When you’re the Evil Empire, you lean into it. The New York Yankees have done that over the years, and one of the ways to do it is just yoink sounds from, well, the Galactic Empire. MLB The Show 24 has also reached a new level of authenticity with its in-game stadium crowds and sound effects, and they’ve embraced the same mantra in a sense.
Star Wars has obviously been a big part of our culture since the ’70s and sounds like the Wilhelm Scream or a lightsaber being activated are sounds you just know. If you hear them, you know exactly where they’re from and that’s the power of legendary sound designer Ben Burtt and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).
But the thing about Star Wars is that it’s so embedded in our culture that sounds you recognize are not always recognized from just one origin spot anymore. This is where the New York Yankees and MLB The Show 24 come into play.
Its soooo freaking loud my wife actually popped her head in the room and said what the hellllll is that sound???? — OS user jcar0725
I’ll be simming road games at Yankee Stadium. Hope they had to pay Industrial Light & Magic for that abomination. — OS user Madden08PCgmr
With 2 strikes at Chase Field in Arizona you can hear the snake sound! Scared me at first like the Yankees 2 strike siren sound in the Bronx… — OS user Arizito Sports
And the thing is that these “authentic” sounds are not new to MLB The Show as a series, it’s just for whatever reason this Yankees one has struck a nerve more than any other. And, to be clear, it is authentic, and Yankees fans you talk to will also mention how awesome the sound is:
How could you not be hyped as that blaring siren goes off in a big spot? It is dope, no question. But man it is loud, and the sound itself has been used in so many different spots, that it’s not one every person recognizes from the same place anymore. For some, MLB The Show 24 will be the place they now remember it from. Others will remember it from going to Yankees games. Even its actual “origin” gets muddied because some think it’s from an AT-AT siren in Empire Strikes Back (on Hoth), the actual Death Star siren in the original Star Wars, or even what I most closely associate it with and that’s one of my favorite movie trailers of all-time for Rogue One.
That sound alone is why that trailer is so iconic to me, which is all just a long-winded way of reminding everyone about the power of sound in all facets of media, even our sports video games.
Oh, and I also made this…
Please keep adding more authentic sounds in the future SDS. I need new memes.
