Spatial Sound for Computer Games and Virtual Reality - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 309

Figure 13. MMAPI Manager creates Players. AMMS GlobalManager creates Modules that Players
hook into

incorporate elements of the Game profile, must
fully implement the Game profile also.

for spatial sound environments: most notable of
these are the lack of support for HRTFs and issues
around real-time processing in Java.
MPEG-4 version 2 is where the main break-
throughs in the integration of spatial sound in an
international standard have been achieved. To
cater for both ESA and absolute sound render-
ing, a dual approach has been developed. This
dual approach of both physical and perceptual
descriptions of spatial sound seems to encapsulate
all of the necessary attributes for a cogent spatial
experience.
XNA opens up spatial sound for game develop-
ment. While not an open platform, unlike OpenAL,
the development environment is accessible and
fits neatly into the XNA architecture of computer
game development.
The future holds some remarkable potential for
spatial sound in computer games: the designer's
imagination being the only limiting factor. Imag-
ine being immersed completely in sound, where
gameplay relies heavily on the sense of hearing.
Walking down a dark corridor in a first-person
shooter, hearing your footsteps below you, en-

cONcLUsIONs AND FUtUrE
DEVELOPMENts

Spatial presentation of sound is a very important
feature of VR and becoming more important in
computer games. Without spatial sound, virtual
environments would lack the complex qualities
required for a convincing immersive experience.
The development of synthetic sound spatializa-
tion techniques for immersive environments has
lagged behind comparible visual technology.
However, there now exists a number of options
for developers who wish to incorporate spatial
sound into computer games and VR.
Java 3D provides a collection of tools that
enable developers to integrate spatial sound in
a virtual environment. While the API set allows
for the construction of reasonable spatial sound
experiences, there are a number of shortcom-
ings which hinder the advancement of Java 3D