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This is what makes the snapping bone sound in Mortal Kombat X
That juicy explosion of a crushed skull in Mortal Kombat X is actually the sound of a watermelon splattering on a layer of plastic in NetherRealm's foley studio. The remaining bone snaps, cranium hits and squishy organ sounds are mostly made with various fruits and vegetables, Warner Bros Marketing Games Manager Brian Goodman told Joystiq at Gamescom. Mortal Kombat X is an exceedingly gruesome game, done in a way that makes it clear that NetherRealm knows how ridiculous it's being at all times. The art team stressed to accurately portray the sub-dermal anatomy of each character, Goodman said – and then Scorpion rips a hole though Sub-Zero's torso until his heart dangles in the middle of his gaping chest cavity. Ridiculous. The next time you pick up a melon at the store, try picturing it as Raiden's melon. Yum. [Image: Warner Bros]
Sound guru brings The Secret World's ur draug monster to life
If you've ever wondered how MMO sound designers do their thing, a new developer video by Creating Sound will probably be music to your ears. Sound designer and "audio generalist" Alexandre Saba takes us through the creation of The Secret World's ur draug sound suite. What the heck is an ur draug? It's a "creature from the deepest, darkest oceans, a Lovecraftian, god-like creature," according to TSW creative director Ragnar Tornquist. Since Funcom couldn't just go out and mic the nearest ur draug, it turned to Saba, who performs a number of foley tricks to bring the creature's bellow, skin, and wing sounds to life. Look, listen, and learn after the cut.
SWTOR lifts the sound curtain in Friday update
In video games as in film, sound design is usually something a designer hopes goes unnoticed, but if it weren't there, viewers might think part of the game was missing. Star Wars: The Old Republic is obviously no different, but there is an extra challenge that comes with working on a widely recognized intellectual property. "Establishment of style has to be done a bit more carefully in The Old Republic than in other games; after all, there is a long legacy of signature sounds associated with the Star Wars universe that came out of the films, television series, and even previous games," declares Audio Designer Scott Morton in this week's Studio Insider. Iconic sounds such as lightsabers igniting, blasters firing, droids buzzing, and ship taking off have to encapsulate the Star Wars feel. Those of you who like to dive behind the scenes of your favorite game should check out the rest of the Studio Insider all about combat sound. In the same article, Senior Concept Artist Clint Young answers fan questions about the visual concepts of Star Wars: The Old Republic. TOR is really appealing to the senses in this week's Friday update.
Microsoft's 'Menlo' working towards a mobile future without Windows CE?
Since Courier's now a mystery unearthed -- and subsequently sent six feet under -- it looks like we need new secret Microsoft projects to pique our curiosity. Enter the ever-connected Mary Jo Foley with some investigative notes into "Menlo," which seems to be a future replacement of Windows CE "with Windows NT inside of mobile devices." The associated graphics platform would be "Experiment 19" (not quite as interesting a codename, we agree). Presumably heading up Menlo is Galen Hunt, a researcher from the Singular project, joined by other Microsoft brains Ruben Olinsky and (at least at some point) Kerry Hammil. It's always surprising how much info we can glean from LinkedIn, but we digress: Hunt's associated profile says Menlo "[combines] OS, UX, and applications research to explore the future of computing when mobiles becomes users primary PCs." Some bigger picture conjecture seems to center around Menlo having a Silverlight-based UI and boasting improved compatibility between itself and Windows desktop apps. Lots of food for thought, and if you're interested in what might come out of Redmond many, many years down the line, head on past the read link for all the juicy tech gossip.
The sounds of Guild Wars 2: a Q&A with ArenaNet's Audio Director
The members of the Guild Wars 2 Guru forums, just like all of us, are making the wait more bearable with loads of speculation and discussion about Guild Wars 2. A recent discussion has been going on regarding sound effects and ambient sounds, with everyone generally agreeing that those details are a wonderful addition to a game environment -- the more the better. Guild Wars is a game that already does this well, with details such as a change in the sound of footsteps depending on the surface one is walking on. Fans have the expectation and hope that things will be even better in Guild Wars 2. As it turns out, ArenaNet's Audio Director James Ackley was keeping an eye on the conversation, and jumped in via Community Manager Regina Buenaobra to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at what the foley team has been up to for GW2. Ackley went through the thread, and addressed each individual wish and suggestion that had come up, and then provided a handful of photos as a bonus. Take a look a the photos in the gallery below, and you can read the full Q & A here. We at Massively join the fans in thanking Ackley for taking the time to give a behind the scenes look at some of the production process!
Video: Gears of War 2 sound choices: Meaty vs. Crunchy
Epic Games has put together a little video for Maxim about the audio in Gears of War 2. Snore-worthy, right? Nope. It's actually a fun little six-minute romp showcasing the work that goes into all the little sounds we'll hear in the game releasing Nov. 7. An interesting factoid is that 85% of the audio in the game is new, according to Audio Director Mike Larson. There's also a brief interview with the game's composer, Steve Jablonsky, who did the music for Command & Conquer 3 and the Transformers movie. Check it out after the break.
Today's juiciest game video: Fruit-for-blood sound effects
A video showing Foley effects for Dark Sector wins our pick of the day. There's nothing new about using abusing fruits and vegetables to make game sounds, but we still like this demonstration by the action game's sound designers. You'll never look at an orange the same way again.See -- and hear -- the clip after the break.
