Daily Q: Do you use custom in-game audio?
Category: Features, Posted: 06/27/2008 at 04:25PM CDT by Eddie Inzauto, Senior Editor
Today's Daily Q is brought to you by the file extension .mp3.
I've been listening to a lot of music lately, thanks in part to finally reloading my laptop with my entire mp3 collection (I had a minor setback about a month ago), and also to the discovery of the excellent websites last.fm and pandora.com (thanks Kyle). Now, music is once again flowing constantly through the airwaves of my everyday life.
The recent information regarding the upcoming PlayStation 3 firmware 2.4, in which players can operate the system BGM and mess around with custom tunes via the in-game XMB, was the final inspiration for today's Q:
Do you make use of custom tracks and background music during your gaming sessions? How often? Are there any games in particular that you always aurally customize?
I don't often make use of my own music in my games, for whatever reason. Maybe it's because I like to keep the overall flavor of the game authentic, or maybe it's because I'm too lazy to set things up and take advantage of those options. I have done it in the past, though, mostly in games that feature licensed playlists that don't tickle my fancy.
How about you guys?
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Not very often. I find that it takes me out of the game, and I'm usually playing RPGs. But if I'm playing multiplayer, I'll have my own music going usually.
I assume that the PS3 system to deal with this is meant only as an example.
I've used my 360's custom-music capability off and on. When the system was new, I experimented quite a bit with it. Later, as the new-toy syndrome faded, I was less apt to spend time on it. The problem is that the music always plays, even when you need it to be quiet for cutscenes or in-game dialogue. Only one 360 game to date that I know of, Test Drive Unlimited, allows you to incorporate your own custom playlist into its own music handling. The problem with the 360's independent playback capability is that it has made developers lazy when it comes to its own handling (or lack of handling) of your own music in the game. GTA IV (which is a step backward from SA in this respect) serves as an example.
Oh. I thought you were talking about custom sound files in PC games. Yeah, I listen to music while playing games all the time. The exception is when I'm playing a story-heavy game or when someone is saying something in the game that want to hear. Most games don't have a good enough soundtrack to convince me that their music is better.
In TF2, yes.
Very rarely - did it once or twice, but I noticed that either it distracted me from the game, or else I'd stop paying attention to the music, and in the end it does not make a difference.
Only in plotless games, really. I usually load up a playlist for playing Counter-Strike or Battlefield 2 or a casual/puzzle/arcade game, but anything with a storyline to follow or speech that's worth listening to, and the music just gets annoying.
Grand Theft Auto's custom user soundtrack folder (on pc) was a happy medium, because the music only comes on when it complements the action, really.
Once, when the 360 was new, you can't bloody hear anything!
All the time in GTA on PC.