I coded everything for the sound effects this morning, so they're now in the game and ready to use! The support includes N-buffering (you can have up N number of simultaneous sounds playing at the same time), sound cache, so sounds are stored in memory for fast access, and support for changing volume, frequency and the left/right pan of a sound.
I fully intend to use this to its largest effect: effects to the left of the player will be played more on the left-speaker according to how far along the screen they are. Also, effects further away from the player will be a bit softer than those right next to him or her.
Thadius, would you mind setting up a sound effects area on PV.com which can do something similar to the gallery (I.E. someone uploads a sound and it appears in a gallery which can be played online)? My brother Erich made a BUNCH of sound effects a while ago and I'd like to share them with you guys. They're actually quite good!