Oh very cool. I never played AC2 myself, so it's a bit of a shame I can't go check it out. I've heard really good things about the music playing system too, which always intrigued me about the AC series. (Which I highly recommend for any MMO! Being able to play music ingame is ace.)

Very good read, and certainly an example of where things could go in the future for games. Especially for those large battle situations you mentioned, which are definitely a ways into the future as far as MMOs are concerned... Though it could play into effect if raids were designed to be like sieges. And I think for something like that to happen, there really needs to be a paradigm shift in game development where companies have their own audio team rather than outsourcing a vast majority. To have audio programmers and really good sound designers as part of a game's development team is something that aught to be just as important as all the artists and modelers. Moving quietly into the dark are the days of the "audio guy" that handles all audio, music, and its implementation. Thankfully!

Thanks for the read, and comments I agree with your sentiments about the AO soundtrack. It really was something special, and I'm a huge fan of what those guys in Norway put out! Heritage pride and all that They also did some beautiful music for The Longest Journey and its sequel Dreamfall. Definately worth checking out!