In the spring, music executives at the E3 video game convention predicted music would take on a greater future role as the game market grows more sophisticated. This fall, that prediction seems poised to become reality.
As the pre-holiday game release schedule swings into high gear, titles expected to hit retail shelves in coming months will feature more songs–and more user control over them–than ever before.
For example, Electronic Arts’ “Madden NFL 07″ football game this year features an all-time high of 35 songs, up from 21 in recent years. And that’s just one of the smaller soundtracks. Large, open game-play video games like the “Grand Theft Auto” series took the soundtrack concept to new heights with “GTA: San Andreas” featuring a whopping 80 tracks that were later released on an eight-CD boxed set. This fall, two new games matching the “GTA” game-play style will be released with soundtracks that dwarf that title in size and interactivity, heralding what many expect to be a standard feature of tomorrow’s games.
Vivendi Universal Games’ “Scarface: The World Is Yours”–based on the 1983 Brian De Palma film–is taking a particularly strong music focus, featuring more than 120 licensed tracks. Another high-profile game, “Saints Row” from THQ, will launch with 130 songs on its soundtrack.
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