Radio

	The card's front face	The card's back face

Synopsis

Actual radio receivers with relevant emission.

Relationships

Contexts:
Narrative , Helper Voice , Awareness , Diegetic Music .
May relate to:
Sound Suppressing , Stealth .
Relates to:
Recordings .

Description

Radio devices present disparate solutions to offer audio stimuli inside the game world (i.e., in a diegetic way).

It is fairly common to come across Radios in open-world games. Clearly, the inclusion of these objects in the game world is a sound design decision.

Radios may only convey Diegetic Music but many times they serve the Narrative, or act as Helper Voice by providing information relevant to the gameplay. There are also cases of Radios playing a role during Stealth performance.

Radios are related but different from Recordings. The latter usually presents scattered and anachronical pieces of past testimonies, and serves distinct purposes.

Examples

Commandos BCD:A radio-like device being used as a Sound Decoy.

Portal: Several Radios, found along the way, play this "peppy" instrumental version of a song that will have an important role, later in the game.

Half-Life 2: A Radio broadcasting information.

Silent Hill: In this game the Radio is relevant not because of a regular emission it might receive but because it emits noise when enemies are nearby (Echolocation).

[show less examples...]

Dead to Rights: Retribution: The news contribute with a bit of Narrative.

Tomb Raider Legend: Lara is wearing a communicator (Helper Voice). The opponent is also using a walkie-talkie (Unaware NPC).

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Radio contributes in a naturalist manner with Music (Diegetic Music) that completes the Acoustic Ecology. Cars are also equipped with Radio and it is possible to change station.

Far Cry 2: A Radio tuned in the local radio station is a common finding (Diegetic Music and some voiced pieces). There are even missions where the Radio emission is central. The radio station is explicitly presented by a taxi driver in an initial Cutscene.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory: In this case the Radio emission competes for the attention during Stealth action. Radios can be turned off or destroyed.

Crysis:

Additional Comments

Radio in Silent Hill, Silent Hill Wiki.
In Silent Hill: Homecoming (a newer instalment in the series) the radio is actually a radio transceiver (walkie-talkie) [1].