From the Abstract: https://bit.ly/2Xq78Kv Elizabeth Medina-Gray (Ithaca College) “What Does Early Video Game Dialogue Sound Like?” With highly restrictive technological limitations, early video games typically were not able to include realistic recordings of human voices. Yet a significant minority of early games do include some aural component of in-game dialogue. Some of these aural components sound like voices, albeit voices heavily mediated by technology; speech synthesis appeared in some arcade games beginning in the 1980s. and brief, low-resolution speech samples became increasingly prevalent in certain 16-bit games, for example. Some aural dialogue components sound like purely mechanical output, without a vocal element; such sounds can be either pitched or un-pitched, and they accompany the appearance of on-screen dialogue text. Some aural dialogue components-either vocal or non-vocal-can begin to sound like music. This talk shares the results of a corpus study that examines the sounds of dialogue in early video games. Based on a corpus of over 200 titles-comprised of “best selling” and “most popular” games lists for early arcade, early home computer, and 8-and 16-bit home consoles, supplemented with additional examples- this study considers the following questions: (1) Approximately what proportion of highly successful early games include aural components for in-game dialogue? (2) What types of aural dialogue components appear in early games? (3) What trends or tendencies emerge from those sounds, for example in pitch range, rhythm, timbre, etc.? (4) In what ways might some of these sounds be considered musical? This study provides a foundational context in which to examine these sounds that occupy ambiguous, liminal spaces between voice, sound effect, and music, and between human and machine.

Celebrated as the "father of MegaMan," but branded as an outspoken critic of the Japanese game industry, ex-Capcom honcho Keiji Inafune's frank talk, controversial opinions, and - most of all - his games have made many fans (and maybe a few enemies) on both sides of the Pacific. Join us for an informal chat through Inafune's 25 year career; where console gaming began, how it's changed over the years, and what's coming next - both for the industry and for Inafune himself. Special thanks to 2PlayerProductions for recording this back in the day.

Special thanks to gigertron for recording this back in the day.

Media Molecule are responsible for creating Little Big Planet and Tearaway. They are the Triple A developers with the big heart - committed to developing games that immerse the player in beautiful virtual worlds that transcend age, gender and cultural differences. Key to the MM gaming experience is enabling the player to use their original tools to create their own game worlds. This panel will explore Mm's rationale to game design and building communities of like-minded gamers.