Bungie and Square Enix to talk audio at GDC 2010

The 2010 Game Developers Conference will host speaker sessions by prominent audio designers working at studios such as Square Enix and Bungie, organisers have announced.

The upcoming trade event – set to open in San Francisco from March 9-13 – will host a 25-minute lecture by Bungie Studios audio lead Jay Weinland, in a session called ‘Materials vs. Audio: Object Interaction Sound Design in Halo’.

Weinland will focus his time on discussing the sound needed for an avatar to fully interact with a game’s environment – from the minutiae of footstep sounds across various terrain, to the explosion of noise needed for an in-game car crash.

“I will cover our method of implementation and how we keep our heads from exploding when approaching this huge undertaking,” Weinland said.

Meanwhile, a lecture on Final Fantasy XIII’s audio will be presented by Square Enix’s technical director and audio programmer Yoshinori Tsuchida, along with the company’s acclaimed sound director Tomohiro Yajima.

Yajima played a part in the audio and sound effects behind games such as Xenogears, Vagrant Story, and Final Fantasy XI, XII and XIII.

Both Tsuchida and Yajima will be in San Francisco to discuss Final Fantasy XIII’s character motion-controlled automatic sound triggering system, a cost-saving application which is said can dramatically improve the audio development process.

Capcom audio director Tomoya Kishi will also host an audio lecture, as will Peter Zinda of Soundelux DMG.

Early bird rates are still available. Discounts can be as high as $600 if you book before Feb 4.

Full information on the audio track can be found here.

A continually-growing list of confirmed speakers can be found here.

Early-bird offers and info can be found here.