Heavenly Sword has 10GB of sound data alone

What's that about Blu-ray discs not being needed? According to Develop Magazine, Heavenly Sword has over 10 GB of sound FX, with three and a half hours of music, 4500 different lines of dialogue, and an hour and a half of cut scenes recorded in eleven (!) different languages. This means that without even counting the textures, art, models or anything else, the game couldn't fit on a normal DVD. It also means we're in for a hell of an aural treat when the game comes out next month.

Tom Covin, the audio lead for Ninja Theory, explains why they've put so much time and effort into their music and sound effects, "For me, sound is very 'immediate' to the player. Music has a well-established cultural language; sound is much less clearly delineated – but you can get straight to someone's emotional responses with it – there's little time for the brain to analyse. Sound is key in making this awesome weapon – the Heavenly Sword – come to life so you can sense its brooding power and almost hear it feeding off each kill."

The Develop article delves in deep into the sound theory and technology that was used in the development of Heavenly Sword and is a great read for those interested in some of the behind-the-scene machinations of one of the PS3's most anticipated titles. If only September would come a little quicker ...