1. Enhances the Experience
Audio files are going to enhance the overall experience for the gamer. When you are playing any game, you rely on the audio files to get you into the game – it’s one of the main reasons that you invest in speakers and you don’t play all of your games on mute. The audio files are also going to help you know when a scene changes or when you’re running out of time. Without sound, you’d be at a loss as to what’s really going on, despite the visual cues.
2. Provides Realism
Many of the games available on today’s market are advanced – visually and otherwise. If you’re playing a war game, then you want audio files that are actually going to sound like someone is firing at you. If you don’t have the right audio files in place, the game isn’t going to be as good as it could be.
You are likely playing games on a large screen with a great graphics card. This is all part of helping you to get into the game and feeling like it’s real. Audio files are so important to gamers that Microsoft has figured out a way for gamers to go into XNA Game Studio (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb203879(v=XNAGameStudio.30).aspx) and sub out audio files to help improve the realism.
3. Shows Off to Other Gamers
Audio files may sound very different from one computer to the next. And if a gamer is getting into audio customization of their game to enhance the experience, then it becomes all about showing off to other gamers. The truth of the matter is gamers hang out with other gamers. You might have gamers coming over to your house or you will be talking to them over a network as you’re playing a game. When you take the time to pay attention to the audio files, you can show off and ensure that others know that you are serious when it comes to playing your games.
4. Demands the Best Equipment
It’s hard to get the true sound of a grenade exploding or a jet zipping through the sky out of your basic laptop. Gamers take audio files seriously and they want the best equipment to be able to showcase the sounds. This is why companies like Alienware have spent the time and money in research and development to provide for the gamers, offering exceptional sound so that a gamer feels like they are in the center of the action.
Just as there is surround sound for televisions, there are surround sound systems for gaming consoles – and it all comes back to providing an experience.
5. Audio Files Can Be Used Externally
Gamers like to show off and let others know they are gamers, too. If you’re a gamer, then you can tell what audio files are from what games. You may have even grown attached to some of the sounds and want to incorporate them into other aspects of your life. How do you do that? You can extract the files from the game or go to http://www.therecordist.com/game-audio/game-audio-samples to hear samples from some of your favorite games.
Once you have the audio files, you can use them as your ring tone, create a mix CD with these incorporated in between the tracks and do various other things with them.
Gamers want the full experience and they aren’t going to give an inch. If you’re a gamer, you know this to be fact. You want to dive head first into the game that you’re playing. The world of technology may not be able to deliver virtual reality systems yet, but with quality audio files and the best ways to play audio files, it can provide close to the same experience – and many gamers have invested a significant amount of money to get it.