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Where Are The Videogame Soundtracks?
Thanks to GamerDad for their editorial lamenting the lack of standalone videogame soundtracks available in the U.S. The author suggests: "Given that gaming is currently enjoying a lot of popularity, it's surprising that more game soundtracks aren't starting to fill the racks at Best Buy and music specialty stores across the country", and points out that "In Japan, where many big games are created and sold, game soundtracks are as popular as those for movies." Would you, like the writer, "personally love to go pick up the soundtrack to F-Zero GX at a music store, or maybe the OST to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance", without resorting to pricy imports, or is the market still too much of a niche Stateside?
but that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of people who want it. I say start a couple petitions. I think I might startt one myself. Nintendo if you want to save me the trouble of collection millions of signatures, release a boxset of the music from every single Mario game ever.
Gentlemen, I thank you for your time.
[Just Shut Up and Do What I say]
Half-Life and OpFor have the soundtracks as ordinary audio tracks on the CD. If you've got a non-spazzed CD player, it should pick them up. Same, I recall, with 7th Guest, which was the game I got a CD-ROM drive for...
You can find most good soundtracks on the Internet anyway. If they don't want to get paid for it, then they won't.
Too much of a niche stateside.
Next question.
Well, I'll say this about the soundtrack for FFTA. The music was really, really good, but it was also very short and very repetitive. Come to think of it, most original GBA games don't seem to have 50+ song soundtracks. IIRC, Tactics Ogre's soundtrack was just over 25 or so. I don't see myself getting that one were it offered here.
The vast majority of games do have good music, but for the most part it's the songs that we don't get to hear very often that we tend to like. For games that only have maybe fifteen or twenty different songs, and that are played for 40+ hours, a soundtrack would be a bad idea because the gamers are likely sick of the song from having heard it for so long. Remixed or orchestral/live versions would be preferable, and that's part of the reason the old Final Fantasy orchestral/piano albums sold well-- they were familiar tunes, but listeners weren't getting the same thing they'd already heard for ten hours straight while leveling up.
I thought Xenogears had an excellent score, and it fit the game well, but I get more use out of a burned copy of Creid (the orchestral "remix" version of the soundtrack) than I do the tracks I've found from the actual game. I'm sure it's the same way for many gamers.
"Why Subscribe?" Good question...
The soundtrack to TES:Morrowind (available on CD with the collector's edition, and easily burnable to CD since it's in .mp3 format with the game) finds its way into my car CD player on a regular basis.
Various other game soundtracks would enjoy similar listening, except they're not available on CD or mp3 and are usually in some format better suited for dynamic scoring (transition into combat music as appropriate, then back into exploration music when combat is done).
The last one I remember that actually had a seperate CD for the soundtrack (that was labeled "soundtrack" and worked accordingly) was Command & Conquer, the collectors edition one.
Want your game soundtracks? Here are the steps.
1. Wait for someone to buy the Japanese soundtrack and put it on the internet.
2. Wank.
If big players like Nintendo don't care much about the non-japanese market. Why should producers of O.S.T.'s?
GTA: Vice City had a soundtrack of something like 8 discs, one for each station.
Still to this day I regret not getting the Final Fantasy II (IV) soundtrack back when it was available for sale. I tried to get it on ebay, but that deal went sour and I lost $20. That game had some great music. But I don't think that many games anymore have music as great as some of the older games. There are a few exceptions, but they seem to be few and far between. Most of the video game music actually worth listening to is at least a decade old, if not more. It's just quite possible that the powers that be have realized this fact, and haven't bothered putting out soundtracks for games that don't have all that great music for they probably won't sell as well as they would want.
-Magiluke
Earl Grey, Hot.
Hmm, not looked to hard have we? I'll admit they are not common but:
And there are more game soundtrack (Amiga & C64) cd's on: Bjorn Lynne's Lynne Music shop http://www.lynnemusic.com/cdshop.html
1) The game music often comes with the game. Sometimes it's in some obscure file format, but these days many games (especially the moddable ones) have music in some standard format (many use MP3 - well, Operation Flashpoint used Ogg Vorbis...) Back in the day, many CD-ROM games also had soundtrack on the CD as redbook tracks. There's no point in selling soundtrack - you can get it from the game itself.
2) Even if games don't have rippable files, they often have "music test" mode. (Goes especially well for older console games etc).
3) If everything else fails and the music is reasonable excellent, there are a lot of folks who remaster or remix the music. Most of my Ultima stuff is in form of MIDI files sequenced by the fans. There's also sites like Overclocked Remix and RKO that have excellent, often delightfully creative remixes.
And I really don't think the game music soundtrack CDs would actually benefit anyone. In my opinion, the games these days are already the Ultimate Music Distribution Channel. I'm a game music fan and I prefer to get the music from the very source itself. I believe the separate soundtracks are just the kind of rubbish that can be expected from these people that Slashbots like to call "representatives of old-fashioned, outdated, dying music distribution models". I personally demand better game music, and I want it to come with the games themselves, or at least available without extra charges!
Game music
Anime castle
Anime jungle
Anime outpost
Right stuff
Anime nation
The few breakout titles that ship a soundtrack CD with the collector's or "Gold" edition of a PC game title are the exception to the rule.
The only PC game I can think of at this time that has generated any "buzz" based on a song tied to it was the original Homeworld... the aging rockers Yes somehow heard of it whilst it was in development and wrote a killer tune based on the storyline of the game! The "Game of the Year" edition even came with a soundtrack CD! Did it have that track? Of course not! Just the in-game music that played during the missions (ambient classical that is incredible in its own right; the Yes song played during the credits to the game). Way to go, whatever label Yes sold their soul to...
And we wonder why there aren't many game soundtracks out there from US games...Performing sanity checks on your own beliefs is vital in avoiding poisoned koolaid.
My ex-girlfriend really likes the music of the GameCube port of Sonic Adventure 2. I ordered the soundtrack CD from Japan, cost me a small fortune. Two days later, she broke up with me. I guess it's good that game soundtracks aren't as wide spread over here, I guess, just in case there's a connection between the CD and her breaking up...
Tokyopop publishes a number of Japanese game soundtracks (and compilations of game music). Sometimes I'll see one or two of these in a game store.
I bought the Wipeout 2097 soundtrack -- it seemed to be easily available, no special order, I just found it in a shop. I can't think of any other game where I'd want to listen to the music in the same way I'd listen to a "normal" audio CD.
Some time ago I found the mp3s of Diablo II at Blizzard. I really like the ones of the expansion set and some of the outtakes.
use Bielefeld.pm
In the last couple of weeks, the Virgin Megastore in Chicago has created a section featuring soundtracks from Anime and Video games.
It's not a huge section, but it is big enough to be useful and features quite a bit of variety with soundtracks from Final Fantasy X to Grand Theft Auto Vice City. Even imports are cheaper than I've typically seen ($25 instead of $40). They certainly aren't in the charity business, so we could be seeing the beginning of a trend.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
Don't know why, but there's something rad about being able to say you imported the music from Japan. I have a lot of game soundtracks (Ocarina of Time: Hyrule Symphony is my favorite), and the cost was never an issue. I think I spent almost $50 for the FFX soundtrack (the music was fantastic, too bad the game blew).
Besides, I hate how mainstream gaming has become. I'm sure some of you have experienced the same crap I've been through. All my life I've been called a child, a geek, etc, just because I'm obsessed with video games; bleh, even the girls wouldn't date me -- and I'm almost positive it was because of my video game obsession, not the fact that I'm gross-looking. Now that the graphics have gotten better, those people that made fun of me have now accepted gaming as something non-geeky. And guess what! Those girls are even playing games, now. I don't think so!!!
I suffered through 10+ years of limited palettes, crappy beep-beep-buzz music, and 2-button joysticks; these high-tech super-cool games are my reward -- my light at the end of the tunnel. Honestly, if I ever hear a mainstream-gamer bumping the Xenogears soundtrack out of his Mitsubishi Eclipse, I'll throw a rock at his car. Just the throught of a musical masterpiece sharing a cd-folder with an Eminem disc is enough to make me want to cry.
There is a prog called GAP (Game Audio Player) which can extract and/or play music from games, even if it's somehow encoded, and save it as wav or mp3.
Metal of honor Frontline and I believe Underground had a soundtrack released for the game. These were orchestral soundtracks (very much like movie scores).
Look for one in your area. You can usually get game sound tracks for $10 a piece (if it's not something EXTREMELY popular)
- Joe
The problem with game soundtarcks is that they aren't usually very good on their own. Notable exceptions include: THPS3, CNC:G and RA2
I would rather spend the money and get an import. The US distributors just screw up the release, for whatever reason.
Example: When Final Fantasy 9 was the hot thing, TokyoPop (that evil bastard of hell) got a hold of the rights to publish the soundtrack in the US. They released a single disc with 33 tracks on it. The original Japanese soundtrack is 4 disc-long, each disc containing over 20 tracks. Yeah, lemme think about that one - 1 disc versus 4 discs. I'll get the import version, thanks.
If a US distributor would keep the discs and packaging the same, and just translate the booklet, then I'll buy the domestic release.
"Jesus saves, but everyone else in a 10 foot radius takes full damage from the fireball."
Always seems to release the soundtracks to their games. I have Myth, Myth2 and the Halo soundtrack over in my cd stack somewhere.
store.bungie.com
I've picked up a number of game soundtracks in my time (I've got a number of FF soundtracks and other FF albums, two of the three Metal Gear Solid 2 soundtracks, and a few others.) While the music in them is pretty great, there is a certain nostalgic factor too. I'm not sure Aerith's Theme (FF7), The Oath (FF8), or others would elicit quite the same response from me if I just heard them without having in the back of my head the circumstances at which you hear them in the game. Although, the opening to Chrono Cross is just beautiful by itself. :D As is the MGS2 theme. But I digress.
:)
It would be nice to see major chains in the US start picking up video game soundtracks, but I don't know how commercially viable it would be, whether many people beyond the gamers would buy them. And even of the gamers, how many would plunk down the money for the soundtracks to the games as well? Most of my friends who are avid gamers could really care less about the music. It would be real nice to have translated CD inserts though, save me the trouble of having to learn to read them.
Anime Nation is my current importer of choice, theyv'e got a pretty decent selection, and their prices aren't too horrendous. High enough to keep me in check at least.
Grandia 2 for the Dreamcast came with a soundtrack CD (don't know if the PS2 also had it). That was pretty cool.
Circumcision is child abuse.
I agree, it would be nicer to see additional channels to purchase this music through. Though at least my local comic shop carries a small selection (though mostly it's DDR).
/.'ed).
One place I just discovered online is gamingfm.com, which streams videogame BGM 24/7. (though please, if you get addicted like I did, donate. I would hate to see them shutdown after getting
Also, I've noticed that sometimes it's cheaper to purchase the BGM from Ebay sellers overseas. However, I do support gamemusic.com and if you are a Square fan, the Project Majestic Mixes are a must have. Project Majestic HomePage
Now if someone could just crank out a decent remix of the M.U.L.E. theme, I would be in heaven.
Dr. Wu
"Yes, There's Gas In The Car"
What happened to the good ole' days, where the game CD actually had audio tracks on it and you could just pop it into an audio CD player and listen to the music from the game? I remember doing that a lot with my Quake II and Descent II CD's - both had great soundtracks, Quake had NIN and Skinny Puppy did the soundtrack for Descent if my memory serves correctly. All you had to do was skip the first "track", which was the game data.
I belong to the ______ generation.
In Unreal Tournament and Deus Ex, the music is embedded in .umx files: UnrealEd can extract it to S3M format, or there's a complete zipfile of UT music in the original IT/S3M/XM formats available for download somewhere (Fileplanet has it, I think). Mikmod can play it all, or convert it to wave files for burning or compression to MP3/etc. for non-computer use.
In UT2003 the music is in plain Ogg Vorbis format.
eBay.
I got my Gunvalkyrie soundtrack for a penny plus $3.00 shipping. Woo!
But I do agree, it would be awesome to see them in domestic music stores.
Insert clever one liner here.
Not having read the article yet (silly 56k connection), there are a few tips I can offer for anyone into this sort of stuff:
.ogg, .mp3, .wav in the game directories. Also, if the game uses propriatary formats search for plug-ins to things like Winamp to see if you can get a plug-in for that format.
1) PC Games - Try running a CD Player app on older games that use Red Book. You can get some good stuff through this (Total Annihilation, Half-Life, Carmageddon) however you don't have any track titles to go with, which is a pain.
2) PC Games - A lot of newer games are using files on the hard drive for music. Look for
3) Playstation Games - Some of these used Red Book as well, so pop them in a CD Player and check it out.
4) In terms of imports, Animenation (http://www.animenation.com) carries a decent selection of game soundtracks from Japan at pretty decent prices. Also, if there's been a domestic release (as it seemed like some companies started doing a few years ago, yet stopped doing so) they will probably have it as well.
Insert Sig Here
unless you want to get ripped off by some specialty store. Even if you get a disc cloned by a piracy house, it still looks professional and has the same bits on the disc.
I think a large part is also played out by how games and anime in general are perceived by the American public.
:D) :D)
Without getting into a whole sociological lecture, games and anime have been with the Japanese for a long time now, at least since the 80s. A lot, and I mean a LOT of the games and anime sold there are marketed towards adults, or at least the adult market.
The same stuff in the states is still pretty much kiddy-entertainment. Anime has only become widespread in recent years, and then only quite limited releases. The first generation of anime fans are just beginning to make money on their own in the states.
How does this tie in with music releases? Comparison: movie soundtracks, by which I mean composed scores, not song compliations. They're sold by the thousands (I hope), but when was the last time you saw a teenager walk into Virgin to buy the soundtrack for Lord of the Rings? Teens in the states simply don't listen to anything without lyrics that contain curses every other word.
Now, let's say you release the Final Fantasy VII OST four disc set, going for... say 25 bucks. Kids aren't gonna buy it, they don't have the money nor the inclination. Adults aren't gonna buy something they see as music for a "kids' game". All you're left with is a niche market, which would barely draw in enough money to cover for publishing the CDs.
Composers also make a difference. Like somebody else already said, really famous composers work on Japanese soundtracks, and a lot have made their name there. Lately, even J-pop singers have cast their lot into game soundtracks (anime soundtracks are virtually tied into the J-pop industry already). Faye Wong for FFVIII, Kumi Koda for FFXII-2, etc.. why? Because they sell well, and it's a chance to get your name out there. In the States, the only pop group to have done this that I'm aware of is NIN for the Quake II soundtrack. Seeing how the music trend in the states these days are, I don't think that's gonna change... not that I want to. Lord knows what our beloved C&C/Quake/Grim Fandango music would be like if the big leagues got their hands on it.
Don't even get me started on how U.S. music labels have a tendency to cut movie score tracks from the CD.
For the companies that do release dedicated soundtracks, bravo! But most still only see limited releases. I really regret not picking up the Command & Conquer OSTs when they were available...
Alright, rant mode off, here are a couple of noteworthy game soundtracks, IMHO, that REALLY should see a regular stateside release.
-Square Games(they got good people working on their music)
-Bare Knuckle/Streets of Rage
-Command & Conquer (just so I can get the music in CD quality
-Grim Fandango
-Homeworld
-Morrowind
-Blizzard *craft series
-Mechwarrior 2 (ultimate classic. Yes, I know, it's on the game CD, I listen to it constantly, but come on, how about a symphonic release?
...Synsoniq is a good online shop. Most of my game soundtrack CDs have come from there. (Though I'm going to have to defect to somewhere else for a copy of The Black Mages, which Synsoniq inexplicably don't seem to stock).
-Stephen
I was able to pick up the original Gran Turismo soundtrack simply by walking into a store here in New Zealand and looking in the soundtrack section - however, this is a rarity and seems (here at least) tied to the popularity of the game
Games like the Tony Hawk series would be sitters for soundtrack CD's, and they'd make a small fortune off the soundtrack alone, but publishers don't care beyond securing the rights to use it for the game?
Of course, these are games that use "commerical" music so there could of course be issues with conflicting publishers etc...it would be nice, however, to see more titles available.
While more OST's would be cool, until then, if you've got a good internet connection and can stream music I reccomend www.gamingfm.com. These guys are made up of ex-editors from EGM and others from the gaming community. They bring you streaming music from all your favorite systems and you can even request what you'd like to hear!
Hiding my inner nerd.
I didn't see anyone else mention it, but when EA releases SSX3 this week, you can also buy the companion CD soundtrack. Best Buy even had it advertised in this week's flyer. Also, the soundtrack to XBox's OUTLAW VOLLEYBALL is available (with lots of label and music-video support for the band Diffuser who appears on the disc). Going forward, as long as the game publishers license/create music that is accessible to the "average joe" (that is, radio-friendly with artists that are touring or artists that folks have usually heard of), then I believe we'll see more game soundtracks. I don't think the US is ready for the extended mix of "Super Mario Kart - Start Screen" just yet.