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On The Quality Of Licensed Game Soundtracks
Thanks to GameSpot for their 'GameSpotting' editorial discussing the correct blend of licensed music for videogame soundtracks. The writer argues that "there isn't anything inherently bad" in using licensed music, but suggests: "Whether you produce your own music or use existing music for your soundtrack, thematic consistency is of the utmost importance." He then picks Wipeout XL ("[changed] how people perceived music in video games") and the more recent True Crime ("a well-made licensed soundtrack") as good examples of this, before singling out the EA Sports Trax program, as used in Madden 2004 and others, as "destined to fail - 'cus you can't make a good soundtrack out of singles." Do you have a favorite licensed soundtrack, or is the whole concept a concern to you?
I don't understand how this article doesn't mention Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. That is probably the single best video game soundtrack ever.
For those of you who haven't played it, Grand Theft Auto has you running into and out of various cars. Each car has a radio, and you can choose from maybe a dozen stations. Vice City was set in the 80s, and all of the songs on the radio were actual radio hits from the 80s.
This was really a genius move. It added such a level of authenticity to the game, and since these songs were already a couple of decades old, it won't feel stale and dated a few years from now (like a soundtrack made of current hit singles might).
I really don't follow things in games all that much (I like what I like, but I don't have enough time to devote to games to get fanatical about anything). However, one of my favorite CDs ever is my copy of "Inferno", which is a game soundtrack done by Alien Sex Fiend. Totally sounds different from any other ASF stuff I own, and I totally dig it. Lots of electronic samples, explosion noises, and cool audio drops.
So yeah, a good game soundtrack can be awesome, if it's fairly original. I don't usually like game or movie soundtracks that are just collections of existing songs or songs that really don't link to the game or movie (most Jerry Bruckheimer movies are very guilty of this level of blandness).
It's a strange world -- let's keep it that way
This game had one of the coolest collection of tracks available for a game ever. Over a hundred songs all from indie artists. Really great stuff. And there's music for "almost" everyone. (read Britney Spears style crap not included)
a recent upserge in video game soundtrack popularity. There are even a couple of winamp streams out there playing them. ALT + L in winamp, under 'Internet Radio' there will be a couple. Also, check out Shoutcast for streams. Last time I tuned it, they are streaming some final fantasy tracks.
I sincerely believe in original soundtracks (if done well). The best example is Grand Theft Auto III. Since what I was being immersed in was a fictitious city, with fictitious ads, I felt the fictitious, but realistic, radio stations really added alot to that feeling of immersion. I felt like I was in "Liberty City", a realistic but still wholey unique and fictitious world.
Before anyone goes and nay-says me, saying that GTA3 had some licensed tracks, they were for the most part obscure enough to count as original in my book. They were not big name singles like in GTA Vice City. And personally I didn't recognize anything but the classical/opera tracks.
Which brings me to a great example of why I feel original works better than licensed: GTA Vice City brought us a bunch of memorable 80's tunes. I (We) already have real-world memories associated with those songs. We've seen videos, we've seen the artists, and we've heard them on the radio or in other media for that matter. So it's hard to feel that we're in a unique new city. Instead, it feels more like I'm playing a virtual Miami Vice.
What further broke the entire coherence of the immersion in a virtual world through its sound and music was the addition of voice-ver work for the player's own character. In GTA III your player never said a word. That's because you WERE that character. Whatever you thought in your head in reaction to what you saw and heard in the game, was your own. It helped immerse yourself in the game's world.
But in Vice City, suddenly you hear "yourself" saying things. To me, half the time I don't even realize it's my player character talking. I first think it's just more banter from the pedestrians in the game, and then when I understand the context of the phrase uttered I realize it's my player character saying it. It just doesn't work as well as keeping him silent. If the cops are honking and I'm standing in their way... let ME tell them to fuck off. It works better than making that decision, that "impulse" for me.
and the more recent True Crime ("a well-made licensed soundtrack") as good examples of this,
I can't really agree or disagree because I never played the game, but he states the choice of using music that "consisted almost entirely of hardcore West Coast hip-hop and rap and really made you feel like you were listening to LA radio". I'm sorry, but L.A. radio isn't that different from radio anywhere else. Most of it is the same old Clear Channel crap. Independant radio survives a little better because of the size of the audience, but not to the point where you're going to hear that music on the air, especially uncensored. You'll get the same watered down hip-hop and rap that plays on 50+% of the radio stations in the country. I do agree, however, that the particular choice of music was probably good for the style and feel of the game they were trying to create.
before singling out the EA Sports Trax program, as used in Madden 2004 and others, as "destined to fail - 'cus you can't make a good soundtrack out of singles."
Of course, that one line was probably his worst argument in the entire article. Even the rest of his reasoning for EA Sports Trax' problems is better than this (and even the part of the quoted line before 'destined to fail'). You can make a good soundtrack out of singles, you simply have to make sure that the singles you use are coherent as a single piece, or that they play against each other well.
His section on how SSX 3 handles music was probably the most interesting analysis of a single game, probably simply because it's the most complex handling of music in any game he mentioned. I do agree that the rhythm-game approach (similar to that of Frequency and Amplitude, for instance) is one of the best ways to handle changing the music in reaction to what's happening in the game, especially if you are licensing the music (rather than writing or having it written specifically for the game). Otherwise, the music you license would have to be very close in sound to not cause awkward shifts from one track to the next when the pace of the game changes (you can write music to limit the audible shift from one track to the next even if you don't know where it's going to shift, but it's significantly harder to do this with music that wasn't written with this in mind).
-PainKilleR-[CE]
Do you have a favorite licensed soundtrack, or is the whole concept a concern to you?
Not sure about how things were licensed and whatnot, but my favourite soundtrack was probably Trent Reznor's (NIN) score for Quake. Creepy ambient music, perfect for blasting zombies. The soundtrack to the sequel sounded too cheesy-90s-action-flick.
Personally, I still mourn for the 8 bit days of epic tunes composed under byzantine constraints.
Before Wipeout XL, there was arguably two starting points for licensed music in games. The most obvious, was Road Rage for the Playstation. While the licensed music didn't make it into the the game proper, all of the menus / setup screens / shops used tracks from Soundgarden. At the time it was quite shocking, and the music fit well. If anything, that sold the game far more copies than it deserved.
Predating that, there was the little known BioMetal for the SNES... Yes, that's right, the SNES. That U.S. Developed games used MOD versions of 2Unlimited's excellent first album, a collection of mostly repetitive blips and beeps anyway (being dance techno). The soundtrack, however, turned out to be phenomenal, and particularly well suited to the shooter aesthetic. Sadly, the rest of the game wasn't quite as tight, and sales flagged.
Both soundtracks were excellent, but the games were terrible. I leave the consequences of this difference with Wipeout XL as an exercise to the reader.
The ______ Agenda
For some reason midi died. I blame consoles but I blame them for anything. More likely just to many cheapo soundcards came out that did not properly support midi. Instead some games. Tombraider comes to mind played music from the cd. Not file from the CD. Actual cd music. In fact speech was played from the cd as well. This more then anything else is my reason for hating consoles. Anyone who played it on a pc would probably agree.
Anyway. Nowadays music is most often an MP3 or even more recent an OGG or somthing like that. And I noticed something. Almost always switching the music off will improve not only speed but stability as well. The speed issue has dropped a bit since Command & Conquer days but the stability still seems to be there for me. Over several new pc's I always noticed that if a game reguarly freezes switching the music off will help.
That and the fact that most music is crap and even more crappily mixed. Soft music during heavy combat then swelling up as people start to talk.
So leave the music out eh? Or least keep it to the movies. I can play my own cd's thank you very much. My tastes are probably different anyway. Worst example of that was playing Kotor and finding a techno beat in some places. Ewh.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Hands down. Mostly obscure licensed tracks, but perfectly fitting the aesthetic of the game. Jet Set Radio Future wasn't quite as good, but still nice. I just wish they'd kept Dragula out of the US release (Jet Grind Radio). It's a nice song, but not in tune with the rest of the tracks.
I agree with the selection of Wipeout XL- I remember my heartrate picking up whenever Prodigy's Firestarter rotated in. That track made any race that much more intense.
Two more recent examples of the use of "singles" come to mind. The SSX series (SSX3 in particular, since its still fresh in my mind) pulls it off pretty well. The music matches thematically, and though it may not be music I normally listen to, the game is enriched by it (I tried turning it off, it felt a bit hollow).
Gran Turismo 3, on the other hand - ugh! I hated the music. The selection was too disparate. I turned it off. It was better.
-h3
Slightly off-topic there, as none of the FF game soundtracks use liscenced music. I do agree with you that FF7 (and numerous other Square games) have great soundtracks. What's especially cool is that in recent years they've been taking to creating their OWN pop songs ("Eyes on Me" from FFVIII, "Hikari"/"Simple and Clean" from Kingdom Hearts, a whole bunch of songs from FFX-2, etc.), which is probably the way to go if you want pop music in your game without having to go the liscencing route.
This series, for me at least, has offered the best blend of different genres in terms of licensed music. If you like rap/hip-hop...you're covered. If you like rock...you're covered. If you like punk...you've more than covered. Before these games, I had a tendency to turn the music off (volume down), leave the ambient noises on and put on some cd or another. I do hope that future iterations on PS2 will utilize the HDD and allow people to play music of their own choice, though...because one Strike Anywhere song only makes me want to hear a bunch of Strike Anywhere songs.
"How like you to drag your keyboard to a gun fight." - Aaron Bedard (BANE)
'nuff said
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