The following article gives a short overview of some functions of vocal sounds in video games. The sound of voices contributes to the realization of fictitious game worlds, since it makes the fictitious world appear significantly more real. I briefly cover the atmospheric and emotional function of the sound of voices as well as how they are utilized in video games for supporting characters. In lieu of discussing dialogues and linguistically conveyed information, I focus on the sound of voices and their influence in generating feelings and moods, and thus how they contribute to a deepening of the immersion of the player. These considerations are based on Michel Chion's concept that sound may have an added value —the recipient assigns a special meaning to a sound, which enriches the audiovisual experience. For this purpose, I analyze a number of games in short case studies in regard to their utilization of vocal sounds with added value. The research is further contextualized through Karen Collins's concept of embodied cognition , as discussed in her seminal work Playing with Sound: A Theory of Interacting with Sound and Music in Video Games and “Making Gamers Cry: Mirror Neurons and Embodied Interaction with Game Sound.”

Game-based learning, or the process of adapting an educational concept into a game-based structure, has been studied by researchers for nearly a century. Over the last several decades, new technologies have allowed digital media to create a multibillion-dollar entertainment industry commonly known as video games. Video games have become a tool for many educators who have the potential to engage students to learn musical concepts and skills. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of digital game-based learning in comparison to other teaching methods for music education and to explore the perspectives of young students regarding video games both in school and in their personal lives. Eighty-two (n = 82) fifth- and sixth-grade students in a northeastern U.S. elementary school completed a study consisting of a pretest/posttest control group design. Results showed that students who had access to educational video games combined with the assistance of an instructor achieved higher mean scores than students who had access to either video games without instruction or instruction without video games. These findings suggested that educational video games may potentially be used as an effective tool in the music classroom to teach musical concepts and skills.

This article argues that the music of opening peritexts within two The Legend of Zelda games reflects their reception history and continuity within the series mythology. On the one hand, “The Legendary Hero” peritext of The Wind Waker mirrors the game's reception history as one of departure from a Zelda tradition established by Ocarina of Time , which caused controversy initially yet gained acceptance in the long term. The audiovisual components of “The Legendary Hero” all position gamers to consider the events of Ocarina of Time as old, submerged under the Great Sea. Textual references to “legend” and “myth,” visual cues of antique art and runes, and musical cues harkening to medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque tropes within Western music—all these serve to depart from Zelda tropes. On the other hand, the title-screen peritext of Twilight Princess restores the legacy of Ocarina of Time . Reception of the former always includes its nostalgic, intimately connected relationship to the latter. Consequently, Twilight Princess garnered immediate praise but became problematic in the long term. The audiovisual components of the title-screen peritext position gamers to reestablish continuity with Zelda tropes. Visual and musical cues reach across several previous games and as far back as the original The Legend of Zelda game, all of which orient players back to traditions from which the franchise had departed for years. Thus the music of the peritext enables players to engage in Zelda's potential for self-reference more apparently than its adoption of Western-music tropes, as in Wind Waker . The peritexts of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess complement each other and allow us to understand more critically the reception and historiography of each game, how the music can reveal a deeper understanding of narrative themes characteristic of each game, and their placement within the Zelda mythology.

Video game developers go to great lengths to build worlds that are detailed, immersive, and believable. In addition to non-diegetic score to support the player's journey, in-world music is sometimes created for the radios, performance spaces, and streets that the player will encounter. This essay attempts to explore the collaborative decision-making process that shaped songs for two recent games, Dishonored 2 and Wolfenstein: The New Order . As the lead composer on both projects, I provide a firsthand account of how the songs were conceived, how they were deployed within and beyond the game, and the unexpected cultural relevance they had beyond their function within the gameworld. In contrasting these projects, I reveal how songs can map musical attributes to narrative aspects of a game's world, often on multiple levels simultaneously. Some connections are primary motivations while others happen as part of the creative problem-solving that is inevitably part of the songwriting process. Finally, in reflecting on my experience as a practitioner, I use auto-ethnography to explore how I experienced a delightful blurriness of identity while “playing” a songwriter in an imagined world.

Andra Ivănescu responds to Jennifer Smith's review of Popular Music in the Nostalgia Video Game: The Way It Never Sounded .