What Happened To PC Gaming Audio?

Thanks to The Adrenaline Vault for its feature discussing why computer audio has become a critically undervalued part of a PC purchase. The author indicates the worry that "computer audio is taken for granted, and that other components make the difference between high- and low-end systems", and voices concern that "most new [PC] computer games - including major releases - don't take advantage in any significant way of the capabilities of the latest generation of audio cards." He ends with the heartfelt wish: "I'm waiting for the day when I hear someone say, 'That game sounds so great, I have to buy it!' I hope people become more educated about audio so they can talk about it with the same enthusiasm that they discuss 3D video hardware acceleration or high definition plasma screens."

Comments

It's the drivers

[Nutter9182]

The answer is very simple - audio drivers are *SO* incredibly bad that they can't be relied upon for anything more than the absolute bare minimum functions.

Working at a well known PC game studio, we (and many other studios) have had to implement all audio mixing in software, only using the soundcard for raw playback.

That wonderful audio card you have? It's no more useful than on-board audio.
Don't like the situation? Neither do we - blame Creative and the other manufacturers who constantly pump out junk drivers.

PC Audio is much more mature

[martinthebrit]

I think one reason that we don't see Games taking advantage of the latest gee-whiz auto card features is that PC audio cards have been able to deliver realism for a long time now. Sounds are sampled, environmental processing effects applied (which are, in the main, not processor intensive enough to require much hardware acceleration) and, with a decent pair of stereo speakers - to say nothing of a 5.1 system, the effect is realistic enough that you feel immersed in the game. The same is only just becoming true of 3D graphics with the current state-of-the-art hardware, and there's still a long way to go.

As many people point out, for the unwashed masses who cannot tell the difference between a 128kbps MP3 and the original audio, pro-level audio soundcards like the Audigy are just overkill and will remain in the domain of the musician and those who care about sound quality. We are a lot more forgiving about audio quality than visual quality; I know I will happily listen to a LW radio broadcast, but I find a low signal TV broadcast unwatchable.

Until games use more audio gimmicks; real-time physically modelled sounds generated on the fly for example, we will have no requirements over those currently implemented on all on-board audio.

Where's the marketing?

[Vincman]

You want to hear people rave about sound, then it will have to be sold to them. In movies this already happens in the cinema, which makes people want their own home-entertainment system. Since there's no similar event for gaming (appart from cult-gatherings, etc), how many people will consider it an issue? At the same time, the integration of game-consoles into existing entertainment systems has raised the attention-level a bit.
There's also the matter of soundtracks, which is an underused option in games. A great soundtrack will make me want to see a movie and vice versa.
All that being said, I have not really found sound in games lacking, even though I have $7 pc-speakers. I find wearing earphones actually gives me an advantage in games like counterstrike, in which hearing the enemy approach is of vital importance.

The Thief franchise

[Synkronos]

There has in fact already been a game that people bought for the sound. Friends of mine actually went out and upgraded their PC sound purely to get a better play experience out of Thief: The Dark Project (1998). It was one of the first games that used positional sounds as an integral part of the game, making for an innovative play style that spawned the stealth genre which now also includes games like Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell. Thief works slightly differently to the other Stealth games, since you are very weak in open confrontation. Not paying attention to certain important sounds (like a guard's footsteps for example) can lead to a swift and painful death. This new genre is very successful at the moment, with sequels for all three games mentioned coming out this year - Thief 3: Deadly Shadows, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, all of which have received good to excellent reviews.