Audio Limitations of Game Platforms

   Game soundtracks have advanced a lot over the years; during the early days most games had very monotone sounds that had been created within some sort of synthesizer software on a PC; now however most games have full orchestral soundtracks or popular songs implemented into them.

   Pong is the first video game to ever reach mainstream popularity in 1972 when it was released; the game itself was very basic and didn’t have a soundtrack; instead it just had 3 key sounds that indicated the key moment of the game. These key moments were when the ball hit the paddle, when the ball hit the side of the screen and one when a player missed the ball. These sounds were purely just for informative reasons. Soundtracks weren’t particularly important at the time because games weren’t advanced at this stage; people of that time couldn’t even imagine what games would be like now.

      The first ever game to have a continuous background soundtrack was the arcade game Space Invaders which was released in 1978. The background soundtrack was the sound of the space invaders moving faster and nearer to you, the player. The importance of backing soundtrack stuck out after this was released because it adds a lot to the gaming experience. The soundtrack creates a sense of urgency which encourages the player to reach their goal by killing all of the space invaders before they get to you.

   As most people know the late 1970’s and the early 1980’s were known as the ‘Golden Age of Arcade Video Games’. This is when games were getting extremely popular, and arcade games in particular. One of the most popular games of that time was Super Mario Bros. which was released in 1985; this game had one of the most advanced soundtracks of its time because of its use of different notes. It was obviously created within a synthesizer but it is much different to the early soundtracks of the 70’s because the sounds are much more high-pitched and imitate the sound of a steel drum giving the soundtrack its famous ‘calypso’ sound. The soundtrack was very important for this game because without it it may not be as recognisable as it is. In this game you can notice how the soundtrack changes as Mario enters different worlds; this gives the areas their own identity. The sound developers for Super Mario Bros. definitely did well in making their sound recognisable as the theme tune is known worldwide even now!

   The 1990’s is the era when the ‘Golden Age of Arcade Video Games’ began to fade due to the growing popularity of home consoles. With this change a new method of recording sounds for video games began to arise. In 1998 the first ever orchestral recording for a video game soundtrack was produced for the game Heart of Darkness; however it wasn’t the first game to be released with an orchestral soundtrack due to delays. It was a massive breakthrough for video game soundtracks because before this game all game soundtracks were produced with a synthesizer. The addition of orchestral soundtracks made games feel all the more real and allowed gamers to immerse themselves into the game. Even greater things were yet to come.

   In 2000 games were starting to use licensed songs as their soundtracks; Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was one of the first games to use popular licensed songs for the entire soundtrack. The producers knew that their target audience were very interested in music, and ‘skater’ music in particular that’s why they made the soundtrack this way. It also keeps the player interested since the game can become rather repetitive.

   Since then game audio has developed even more and games rarely use synthesizers to create their soundtracks. Instead they create their own original sounds or take licensed songs. Game soundtracks are now more effective than ever before. Games like Skyrim have created epic soundtracks that last hours on end that play constantly throughout the long game play.