If there was a list of the most underappreciated fields in the video game industry, surely sound design would be up near the top. Despite creating and capturing one of a game's most crucial aspects, you never really hear from the men and women working in the field, and you rarely get a chance to see how their…

The Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, turns 30 this week. While it's used across devices and mediums, for a long time it was crucial to your experience with video games, as it was a popular way of getting electronic music stored on game cartridges and discs, especially in the 1990s.

If you detach the sound of pain from its source, I'm willing to bet the result sounds kind of uncomfortable.

Bigger, better, faster, stronger.

Supergiant Games' award winning action role-playing game Bastion is now available on the iPad, and it's one of the best experiences you can have with the Apple tablet. Just don't ruin it by playing without headphones.

Back in 2002 I dropped a large chunk of change on a pair of "true" 6.1 surround sound headphones. They were essentially a pair of normal headphones with extra speakers extending out to either side of each ear cup. They looked ridiculous. I loved them.

Furthering the notion that there is no situation, real or virtual, that cannot be enhanced by the addition of Koji Kondo music, I give you "SuperField Bros. 3", the perfect marriage of heavy weapons and heavy whimsy.

Back in 2006 Skyrim game director Todd Howard called up composer Jeremy Soule and told him he wanted the music for the game to sound like The Elder Scrolls theme as sung by a barbarian choir. Lacking barbarians, Soule just hired some men with deep voices.

The answer to the question posed in the headline is a simple one: the Guild Wars 2 sound team. It's how they do it that's a little tricky.

Vacuum your floors. Reduce background noise. Make sure you have adequate lighting. Are we playing video games here or hoping to score? This Xbox Live video shows the steps needed to ensure a pleasurable Kinect Experience.

Arcades hold a very special place in my heart.

Ever wonder what video game composers have to work with when creating those big sounds for big games?

As I mentioned in my review of Dante's Hell, I loved the scoring and sound of Visceral's take on hell.

Games have long preferred visual innovation to audio. I mean, they're called video games, not video and audio games. But that's not to say game audio doesn't deserve recognition!