TL;DR AUDIO IS WORSE THAN IT WAS 12 YEARS AGO
Seriously, it's 2014 and we are still using shitty badly mixed, 2.0 audio in most games.
OpenAL implementations such as OpenAL Soft and Rapture3D can give you fantastic 5.1/7.1 and HRTF audio. While Rapture3D costs money to licence, OpenAL Soft is free.
Creative has since abadonned OpenAL it seems, is there some kind of legal problem that is making most indie games adopt OpenAL but major studios using shitty middlewares like Xaudio2?
The kicker: Every game in Linux uses OpenAL or routes the audio through OpenAL, which makes it have HRTF by default for most games. (I still haven't made it work with Source games though, despite Valve saying Source Engine under Linux/OSX uses OpenAL)
What is HRTF:
HRTF stands for Head-Related Transfer Function. In fairly layman's terms, it represents the changes that occur to a sound when it interacts with your ears and head before reaching your ear drum.
An article from a fellow user ranting about lack of HRTF support in games:
http://matthewkerswill.com/i-want-hrtfs-in-my-games/
EDIT:
http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/1fzonq/psa_for_games_using_openal_including_minecraft/
Reddit thread with instructions for activating it on Linux. Minecraft requires extra tinkering nowadays though.
Demonstrations (USE WITH HEADPHONES):
Mirrors Edge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHhwUT4BYMk
Freespace2 Open:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVB6dLyCIxQ
Thief Gold:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYIc7HLpk-w
STALKER with Rapture3D:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx4k8qewC_8
Unreal Tournament 3 with Rapture3D:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqqiIR017SQ
Dirt2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upTijwKT1sg
The Dark Mod:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJNr7IzcMR4
Minecraft:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4PJ68LHU-I
Seriously, it's 2014 and we are still using shitty badly mixed, 2.0 audio in most games.
OpenAL implementations such as OpenAL Soft and Rapture3D can give you fantastic 5.1/7.1 and HRTF audio. While Rapture3D costs money to licence, OpenAL Soft is free.
Creative has since abadonned OpenAL it seems, is there some kind of legal problem that is making most indie games adopt OpenAL but major studios using shitty middlewares like Xaudio2?
The kicker: Every game in Linux uses OpenAL or routes the audio through OpenAL, which makes it have HRTF by default for most games. (I still haven't made it work with Source games though, despite Valve saying Source Engine under Linux/OSX uses OpenAL)
What is HRTF:
HRTF stands for Head-Related Transfer Function. In fairly layman's terms, it represents the changes that occur to a sound when it interacts with your ears and head before reaching your ear drum.
An article from a fellow user ranting about lack of HRTF support in games:
http://matthewkerswill.com/i-want-hrtfs-in-my-games/
On Linux, more or less ANYTHING which uses 3d sound, even games in WINE using the windows software 3d, end up having the full HRTF effect.
EDIT:
http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/1fzonq/psa_for_games_using_openal_including_minecraft/
Reddit thread with instructions for activating it on Linux. Minecraft requires extra tinkering nowadays though.
Demonstrations (USE WITH HEADPHONES):
Mirrors Edge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHhwUT4BYMk
Freespace2 Open:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVB6dLyCIxQ
Thief Gold:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYIc7HLpk-w
STALKER with Rapture3D:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx4k8qewC_8
Unreal Tournament 3 with Rapture3D:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqqiIR017SQ
Dirt2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upTijwKT1sg
The Dark Mod:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJNr7IzcMR4
Minecraft:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4PJ68LHU-I