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Movie sound company THX steps into video games

By Reuters
Los Angeles, 30 Sept 2003

THX, the sound company started by movie director George Lucas to ensure fans heard his films the way he intended, said today it will begin granting its seal of approval to audio produced for video games.

The move could help improve video game sound, but it could also lend a measure of credibility to games at a time when the gaming industry sees itself as being as important in the entertainment landscape as movies, TV and music.

San Rafael, California-based THX said Electronic Arts, the largest video game publisher, was the first to achieve THX certification for its games.

Five EA games -- "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", "SSX 3", "Medal of Honor Rising Sun", "Need for Speed Underground" and "James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing" -- will be THX Certified Games upon their release and carry logos on their box as well as pre-game trailers.

"You are actually giving the game guys the opportunity to have a standard very similar to broadcast and movies," Mark Tuffy, THX`s director of advanced technology, told Reuters.

He said that over the last five to six years, many companies have approached THX with the idea of doing THX-certified video games, but his company was not seriously interested until its spin-off from Lucas`s Lucasfilm 18 months ago.

As games have grown in popularity and deepened their hold on mass-market audiences, sound has become an increasingly important factor for publishers who recognise the power of high-profile soundtracks and realistic audio effects.

EA and Activision have senior executives whose job it is to acquire and produce music for games, and the Game Audio Network Guild, or GANG, is pushing for game soundtracks to be considered for the music industry`s annual Grammy Awards.

Tuffy said he spent "about a year" talking to publishers, developers and programmers, and he found the industry lacked cohesive standards for how their products should sound and how to preserve that sound from conception to ultimate delivery.

"Games people really work a lot in a Wild West," he said. "They really are out there in making this content, but the only standards they have are the ones they themselves decide to use."

When a company signs up as a licensee, Tuffy said, THX sends them specifications on what the company`s audio and video production rooms should look like, down to the types of desks people sit at when they are working. They then go in to check the facilities and make sure the designs are appropriate.

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