Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura talks PS3 musical freedom

by Jason Dobson { Jun 2nd 2008 at 8:50AM }

While video game music is no longer simply the series of 'beeps' and 'boops' it was in the past, it has nonetheless remained one of game design's -- groan -- unsung heroes. This isn't lost on tune-focused Music4Games, and in a recent interview with Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura, she spoke out on a number of topics, including her thoughts on creating music for the PlayStation 3.

According to Shimomura, who is responsible for the tunes we'll be humming along to in Square Enix's upcoming Final Fantasy Versus XIII for the PS3, composing on Sony's current platform is much less limiting than it was in previous generations. "With the PlayStation 2, sound production...was a constant battle with memory and limitations," she recalled, adding that "with the PlayStation 3, I'm expecting to have it sound the way I please, without limitations." It's encouraging to hear someone at any level talk about creating content on the PS3 that doesn't involve the words "difficult" or "costly." However, with Square Enix continuing to play coy with regards to when its decade of Final Fantasy will actually kick off, it may be some time before our ears ring with the fruits of Yoko Shimomura's musical labor.

Tags: composer, final-fantasy, final-fantasy-versus-xii, finalfantasy, finalfantasyversusxiii, kingdom-hearts, kingdomhearts, music, square-enix, squareenix, yoko-shimomura, yokoshimomura

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Joeshie @ Jun 2nd 2008 9:04AM

Square games haven't been the same since Nobuo Uematsu left.

McWeen @ Jun 2nd 2008 9:15AM

Give the new guy a chance.

acefondu @ Jun 2nd 2008 9:20AM

Doesn't the article show the 'new guy' being a girl? And agreed Nobuo's stuff is usually always better. Though, my favorite is still Yasunori Mitsuda, (Chrono Trigger/Cross, Xenogears, Xenosaga I, and the Shadow Hearts games).

anime10121 @ Jun 2nd 2008 9:22AM

1rst of all Shimomura is a woman.
2nd of all shes not doing the original FF13 just versus
3rd and more importantly Uematsu hasnt been on his A game since he left Square himself, so Id say Rpg music as a whole has been crap except for Shimomura and Motoi Sakuraba.

Mr Khan @ Jun 2nd 2008 10:59AM

I'd say Uematsu has

Brawl, anyone?

Lijik @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:54AM

The Brawl theme was an exception, his other recent works like Blue Dragon just aren't as great as his older stuff.

Yoko however hasn't had a bad sounding game in ages (at least not one I can think of.)

Marrvia @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:46PM

At least they still hire good composers. I have no complaints about the music in Kingdom Hearts, so I think Yoko Shimomura is a good choice for FFv13. As for FF13, I'm very excited to hear what Masashi Hamauzu does, I love his music in Saga Frontier 2 and Unlimited Saga, as well the work he did in FFX.

I hate to say it, but Nobuo Uematsu doesn't make "great" soundtracks anymore. Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey both had a few very good songs, but the rest soundtracks were pretty unmemorable.

Minh998 @ Jun 2nd 2008 9:20AM

um, Yoko is a she.

Rein @ Jun 2nd 2008 10:19AM

Yoko Shimomura is a genius. If you've ever listened to Drammatica, you'll understand that Final Fantasy Versus XIII and video games in general are in good hands.

LaughingTarget @ Jun 2nd 2008 10:28AM

When I saw Yoko, my heart started to sink, but I sighed with relief when I didn't see Ono.

bm @ Jun 2nd 2008 10:33AM

Audio limitations? Haha, that's big fat marketing bullshit. There barely were any on the PS1, let alone the PS2.

Or course, what else is new.

ViagraFiend @ Jun 2nd 2008 3:31PM

wtf are you talking about?

Maverick Saturn @ Jun 2nd 2008 10:51AM

Im just glad they talk now :)

Going though text was irritatating and even more annoying when you missed bits from pressing frantically for the 1 hour of dialect to end >_

Vol @ Jun 2nd 2008 10:55AM

Pardon me if I am wrong, but I thought audio limitations left with the birth of the CD-ROM? If she's talking about audio clarity and not having to compress the sounds, then Blu-Ray provides that. But otherwise, stop that marketing bullshit.

bm @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:14AM

Even with CD-ROM, some games already used uncompressed audio (Tomb Raider on the PS1 comes to mind), let alone when DVD came around! It is completely and utterly ridiculous they would want people to think it takes Blu-ray to have uncompressed music.

Somehow this all seems very Sony influenced. We all know how they are with the ludicrous self-serving bullshit.

Christian @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:57AM

If any of you dorks had bothered reading the original article before posting you would have seen that what she said is fairly reasonable, I paste it here since clicking a link is obviously to much for you:

M4G: In closing, any thoughts on composing music for the PlayStation 3?
Yoko Shimomura: With the PlayStation 2, sound production was mainly based on the internal sound chip, not streaming, so it was a constant battle with memory and limitations, such as the number of sound channels. With the PlayStation 3, I'm expecting to have it sound the way I please, without limitations