More Games Need to Support 7.1 PCM

Gentlemen (and Ladies),
 
I think it hit me last night just how much for granted I take the audio in games...playing God of War III made me get up and check my receiver to notice that all 8 Speaker (counting my woofer) lights were on...and the letters PCM were listed on it.  I checked my PS3 settings and it was pumping out audio at full uncompressed quality, and then I noticed the audio settings in God of War III had me down as 7.1 as well.
 
See, most of the Blu-Rays I get from Netflix or some recent high quality games only support 5.1 True Dolby or something....so I would only get the 6 normal lights and missed out on the middle speakers in the entertainment room.   
 
Anyways, playing GOW3, I finally got to the fight with Kratos' brother (without spoiling anything wont mention who)...and holy shit my jaw dropped.  Sure the game was prettier than a Japanese woman wearing a sailor uniform, but what really blew me away was the audio.  Maybe it was the score of the game (which is also amazingly excellent)...but I noticed that when I spun my Claws of Hades...there would be this buffer noise coming from the rear speakers....the music would be pumping out the chorus through the middle speakers, and the action was blasting through my front speakers while the voice acting was screaming into the front of the speakers. 
 
The icing on the cake was when I summoned the Army of Sparta when I switched to the Blades of Exile....the enormous boom that the sub-woofer let out blew me the fuck away.  I could literally feel the shaking of the floor....and for a brief second I could feel what Kratos felt as he summoned them.  The sounds come through the right speakers at the very right time, and the quality of the sound is just amazing.   
 
I decided to test this on other games...namely a game made by Hideo Kojima which was stated to support full uncompressed 7.1, ladies and gentlemen...that game is none other than the amazingly sounding PS3 exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4:  Guns of the Patriots. 
 
I tested the speakers on 2 main scenes, the first with the gun porn ending with Johnny and Meryl...again, it was groundbreaking.  However, the pure sexiness off the audio was shown during the credits.  Every instrument is coming through a different speaker!  The gentle humming of the guitar through the front, the vocals through the rear, the strings through the front, the brass through the middles...and the amazing use of base. 
 
So I'll be picking up a new 360 for Alan Wake and I heard the new 360s have HDMI...I can't wait to play Alan Wake in uncompressed audio as well.  Plus, I got my media center hooked up there (has a 9800GT) so I will play the final part in Mass Effect 2 again to test it out. 
 
Bottom line is, people need to get 7.1 audio setup...it makes a big difference.  It's a bigger difference going to SD to HD for me (mostly cause I normally game on PC so I'm used to high resolutions).  Just wow, audio is everything...and I'm glad the newer 360s support HDMI...now just the Wii has to get it so I can put the Wii downstairs!

Don't wanna burst your bubble but i haven't heard about a 360 game with 7.1 let alone something with uncompressed audio but i might be wrong.

*still gaming on stereo computer speakers with a subwoofer*

" @kidman: ....whats the point of the HDMI then? "

" @kidman: ....whats the point of the HDMI then? "

" @kidman: ....whats the point of the HDMI then? "

" *still gaming on stereo computer speakers with a subwoofer* "

The 360 has DTS/5.1 max.

I'm jealous of your setup.

I have a 7.1 setup too and I can get it to work on 360 (Battlefield - havent really checked on anything else, its pretty new).  Though I will give that it might be my receiver kicking the the surround sound to the rear speakers.

With most of the gaming populace not even owning surround sound systems, and then those that do probably less then 30% own a system capable of uncompressed pcm...I doubt it will happen anytime soon, titles on the ps3 that were supposed to have it don't *mgs4 comes to mind*, then you have the fact its pretty much a useless space waster with DTS HD, and Dolby HD simply for the fact they are compression formats matching it in sound quality anyways, with quite a few studio masters claiming that the majority of users and even they often can't tell a difference.
 
P.S: you heard the new 360's have hdmi....um your about 3 years late...360 has had hdmi for quite awhile.

I still use component cables and headphones. It's all the same shit.

" *still gaming on stereo computer speakers with a subwoofer* "

7.1 is indeed ace. I wish more movies supported 7.1. It was amazing listening to Baraka with 96khz 7.1 PCM.

" @WilliamRLBaker: Yeah, I had two and they broke...and I've been in Japan for the last few years of my life.  You know, the country where everyone loves to talk about the 360 and it's a huge hit, so of course I know everything about the 360!  :D "

" @inkeiren: I was really really really bummed out The Dark Knight didn't support 7.1 and just did 5.1 True Dolby.  It was a slap in the face while watching the intro filmed on IMAX cameras.  I don't get how a lot of top tier movies don't support it when they're clearly made for it. "