Sound and Music In Video Games

Despite recent promising trends, the visual, graphical component of video games continues to get the biggest slice of the pie. Indeed, this visual bias within the industry is apparent even within the industryʼs traditional name Video Games. There is, however, a growing trend to move away from using this term and instead use more general terms such as “computer games”, “interactive games”, or even simply, “interactive entertainment” (1). One reason for this shift in perception is perhaps due to the widespread availability of cheap, high-powered graphics hardware and because of the widespread availability of tools, artistic and engineering talent. High-quality, realistic graphics have become the expected standard for any major game. As a result, consumers have grown desensitized to “amazing” graphics and expect more from their games. Increasingly, games have begun to explore more fully the potential for sound and music to raise the level of engagement with players. This paper will present an informal and brief historical outline of key developments of interactive sound and and music in video games. It will then outline and discuss examples of current trends interactive audio and music. The paper will then conclude with a discussion of possible future directions for interactive sound and music.