TUCoPS :: Phreaking Boxes - Red :: starwars.txt

Star Wars video game uses red box tones!


I discovered that the PC Video game "Star Wars - Dark Forces" by
LucasArts uses the RED Box quarter tones (or a strikingly similiar
variation) as a sound effect.  The only caveat is that it is played at
half speed.
During gameplay, there is a "Power Up" that can be found called a Weapon
Supercharge.  The power up only lasts about 20 seconds but, before it
ends, a warning sound consisting of a series of five short tones, spaced
very closely together, are sounded.  This burst of five tones is repeated
3 more times signalling the end of the power up.
When recorded at half speed and replayed at full speed, this tone
sequence sounds exactly like the "1700 + 2200 HZ frequency, 5 beeps, each
33 milliseconds duration with a 33 millisecond pause between beeps" that
telephone companies automated coin toll system recognize as a quarter.
Using a $25 dual speed microcassette recorder, this can be used quite
effectively, though illegally, at pay phones across the country.
This has been tested and proven to work.
Though not the most effective or convenient way to generate red box tones,
 I did get a chuckle out of this most surreptitious sound effect that the
programmers at LucasArts incorporated into their game.


TUCoPS is optimized to look best in Firefox® on a widescreen monitor (1440x900 or better).
Site design & layout copyright © 1986-2024 AOH