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EA, Sega Line Up Bands For New Football Videogames
Thanks to The Hollywood Reporter for its article discussing the ever-larger sphere of music licensing for videogames. The in-depth licensing efforts for both Sega's ESPN NFL 2K5 and Sega's Madden NFL 2005 is discussed, and EA's Steve Schnur "says that he and his team of two listen to 4,000-plus songs before deciding, for example, the 21 that will be included in "Madden NFL 2005," which. features such artists as Hoobastank, Green Day, Alter Bridge, the Hives, and New Found Glory." Analyst Edward Williams adds: "When the technology allows it, gamers will be able to play, say, a Madden game and, when they hear a song they like, they'll be able to press a button, download that song, and their account will be charged. That is almost exactly what the game publishers want to get into, but they won't comment on it now, I'm sure, because it really depends on Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony and what their next-generation console hardware will allow."
football sucks fucking monkey balls
When the technology allows it, gamers will be able to play, say, a Madden game and, when they hear a song they like, they'll be able to press a button, download that song, and their account will be charged.
/. is seriously screwing with Firefox.
Or they could, of course, take advantage of the technology they have now in the Xbox and let gamers listen to any sort of music they enjoy.
BTW, something on
"Come on, let's go drink till we can't feel feelings anymore."
All EA sports games suck fucking monkey balls
Instead of beating each other with the songs they can license, how about trying to trump each other with GAMEPLAY? Yes, I know you don't need to improve that to sell sports games since the annual changes are often rather minimal (cue replies "but in the year X they added feature Y!"). It would be a lot more consumer friendly if they just threw in a roster editor and allowed the fans to keep the rosters up to date or patch it in and release a new game every few years throwing in all of the features that accumulated over the time (instead of spreading them out over multiple releases). The current model makes more money, but no other genre can get away with such cookie-cutter changes between sequels. It's time sports fans demand more value for their money.
What is the deal with American Football anyway? It seems more like Rugby than football, since players carry the ball and only kick it occasonally. Of course, unlike Rugby, American Football players seem to need several layers of armour before they are brave enough to step out onto the pitch :)
Real football is played with your feet. Americans call it soccer, but recently even EA noticed that the world is not entirely American-centric and renamed it's games to football in Europe.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
says that he and his team of two listen to 4,000-plus songs before deciding, for example, the 21 that will be included in "Madden NFL 2005," which. features such artists as Hoobastank, Green Day, Alter Bridge, the Hives, and New Found Glory."
Yes, I'm sure it was very difficult to select bands that have a new album coming out. Not only does EA get bands that are probably 'hip' in middle/high school, they most likely pay less to license the music because it's promotion for the band.
All of this mainstream bullshit, music/movies/TV/games, all they want is your money (duh). All of these crossovers are starting to screw the consumer. Oh great, I bought Pitch Black when it came out because I really liked it. Oh wait, now the new special edition comes out before Chronicles of Riddick with extra footage that adds some backstory. Not only that, but it comes with a free movie ticket. Don't forget to pick up the video game, it'll actually tell you something about Riddick, besides that he's badass.
Same thing with The Bourne Identity/Supremacy, fuck this shit.
BURN THE MAINSTREAM GARBAGE!
I've enjoyed some songs in video games before (especially Test Drive 6 and Jet Moto) but I've never had the notion to buy a game because of the music on it. I'm always suspicious that things like this happen because something is wrong with the game. It's kind of like how the crappy cereal always has the good prizes or that Three Stooges beer must suck or else they wouldn't bother paying to put them on the label (and it does indeed suck). Of course, if they don't make a big deal out of signing all of these acts for their game, then I won't be nearly as skeptical.
At any rate, EA and Sega had better watch out because I'll burn down the offices of the one that sells a game with that "Are you ready for some footbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal" song in it. That's the single biggest reason I stopped watching Monday Night Football. (The others being the vastly increasing number of commercials making the game somewhat unwatchable and the interviews that overlap with actual plays on the field. Some people mention Dennis Miller as the downfall of MNF, but it was already a dead horse by the time he got there.)
Sega's Madden NFL 2005 ?
I can think of 2 titles that I've bought just for the music: PS2's Amplitude and Tetrisphere for the N64. I sorta fell in love with Amplitude's gameplay also. I have all the Wipeout soundtracks, but I've never played the games.
the 21 that will be included in "Madden NFL 2005," which. features such artists as Hoobastank, Green Day, Alter Bridge, the Hives, and New Found Glory.
I like Greenday, and plenty of other bands that were included in Madden 2K4, but I don't want to hear them in my football game. All I really want is the theme music that the networks play, so the game feels more like a 'real' game. I don't need to hear DMX, Bon Jovi, Green day, lil' kim, or yanni in my Football simulator. I'd like to see them use these resources to enhance the distinctions between the teams and improve the commentary.
Analyst Edward Williams adds: "When the technology allows it, gamers will be able to play, say, a Madden game and, when they hear a song they like, they'll be able to press a button, download that song, and their account will be charged
I don't need Madden to turn into some half assed version of I tunes, thanks but no thanks EA.
I don't buy (or download) much music these days, and I don't pay much attention to new bands, but for only a little more than the (outrageous) price of a CD i can buy an EA sports game for my PS2. With the last one I bought, I got about 20 songs from artists I hadn't really listened to before. Some of them I didn't like, others I thought were alright.
EA wins 'cause I bought their game, I win 'cause I get a pretty good game with some ok music, the artists win 'cause they reached a potential consumer they wouldn't otherwise reach.
I'm not sure I would want to buy and download songs based on hearing them in a game (I already have that song in the game!), but I'll definitely consider buying an album or two.
"Preceded by itself yields falsehood" preceded by itself yields falsehood.
EA's Steve Schnur "says that he and his team of two listen to 4,000-plus songs before deciding, for example, the 21 that will be included in "Madden NFL 2005," which. features such artists as Hoobastank, Green Day, Alter Bridge, the Hives, and New Found Glory."
Mm-hmm. Sure.
One thing the video game publishers are not benefiting from is an additional revenue stream; they are not being paid for the exposure they give the artists. Said an EA spokesperson, "We want to compensate the artists for their intellectual property. We also want to retain the integrity of the creative content of the game. We don't want the game to be just an advertising vehicle. If it evolves to that, then the spirit of the music within the game may change. Our goal is to create the most entertaining experience for the gamer."
Right. Totally.
The songs chosen and put into EA's games are picked based on the preferences of the designers. Definitely. Totally. Just like the songs chosen and put into radio playlists are picked based on the preferences of DJs.
BULLSHIT.
If you didn't RTFL, payola schemes have been ruining radio airplay for decades. Since direct payola is illegal, record companies hire "indies" (the nice term for music middlemen) to take the $ from the label to the radio station in order to "persuade" said station to play certain songs at certain times.
Oh, but EA said they don't take money? That's cute. Complete bullshit, but cute. I have a lot of buddies who only buy EA Sports video games (and the occasional GTA and such), and every single time they load up an EA Sports game around me, they almost always mention a "favorite song" on EA Trax. The shit works because it targets the perfect mainstream audience: sports-watching males, ages 15-35. Record labels would be crazy to ignore that kind of advertising.
I do wonder whether or not ESPN/Sega Sports is accepting $ for song contributions, though, since they appear to be dipping in the non-major-label pool. I've seen the figures on labels like Definitive Jux, and they can't afford much in marketing, so I'll play the semi-optimist and pretend that Take Two's financial clout has helped Sega make a move like that without asking for "indie" fees.
Not like EA needs the money, though, thanks to their superhuge bankroll these days.