Kojima lied to me

[Mr. Afternoon]

This is probably something y'all won't know much about.
Okay, there is this video game series called Metal Gear Solid.
Don't try to understand the story, you won't.
Anyway, in 2008, Metal Gear Solid 4 released for the PlayStation 3 (which some models can play SACDs, interestingly enough) and Kojima (the director of the game) said it had lossless 5.1 sound and it took up an entire Blu-ray disc.
Well, my friend dug through the files for fun today, and Kojima lied. The game is only 30GB (not really important) and the AUDIO IS LOSSY ADPCM IN QUAD.

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy??? There has yet to be a modern game with lossless surround audio? Why must this be the case? ಥ╭╮ಥ

 

[Electric Moo]

I'm working on it

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

I'm working on it

For reals???

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I feel your pain!

Not a gamer (well not since the early Doom days) but I always wanted a surround sound version of this series. Can't believe one hasn't been done yet?

The Elder Scrolls - Skyrim

https://www.discogs.com/master/7929...der-Scrolls-V-Skyrim-Original-Game-Soundtrack

 

[Sonik Wiz]

The game is only 30GB (not really important) and the AUDIO IS LOSSY ADPCM IN QUAD.

Well maybe not lossless or 5.1 but at least in quad. I remember the big complaint at one time was why aren't vid games in surround as it would be a natural match. I guess surroundaphonic is pretty common nowadays?

And why not top quality lossless audio? I'm gonna say that gamers are not audiophiles & would not notice the difference. Well, then there's you...

I'm with @J. PUPSTER . Not a gamer since Nin 64 but there is some very good & imaginative music in them. I've been a big fan of the Final Fantasy soundtracks & was fortunate enough to see the Earthbound Papa's in concert:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=earthbound+papas
Usually at an anime-con they have the Papa's for the high energy stuff & a split off group for the slower more moody FF music. I love em both.

Gonna be interesting to hear what @Electric Moo 's project turns out to be!!

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Well maybe not lossless or 5.1 but at least in quad. I remember the big complaint at one time was why aren't vid games in surround as it would be a natural match. I guess surroundaphonic is pretty common nowadays?

There are actually a lot of video games with surround, and even recent ones now have Atmos! The problem is everything is lossy.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

There isn't any video game soundtrack in 5.1 surround sound as a release either. The closest thing we have is the occasional concert Blu-ray from Square Enix.

 

[furui_suterioo]

Is the Dolby Surround on Nintendo 64 worth decoding? Would be kind of neat if if actually follow thr movements of the camera.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Is the Dolby Surround on Nintendo 64 worth decoding? Would be kind of neat if if actually follow thr movements of the camera.

I don't think any N64 games had Dolby surround due to size constraints.
We started getting Pro Logic in games when the Gamecube/PlayStation 2 came out in 2002, and then discrete surround with the PS3 and XBOX 360 in 2007 (Nintendo didn't have discreet surround until the Wii U in 2013). Now we have plenty of games in surround, some of which sound fantastic.

Examples: Alien: Isolation and the Uncharted series with discrete 7.1 and Final Fantasy XV with Dolby Atmos (it also has an eye-watering 170GB install size on PC, with 90GB of it being video files containing 22.2ch surround, which are barely used in the game).

The main concern here is all of them have lossy audio.

EDIT: I stand corrected, there were like 3 N64 games that had it.

 

[furui_suterioo]

I don't think any N64 games had Dolby surround due to size constraints.
We started getting Pro Logic in games when the Gamecube/PlayStation 2 came out in 2002, and then discrete surround with the PS3 and XBOX 360 in 2007 (Nintendo didn't have discreet surround until the Wii U in 2013). Now we have plenty of games in surround, some of which sound fantastic.

Examples: Alien: Isolation and the Uncharted series with discrete 7.1 and Final Fantasy XV with Dolby Atmos (it also has an eye-watering 170GB install size on PC, with 90GB of it being video files containing 22.2ch surround, which are barely used in the game).

The main concern here is all of them have lossy audio.

EDIT: I stand corrected, there were like 3 N64 games that had it.

Somewhere I have DK64 laying around which I remember says presented in Dolby Surround.. I wonder if the DK Rap intro is also in surround? have to dig it out now

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Somewhere I have DK64 laying around which I remember says presented in Dolby Surround.. I wonder if the DK Rap intro is also in surround? have to dig it out now

DK!
HUH!
DONKEY KONG!
Come to think of it, he's also searching for bananas...

 

[jaybird100]

I don't think any N64 games had Dolby surround due to size constraints.
We started getting Pro Logic in games when the Gamecube/PlayStation 2 came out in 2002, and then discrete surround with the PS3 and XBOX 360 in 2007 (Nintendo didn't have discreet surround until the Wii U in 2013). Now we have plenty of games in surround, some of which sound fantastic.

Examples: Alien: Isolation and the Uncharted series with discrete 7.1 and Final Fantasy XV with Dolby Atmos (it also has an eye-watering 170GB install size on PC, with 90GB of it being video files containing 22.2ch surround, which are barely used in the game).

The main concern here is all of them have lossy audio.

EDIT: I stand corrected, there were like 3 N64 games that had it.

Dolby Surround was a matrix, and didn't need any more room than stereo.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Dolby Surround was a matrix, and didn't need any more room than stereo.

That's true, but a lot of N64 games had synthesized soundtracks, due to the fact the maximum cartridge size was like 32MB or something.

 

[jaybird100]

That's true, but a lot of N64 games had synthesized soundtracks, due to the fact the maximum cartridge size was like 32MB or something.

Why would that matter?

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Why would that matter?

Audio files take space. Midi files take less space.

 

[jaybird100]

And a stereo audio track?

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

And a stereo audio track?

Any audio on the N64 would obviously have to be extremely compressed to fit on the cartridge. That is why 99% of the games went with synthesized soundtracks.

 

[jaybird100]

Any audio on the N64 would obviously have to be extremely compressed to fit on the cartridge. That is why 99% of the games went with synthesized soundtracks.

Even a highly compressed soundtrack, if it's stereo, can be matrix-encoded without requiring more space.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Even a highly compressed soundtrack, if it's stereo, can be matrix-encoded without requiring more space.

I know, what I'm saying is that due to the space limit most games didn't store sound as audio, but rather 'midi' files for the hardware to synthesize on the fly.

 

[MidiMagic]

That synthesizer does not have pan positions.

I worked with a later synthesizer that could take MIDI pan positions, but they only worked for the front half of the Dolby Surround space. I had to use two synthesizers and my own encoder design on one of them to get full surround.