EA and Sony's Video Game/Music Convergence

WebGangsta writes "Yahoo! News is reporting that Electronic Arts and Sony are collaborating on cross-promoting music and videogames. The just released EA title NFL Street 'will feature an original score from Sony artists X-ecutioners and tracks from Sony musicians including Korn, Fuel, Killer Mike and Three 6 Mafia. Two songs from the soundtrack will be turned into music videos featuring gameplay footage and will be released as singles for radio. To promote the game, EA said certain Sony Music releases would come with a bonus disc featuring a demo of NFL Street, and the production of the game and involvement of Sony artists will be featured in an MTV special.' This is just the beginning and an ideal way for Sony to cross-promote their artists with gamers (Amplitude, SSX3, DDR, etc)."

Music Industry Shovelware, or Creative Comingling?

[2Flower]

The problem with this announcement is that it's basically nothing new, nothing interesting, nothing that hasn't been done before. Any schmuck can take a handful of premade music tracks across a bunch of marketable genres and shoehorn them into a game. Tony Hawk's been doing it for years; when THPS3 hit, it stopped being about 'skate culture music' and started being a commercial.

If they really want to integrate and crosspromote effectively, then they have to do one of two things...

1. Actually pick a genre or artist that makes sense for the game and be consistent about it! DDR works great because it uses dance music for a dancing game -- go figure. Same goes with the Wipeout series, which presented a techno style from the soundtrack right on down to the visuals. Wipeout wouldn't have been as good if you got Fluke and the Chemical Brothers next to Sum 41, Linkin Park, Snoop Dogg and Enya...

2. Create NEW MUSIC just for the game, specifically for the game. Sign an artist and have them work the soundtrack for you. NIN's collaboration with id for Quake produced an amazing ambient score -- more projects like that, where the music is completely tied into the concept, would sell both the game AND a soundtrack full of this never-before-sold material. This doesn't just mean get them to record any old original song, it has to integrate perfectly into the game to justify the process.

Of course, the easiest and cheapest solution is to just use the game as a dumping ground for bands the label wants to promote. And the end result is a completely forgettable, bloated, schizophrenic game soundtrack -- which looks groovy on the back of the box and sells the thing, which is all that matters. And hey, if they just care about making money (which is reasonable & proper in a capitalistic society), that's fine... but it's empty, too. Very empty.

Putting music where it doesnt belong.

[JavaLord]

Maybe the music belongs in NFL Street, but I'd much rather have traditional game music (ie an original soundtrack, with just music, no singing/rapping). I like rap music and I thought Madden 2004 was just obnoxious when I first played it. I don't want to here Bon Jovi's "it's my life" either. Rap/Rock music isn't what should be in a football game, themes like the NFL on FOX, ESPN NFL prime time etc make me think football.

Re:The EA Model (Mainstream) v. the MS Model (Indi

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

"And, if that doesn't suit you, you can use your own music with custom soundtracks. How can you beat that?"

First off, you're right. This is a very nice feature. The PS2 doesn't come standard with a hard drive so this isn't really an option on a console other than the Xbox.

"EA's mainstream approach is generic and faceless; MS's indie approach is far preferable on every single side of the equation, be it consumer, publisher, or artist."

Now, I don't listen to much mainstream radio and tend to mainly just listen to older underground stuff, so let's get that out of the way first. From an advertising perspective, you're arguing that limited advertising in a single venue is better than complete cross-market saturation. This is an interesting theory but ultimately I think that you're wrong. First off, with a video game, you've got a limited audience. There are only X number of people that are going to play the game and, of that X, only a percentage will like the music and be inclined to purchase it. Whereas with market saturation, you get Y number of people hearing the music, where Y > X. I think the number of people who dismiss the music completely because they've heard it elsewhere and thus won't buy it is negligible. I mean, there had to be a first time you heard Mainstream_Artist_A just like there was a first time you heard Indie_Artist_A. Maybe you didn't like either of them the first time you heard them but let's suppose both have the potential to grow on you. The artist that's being played everywhere has a much better chance.

As for your idea that the consumer is getting screwed - don't forget that the music EA is using is called mainstream for a reason. The majority of people like the music so I don't think they'd describe themselves as getting screwed.

Final note on an already too long post, EA games are fairly notorious at this point for including an options screen for selecting which songs you want played and which ones you don't. Obviously this comes nowhere near as close to letting you play your own music of a HD but it would allow a game with Korn on the soundtrack to still be playable even if you hate Korn.

Just my two cents.