Why did sound tests die out from the 5th gen onwards?
>>12185147Not that useful/warranted when we're dealing with audio CD
>>12185150The majority of CD games store the music as data and would benefit from an audio test. The ones that double as audio CDs are only early, smaller CD games with shitloads of extra space for true CD audio.
>>12185150Maybe someone would want to, you know, listen to the music?
Narrative games not wanting the soundtrack spoiled, and "muh soundtrack sales!".
>>12185147To sell you the OST aside
>>12185147Aside from selling OST separately becoming a more profitable venture, I assume that sound tests lost their appeal to game developers. Previously they would be a useful tool during game development to test audio on a real console without the need to write separate software. Devs probably thought that the feature would be interesting to consumers as well and just let it in. With newer hardware utilizing pre-recorded digital audio, there was no longer need to test music outside of development computer, eliminating practical use of sound test programs for devs.
>>12185210>>12185176OSTs are often higher quality and contain the complete versions of the tracks rather than ones adapted for looping.
>>12185147I'm guessing it's due to them being sort of like debug testing items that devs left in as a kind of bonus for the player to have fun with.From gen 5 on most debug menus were removed before release since the games didn't have to be designed to be quite so efficient to the point where removing a debug menu last minute would cause a programming cascade somewhere down the line
>>12185147no they didn't, what are you talking about? they died after 7th gen. ig they're not really in 3d games after the 5th gen granted but they're not in many 3d games in the 5th gen to begin with.
>>12185147you don't really care about this
>>12185147To sell you albums.
>>12185226>OSTs are often higher qualityYeah except then they have less dynamic range than what's in the game to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
Interesting topic.Maybe it's because devs realized they could sell music CDs
