more to bring the state of audio in video games further along into modern times.

I want to play a game where if I'm playing and close my eyes then the dialogue, special effects, or ambient sound or whatever it is happening in the game makes me feel like I'm actually there!

Now I know things have come further a long than the atari or 8 bit days where we would get like midi soundtracks and what not but still.........

What you guys think? Do you care about audio quality in games as much as you do video/ visual?

It's a shame because some of the most memorable music/ soundtrack I've heard in my life time have been from video games.... especially rpgs.

No music for me. I prefer the environmental game sounds, in other words, the sounds of the game world. I'm playing SOMA. I'm definitely tuned in to the environmental sounds. I don't really get scared (yet). But, I definitely jumped a couple of times when my youngest kid tapped me because I was so engrossed in the game. I was tuned in to every sound being made.

Soundtracks tend to mask out game sounds or cover for the lack of them. I might as well put in a music CD or play an .mp3 while playing a (PC) game.

I care about the audio as much as the video.

Some N64 games had dolby digital surround sound. I'm not sure about the PS1 though.

Sound in games are pretty good IMO.

I never really payed attention to audio, but I do to the soundtrack. Also headsets help.

So for you a good looking nice sounding game must cause an orgasm even if it's a shit game.

I find sound design to be really important and often neglected by developers.

You can design a lush, living world visually but if you don't match that with audio it feels dead and awkward. Sound effects are important, but just the environmental audio should be considered. An environment is almost never entirely quiet; you should hear the wind cutting through trees that rustle and the soft crashing of waves against shores while birds above you lightly caw and their wings flap. Everything makes noise that you should be able to hear, even if you're just standing still.

Good sound design is also way cheaper than good visual design so it's one of the most cost effective ways to make your game more immersive.

I don't care that much about the sound unless it is annoying.

I put much more importance on the soundtrack. I'm from the NES days and in that time without voice actor, the music had to convey all the emotion and so when a game has music that also convey some emotion, I really get into the game.

I got the hardware for great sound. Even the arcade cabinet I'm working on will have JL Audio 500 watt system built in and an Xfi Titanium Fatal1ty audio card. I'm not into the golden ear approved crowd as my hearing has a point of diminishing returns like most normal people. But for most modern games, I prefer environmental sounds over music. My current PC uses virtual 7.1 Sonicmaster with Wave's technology and MB3, I personally can't really tell the difference over actual 7.1 and nowadays I use headphones. I remember with Crysis how I could crawl through the jungle and I could actually hear the leaves move and the twigs crackle, they did a pretty good job on the sound. But developers use audio API's so outside of recording the sounds, they don't have to do anything with it beyond that as the API will take care of the environmental acoustics which for the most part imo are adequate enough. Granted I think they do a poor job with empty rooms, concrete tunnels and the like although Metro did a decent job.

Although most gamers don't pay much attention to the sound, it most certainly does effect their level of immersion subconsciously. Pay attention when playing a game like Metro, how the concrete and metal sounds as you walk...etc however they did fail at distant sounds because realistically you would hear even an animal scurrying from 100 yards from inside a concrete tunnel. I've been in a lot of utility tunnels and stealth doesn't apply much down there.

Battlefraud ea is one of the worst games I have played last year, its a disgrace to the old battlefront games. EA doesnt deserve the battlefront license.

Did EA make the old battlefront games? I forgot. Yeah, EA doesn't deserve the battlefront license. They didn't put the death star map in the new game.

Sound design is extremely important, but I think it's too subtle to be on the forefront of most gamer's minds. Graphics and visual aesthetics are much easier to notice.

i think part of the problem is that most people are not going to invest in high end audio hardware. alot of people spend a lot of money on their tv, they spend money to go from 720P to 1080P to 4K and developers can invest in tech and tools that take advantage of that as can hardware manufacturers.

but a lot less people invest in high end 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound systems or even top end headphones. this is very expensive equipment and most people dont see (or hear) the benefit...at least not enough to justify the outlay. fewer still are willing to invest in high end sound cards (do consoles even have dedicated sound processors or is it just done on the CPU these days?). to get the best out of really high end audio sources requires some really specialised and expensive equipment. to get the best out of a run of the mill CD can cost 1000s in hardware.

so selling a game on its audio prowess is much much harder and the vast majority of people wont get a benefit. its a hard sell to set aside the resources needed to process really high end audio systems. hell AI programmers have to fight for the 5% of CPU time.

Some soundtracks are really good, so there are those I like to listen to.

This thread is moving slower than I thought.

This thread is about audio in games, I think the Battlefront sucks thread is somewhere else.

It might be because we had a similar thread not long ago from Cloud Imperium.

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But yeah OP, I'm definitely all about some good sound design in games. Be it the up front sound effects, the ambient sounds, or the music. I'll take proficiency in those aspects of a game over some flashy graphics any day.

I typically game with headphones on. I do have a decent surround setup, but headphones just do it for me.

Sound, like listening to footsteps, is something I only pay attention to when I'm playing an FPS online. Music, however, I value very much, because not only can it sway my emotions while playing (like pumping me up), it is the most memorable aspect of many of my favorite games, as by just listening to it on its own can make me relive those gaming moments again. Conversely, if a game has a dull soundtrack, I'm probably not going to find the game, itself, memorable.

@raugutcon: should I even reply to this?

Nothing you said has anything remotely close to what my topic is about.

Damn I wasted time, effort & energy replying

@osan0: hmmm I see. You seem to be one of the few that understood what I was trying to get it. Critical reading FTW!

Your post sheds light on something very important and overall I think you touched upon a lot of things.

Most people still play games on crappy speakers and most people are more willing to spend thousands of $ on tvs & displays with the new bells & whistles than say go out and buy a pair of high fidelity speakers for like $1000 so maybe perhaps game devs cater to the lowest denomination rather than allocate high resources into the audio aspect of games they know not many people will take advantage of.

Most people that enjoy high quality sound tend to be audiophiles that are also really big into home theaters and movie viewing.

For other people that have posted.... Also this thread is less about debating things like soundtrack music and sound effects (environmental audio) but the actual quality of the audio itself.

Kinda like listening to an MP3 quality music or actually buying high resolution music beyond 44khz sample rate

You don't even have to spend that much to get really good quality audio if you know what you're doing. If you are gaming in a normal sized room, you can get a Yamaha/Sony 5.1/7.1 lpcm receiver and quality speakers reasonably priced.

It makes all the difference.

I care about sound and music way more than graphics

Environmental 3D audio can come through on a 2.0 or 2.1 setup no problem, for headphone users that is. The consoles are no longer really limited in the audio department and the on-board audio processing on PC motherboards is fantastic today. From a hardware perspective it comes down to the individual setup. Most people don't invest much into audio equipment. Either they use their TV speaker, a crappy pair of headphones, or some really cheap home entertainment system (a soundbar or some really cheap speaker both paired with a very basic amp). Not much anybody can do about that. More people need to realize that spending some money into the sound equipment of your setup goes a long way.

From a game perspective really comes down to the developer, the technology they use, the skill of their sound department, and how well the audio is implemented in the game. The consoles and PCs are no longer a bottleneck in that department.

Indeed, sound is completely underrated.... I've been using a pair of Open AKG headphones recently, combined with a decent sound card (with AMP) ... the large sound-scape combined with the quality is just superb ... makes most gaming headsets sound like a joke (well the more affordable ones anyway).

In Counter-strike the directional accuracy makes a big difference over closed. In games like the witcher.... all the unique sounds from all directions, especially when in Witcher-sense mode sounds fantastic.

Graphics are important, but so is sound, inputs, responsiveness etc ....

Audio has been pretty good ever since optical discs were adopted.