Sound is absolutely crucial in any video game; it's no coincidence that some of the finest productions in history also feature some of the best sound presentations. This is why we were interested to see the list of winners from the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) Awards.
For those of you who aren't aware, G.A.N.G. is a "non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of game audio," and this year marked the 7th annual G.A.N.G. Awards where they honored "outstanding creative, technical and artistic audio achievement in the world of interactive entertainment." Over 800 members in over 30 countries voted and the final ceremony was held in San Francisco at last week's Game Developers Conference. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to game composer agent Bob Rice, who has been a part of the music and record industry for over 50 years and has received 31 gold and platinum records in his illustrious career. He's been involved in game audio since the early '80s and he even helped design the "first officially licensed music industry video game" in Journey (1983). The list of games he has worked on since then is giant, and it includes well-known titles like Gears of War , Splinter Cell , Hitman , Mass Effect , Everquest II , Quake , Prince of Persia , and many more.
As for other prestigious awards, EA's Dead Space took home the coveted Audio of the Year prize while Afrika – available only in Asian territories at this time – received Music of the Year (okay, now we gotta play that game). Dead Space also picked up Sound Design of the Year, Grand Theft Auto IV won Best Dialogue, LittleBigPlanet was given Best Interactive Score, Best Use of Licensed Music went to Rock Band 2 , and God of War: Chains of Olympus won Best Handheld Audio. Congrats to all the winners, and keep the excellent sound coming!
…….. I fail to see the point of the rewards ceremony.
That's your overall outlook on life, the universe, and everything, isn't it?
-Arvis
It's the avatar it has to be makes me so dysthymic
Of course you do Mr. Cranky Pants!
well like them, we still have no answer.
You can pick up the Asian version of Afrika, called Hakuna Matata. It is import friendly.
As in the Lion King?
LOL. It has nothing to do with The Lion King, except for the name.
I know you guys are probably tired of hearing this but how in the world did MGS4 not win an award!? I mean don't get me wrong I love the feel Dead Space gives but come on Harry Greggson-Williams had composed audio for The Rock, Narnia, Armageddon, COD3 and 4, and MGS 1, 2, 3, and 4. SO how come he wasn't mentioned, huh? I find this quite disturbing. The game was freaking awesome I even go back and play just for the audio, which is saying something.
But anyways congrats to Dead Space for their win and also good work for the people behind GoW CoO audio. Next year I see Resistance: Retribution taking the Handheld award.
Very true, the music in the MGS games has always been so good I had to buy the soundtrack. Luckily MGS4/CE came with the soundtrack.
That's one of the reasons why I bought the CE, because I knew that The music was going to be awesome
Resistance Retribution actually made me go "Wow, this is a great sound track!" Most games I don't even notice the background music.
RR is done very well, gameplay, visuals, music all are spot on for the mighty PSP. Well done Bend Studios.
P.S. Resistance Retribution is better than R2 IMHO.
I found R:R to be better story wise. IMO I would give R2 a 8.9 where R:R would get 9.6 considering the story.
I was quite amazed at the attention to detail for a handheld game. And the fact that the last battle was one of the funnest I have ever had in a while I hope that SONY would green light another sequel for the PSP or the rumored PSP2.
I liked the cover system and longer gameplay of the single player mode. R2 was over far too fast.
One thing I couldn't get past in R2 was the lousy, cel-shading, cartoony look. But then I found out that there was a Resistance comic book series and then it made sense why they went that way instead of realistic…still don't like it.
Last edited by Tim Speed24 on 3/31/2009 1:50:25 PM
I love the comics, and I do agree with you on the graphics of R2 I would've much preferred if they stood with the style of the first which imo was more realistic.
And R:R cover system is the best I've seen.
The soundtrack that came with MGS4 CE isn't the full soundtrack. It was just a sampler. The full soundtrack is two discs with 47 songs.
Maybe now we MIGHT see a localized Afrika game?
And yet whenever people are portrayed playing video games on a Television show, all we hear are the typical crashes and beeps the Atari used to put out… pitiful.
That's one thing I have a problem with. I also hate people pretending to play video games. You can always tell if they're a gamer or if they're just pressing random buttons.
I wanted to say whay Mustang already said, MGS4!
I probably didn't enjoy the game as much as most of you cuz it was my first Metal Gear experience, but I definitely appreciated the audio being in a league of its own.
I've always loved music from the Halo franchise. Marty O' Donnell is a really good composer. My favorite non-vocal song is Halo Theme (Mjolnir Mix).
I almost forgot about Afrika. I hope to get this.
I also agree that MGS4 had to be in there… I mean the Audio in that game was awesome. But big up to Dead Space the Audio added so much atmosphere to that game.
On the other hand it's really nice to see awards like this that actually give some credit to the Audio Engineers and Music producers…. Being an Audio Engineer myself I know that we hardly ever get the recognition we deserve. As people don't always really know how good or bad audio is until it isn't there…
I've always had a lot of respect for the Audio Engineers in the gaming world. And if all goes well I'll get into it somewhere along the way. Would be my dream come true….
But do yourselves a favor and try playing a game without sound for an hour and then put the sound back and you'll see just how much the audio carries the game though it's paces, creates moods, tension, action…. and all that good stuff.