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ArenaNet releases third Guild Wars 2 sound design dev diary
ArenaNet's third and final Guild Wars 2 sound design dev diary is live without a net on the company's official blog, and today's installment comes through with an interesting conclusion to the sonically inspired trilogy. The piece is clearly written by and for sound geeks, and we mean that in the nicest possible way (as some of the terminology left us scratching our heads). Lead sound designer Drew Cady and sound engineer Robert Gay are our guides to everything from voice processing, to mastering, to parallel processing. We're not sure what the heck any of that means either, but we're confident you'll get it if you go read the blog right now. If you're in a rush, the long and short of it is that ArenaNet is spending a lot of time, effort, and money on Guild Wars 2's sound design. Though gaming soundtracks are often drowned out by custom playlists and voice chat, Tyria's soundscape is shaping up to be one worth hearing.
Funcom shows off new Age of Conan Dreamworld video
If you're curious about the current MMORPG standard for graphics but aren't currently subbed to Age of Conan, you'll want to check out the new Dreamworld Technology: Powering AoC video that Funcom is showing off on its YouTube portal. The clip features voiceover narration by game director Craig "Silirrion" Morrison and offers viewers a three-minute romp through Tortage, Khemi, Conarch, and Khitai, all rendered in the extreme detail made possible by the 2.1.5 Dreamworld update. In technical terms, Funcom has moved from a forward-rendering approach to a light pre-pass approach. If you're averse to geek-speak, know that this basically allows designers to use many more light sources with minimal performance costs. Dreamworld also makes use of a technique called adaptive shadow mapping, which results in higher quality shadows and higher frame rates. Check out all the details after the cut.
