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THX To Certify Videogame Audio
dan_linder writes "According to an article on CNet News, THX are starting to certify the audio produced for video games. Good, now all I need are something better than my Labtec speakers on my PC..." According to the piece, "When a company signs up as a licensee... THX sends them specifications on what the company's audio and video production rooms should look like, down to the types of desks people sit at when they are working."
I'm fairly certain Ultima IX did this 4 or 5 years ago. I remember reading that Origin had a new sound system put in, that THX can and inspected it and everything (I think it even had the THX logo on the box). Which make senses, given that that article says that EA had to do much the same thing.
So if I'm right EA is NOT the first to get the THX certification...and this isn't a new idea.
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- Godai
I'm not much of an audiophile myself, but if this means getting that cool THX splash screen like in the movies, I'm all for it.
...down to the types of desks people sit at when they are working.
What do desk types have to do with sound quality? Is THX concerned with the comfort of sound engineers?
"Anyway, long story short... is a phrase whose origins are complicated and rambling...." - Abraham Simpson
'give us your money for a nice logo on the box, please.'
that's what it is really, as the specs can't include "the game must have good music and sound effects that fits into it's atmopshere".
sure, they sat on a certain type of desk or used certain type of devices and software, but where does that really get you in creating game audio that works well with the game? nowhere.
more importantly, when did you buy a game purely for it's audio? and no, i don't think star control 2 would have qualified for this thx logo.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
the article doesn't say whether the certification is for PC or console games. Great if they mean PC games. But shouldn't we be bitchin about the shitty audio from our x-box and PS2? I don't give a rats ass if the game is THX if all I have is 2 channel analog out from my machine. I want an x-box with digital multi channel outputs. ProLogic sucks when compared to DTS.
I hate the damn THX robot that shows up before movies to loudly announce the presence of THX sound. The stupid THX noise is so discordant, ugly, and more often than not too LOUD. it puts me in a bad mood before the movie even starts.
I'd better not hear it before I play my video games too, god dammit! Oh wait, something tells me not too many Linux games are going to have to worry about this. Whew.
THX isn't a certification of audio quality. It's certification of audio quality inside an architecturally THX-certified room. So, it means that the sound on the game is best heard in an architecturally THX-certified room....
Unless they also hand out pamphlets on how to arrange your room according to THX standards, you'll get, at best, average sounding audio. At least this is how I understand it. Anyone?
Jeffool.
Oh yeah: THX. Your ears are bleeding.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
Good thing I've got THX certified speakers, and an auditorium to setup my computer in... Wait, no I don't, and neither does >99% of the world. On the other hand I might be convinced to buy a THX certified GBA game :)
My inner self is ineffable, so don't eff with me.
THX, an entity formed from the tremendous overflowing creative genius of George Lucas, is starting to put their seal of approval on stuff?
That's what THX is for. They're not a sound house; that's Skywalker Sound. They're a certification group.
Lucas, when he went to see Star Wars in theaters, was appalled at the presentation quality. He had gone to extreme lengths to make great film and sound quality in production, but a lot of theaters, frankly, sucked.
So he created THX, a certification program to set a high quality bar for theaters. THX has a number of criteria. A lot of people think it's just sound, and that's a big part of THX, since it's often one of the most misunderstood parts of theatrical presentation. But THX also evaluates the projection, with criteria on luminance variation, geometric distortion, etc. THX also evaluates more comprehensive theater quality issues, such as the lighting in the parking lot, obstructed seating, and noise bleeding from adjacent screens. After all, who's in the best mood to enjoy a movie after they stub their toe in the parking lot?
In this area, known as TAP, THX is a voluntary quality certification program for theaters. A theater with THX certification isn't necessarily better than one that isn't. But it does meet a certain level of quality, and it's a high level. Personally, when I go to see cool movies, I go to a THX theater. That way, I can know that I'll have a great presentation. At other theaters, I may get a great presentation, or I may get a mediocre presentation, or I may be unable to enjoy the movie because I'm distracted by loads of presentation flaws.
THX also certifies the production process of movies, to make sure that correct picture and sound control mechanisms are in place. Having a great theater doesn't help much if you have a 50dB noise floor in your production process.
Now, THX is extending this to videogame soundtracks. This seems like a perfectly good way to go. Videogame soundtracks have come a long way from the blip-blips of Pac-Man. Sound is increasingly an enveloping part of the videogame, and I think it's good that producers are willing to go the extra mile to make sure it's being done well.
Isn't that as worthless as getting a thumbs-up from Pauly Shore after telling a joke?
THX has nothing to do with creativity; no certification process can. It has to do with technical production quality. Lucas has very high standards in this area.
Until you look at their games.. :P
I know you were joking, but I want my Karma, so I'm going to reiterate your post in a serious tone.
I noticed the THX logo at the begining of SSX 3 and though it a little strange. But hey, if it makes people buy THX speakers and give money to Lucas I guess this is a good thing???
Sorry if this is trollish...
It's not like this is a surprise. Klipsch was the first to market with THX certified speakers specifically for home PCs, and that was almost two years ago. Of course, you could argue that they were intended for those that used their PCs as a media centre (movies, music, etc...) but anyone who uses a PC for those purposes more than likely plays a few games. Regardless, would this actually make a game more attractive to me? Not freakin' likely.
But they need to be funny ones, like the robot one..
or better yet, have the game's character be in the THX thing, sorta like what lucasarts does with its logo sometimes.
Newsie, Moderator, www.tauniverse.com
- cost. You can't beat free.
- license. You can't beat GNU-GPL.
- accessability. Most PC+console games are geared towards gaming experts, who won't be happy unless they spend 100+ user-hours on a game. Otherwise how do they justify paying $50 for it? As a result the games are bloated and huge. If my girlfriend has to read an instruction manual to know how to play, she aint going to play it with me.
- The underlying OS is non-evil, with reasonable redistribution rights.
- Of course, no reboot.
Examples of games I have fun with are: Star Control 2 (aka UrQuaan Masters), glTron, Copter Commander, Xboard, Xpilot, Quake3 demo, and Tribes 2.While looking at AV receivers and speakers over the last few months, one thing I've seen repeated over, and over again is that THX certification generally isn't worth it. It costs a fair amount to be certified and those costs are passed straight on to the consumer.
Most of these items cost $500.00 and up, and the price is just tacked on. What's this going to do for the cost of games then? Is it going to add $5 to the cost of games to cover it? The way they seem to be certifying, perhaps it's a one off cost for the studio. But honestly, the vast majority of people don't have cool sound systems attached to their computers. Perhaps the games industry is trying to change that?
Isn't one of the technologies that Carmack wants to push with Doom 3, surround sound?
Refuse to make a statement in your sig!
I haven't played that many Lucas games. Lessee... their SCUMM games that I've played-- Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, and Sam & Max-- have all had great production quality, for the day, but given that some of this was EGA era, there's only so much you can do.
Next was X-Wing. The only other thing that was really comparable at the time was Wing Commander. If you put the two side-by-side, I'd say that the X-Wing rendering technology was marginally better. Sound-wise, it also had things like flowing music (calm music when you were idle, flowing naturally into battle themes when you're approaching enemies), stereo imaging of sound effects along a spectrum (which had been technically possible for years but nobody did it), and possibly the first sound config program that didn't suck.
I had TIE Fighter, but didn't play it enough to form an opinion about its technical merits.
My most recent Lucas purchase was Rogue Leader for the GC. One of the first games I've seen to use Dolby Pro Logic II. The poly handling was terrific. The number of polys in the Imperial Cruiser, for example, was astounding-- to many to render at once-- but the poly count of different parts of the cruiser were reduced depending on how well-viewed it was. Now, this is not an uncommon technique, but I haven't ever seen it applied as well as in this case. I never noticed it when I played; it was only the director's commentary that let me know it was there.
Maybe I just got the good stuff. Is LucasArts's other stuff crappy quality?
PS: THX has nothing to do with LucasArts. LucasArts is a division of LucasFilm, and THX used to be held by LucasFilm, but are now a privately held company, with LucasFilm as a major investor.
To be THX certified you have to have the sound guys sit in special chairs?
> Maybe I just got the good stuff. Is
> LucasArts's other stuff crappy quality?
Ever played their SNES games? Excellent graphics, but not really too fun to play.
Circumcision is child abuse.
There seems to be a bit of confusion over the part of the article where it says they are told what kind of desk to sit at. "Desk" is audio engineer jargon for an audio mixing board. Thus, it makes perfect sense to be told what kind of desk to use.
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Headphones are seriously underrated as sound gear. You get more accurate sound for cheaper than equally accurate speakers, and IMHO it's more immersive, as they filter out outside sound and put the game sound right in your ears.
I use Sony MDR-7506 headphones. They're usually used for monitoring studio recordings, but at $100, they give better sound than any equally or higher priced speaker setup. Mostly because with headphones you don't get room echo, and you can't hear your computer fans whining away as much.
Don't think you can get aurround sound without surround speakers? How do you think that you perceive surround sound with only two ears in the first place? Audio programmers are getting a lot better at reproducing the exact audio cues that we use to perceive surround sound, without the wastefulness of using four speakers to stimulate two ears.
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Wow. Thanks for the corrections folk. I humbly bow out. (Now don't you wish others would on Slashdot when proved wrong? ;) )
Jeffool.
I knew I bought those klipsh promedia hunk of junks for something!
Look it's a joke about my sig IN MY SIG! LOL!
Is LucasArts's other stuff crappy quality?
LucasArts' sound quality has been top-notch in every game that I've played. I've even had people come from other rooms of the house thinking I was watching one of the Star Wars movies while playing some of their games.
That being said, the games themselves are hit and miss, though compared to many they have a fairly good record, imo.
-PainKilleR-[CE]