The Bouncer Gets 5.1 Channel Surround Sound

The fact that The Bouncer, Square's upcoming RPG-action game being developed for PS2, wasn't on display in playable form at the Square Media Tour 2000 in Japan, was obviously a big letdown for the editors that made the trek to the Arco Tower. However, while we still have yet to get any real insight as to how well the game will play, Square did show off one of the game's coolest features, the utilization of 5.1-channel Dolby Digital surround sound in the game's FMV cutscenes.

Unless you're an audio aficionado that already owns a decent surround sound setup and have had the chance to experience movies on DVD or Laser Disc with Dolby Digital surround, you might not fully understand the impact it has on the cinematic experience of a movie. You just have to believe me when I say that the difference is immense and that once you experience good surround sound in your home, you'll never want to go back. And if what we've heard of the Dolby Digital being implemented in The Bouncer, that same sense of being a part of the movie that's generally accompanied with good surround sound is something that we're going to begin to experience in our videogames on PlayStation 2.

Not only is the sound quality better than what you'll typically find in a videogame, as it has a richer and fuller sound to it, but the background effects that you get in the various rear and front channel speakers will just blow you away. Everything about it, from the way the sound of Dominique's voice moved from behind you to in front of you as she passes by and the numerous ambient background and foreground sound effects, is just handled so extremely well and adds so much to the cinematic experience of the scene in question. This is definitely something that we can expect to see used often in future games on PlayStation 2 and from what Square informed us today, all of it's future titles that are released on the DVD format will make some use of Dolby Digital Surround sound. This is very good news for anyone who feels that the game's audio is just as important, if not even more so, than the game's visuals.

And in what came as a bit of a surprise, Square is actually trying to get the Dolby Digital surround sound to work in the gameplay segments of The Bouncer and not just in the game's FMV cinemas. This is big news because it's been long believed that none of the current group of next generation systems, including PS2, Game Cube and Xbox, have the processing muscle behind them to handle the production of 5.1 channel surround in realtime. However, according to the audio engineer at Square Sound, the development group handling the game's audio is experimenting with ways to get it to work in The Bouncer on PS2. It's not a given that it's going to be possible, but they're trying to see if they can get around the limitations of the hardware with intelligent programming methods. If successful, this could prove to be one of the biggest revolutionary leaps in videogames since the jump from 2D to 3D graphics.

Either way, The Bouncer will definitely use Dolby Digital in its cutscenes and those of you that have a nice surround sound setup will get to experience the cutscenes in their full aural glory.