waterskidoo <water.skidoo@xxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> On 2007-07-27, Mark Kent <mark.kent@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>
>> Modern graphics cards are rather good, and the quality of art which
>> accompanies modern games is very impressive. However, a major part of
>> these games is the sound-stage, it contributes greatly to the feeling
>> of total immersion. Having a large screen also can help, so long as
>> the graphics do not pixellate in a too-visible way.
>
> Yea! This guy has the works, surround sound etc.
> I was blown away, literally, by how much fun this was.
This was the area where Doom really started things, it was the first
game where the sounds were properly atmospheric, with sound travelling
along corridors, through windows, and even doors, with proper direction
and reductions in level and so on, so you really felt as if you were
inside the building or area where the game was set. The 3D graphics are
clearly important to add to the look, but the sound is, in many
respects, rather more important.
Of course, you can spoil the whole effect by using audio post-processing
with "ambience" or "3D sound", which distorts the amplitude, phase and
spectrum signifcantly, and worse than that, in distorting the phase and
levels, moves the stereo image point all over the place. This means
that a sound which should have appeared, say, just behind you and to the
right (in 3+ channels) or to your right (in stereo) could be anywhere,
and worse, is likely to seem to move whilst it is still sounding, as its
spectrum changes over the duration of the sound.
Another word for "3D sound" would be "distortion".
Like all such things, it seems impressive in the shop, though.
>
>> The other issue, though, is having either real people opponents, or AI
>> which is so good it acts like people (or so close that you cannot tell
>> the difference).
>
> He was playing real people on a network, I was just playing the stock
> game because I sucked at it.
>
>> The owner of the Xbox should be concerned about reliability, though -
>> they are not reliable because they have a fundamental design flaw.
>
> Yes, he is concerned. So much so that he fired off an email to Microsoft
> asking for what options he has. I think he has some kind of extended
> support contract on the thing, or warranty or something above the standard
> fair.
I wish him luck.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
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