Andy Kelly, the fella from cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer who’s behind pleasant ‘look at pretty video game locations’ video series Other Places, has kicked off a new subseries focused on the sounds of virtuaplaces. Which is a splendid idea. Video game sound is easily overlooked because 1) you can’t actually look at it 2) you’re trained to appreciate ambient images more than ambient sounds 3) it’s hard to hear when you–you reading this–are looping Drowning Pool’s smash hit Bodies on Winamp. Which is a shame. A soundscape can be beautiful, bringing what we see to life and becoming a location to enjoy in itself. So Kelly is tromping into video games to make field recordings, starting with Alien: Isolation.
