Rock star and noted media violence expert Noel Gallagher used a recent public appearance to speak out against the influence of violent video games, according to the BBC. While accepting an award at London's Silver Clef Music Awards, Professor Emeritus Gallagher mentioned games as one possible cause for the prevalence of youth-oriented knife violence throughout England.
"People say it's through violent video games and I guess that's got something to do with it," said Gallagher, whose wide-ranging, cross-cultural sociological studies on the relationship between media exposure and real-world violence have changed the way we all look at this complex problem. "If kids are sitting up all night smoking super skunk [cannabis] and they come so desensitised [sic] to crime because they're playing these video games, it's really, really scary," he added while adjusting the Amalfi Prize hanging around his neck.
Gallagher is the best-selling author of Burning the Razor's Edge: How Super-Skunk Smoking and Our Knife-Obsessed Media Landscape are Turning Our Kids to Crime.
In celebration of this week's Fourth of July holiday, Activision plans to serenade Guitar Hero III players with in-your-face patriotism and ambiguous homo-eroticism -- that's right, the "Top Gun Anthem" will be available as a free download on July 3rd. The film's instrumental theme, obtainable from both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, is sure send your fingers up and down your instrument as you dream of being Val Kilmer's wingman. No, Tom Cruise's wingman!
A recent ad for John McCain's presidential campaign features music from Medal of Honor: European Assault, which GamePolitics believes may be the first time video game music has been used as such. The awkward thing here is that the composer of the piece, Christopher Lennertz, is a passionate Barack Obama supporter who is "dismayed" by the use of his composition in the ad.
Lennertz doesn't own the rights to the piece, but he did release a statement saying that he wishes he'd been consulted before his music was used to promote a campaign that he does not agree with. He says he respects McCain, but has "never supported his candidacy nor his agenda for this country." Lennertz concludes, "As an artist, business owner, and patriot, I proudly support Senator Barack Obama for the Presidency of the United States of America..." We've placed the campaign ad after the break.
Having mastered every single one of Guitar Hero III's songs (including that one), perhaps you and your freakish, mutant fingers are yearning for some new notes to enliven those increasingly soporific shredding sessions. If you've got a PlayStation 3 copy of Activision's guitar 'em up, why not grab the promisedGod of War track, "The End Begins (to Rock)," from the PSN later today? It's epic, it's free and it sounds like this.
You wouldn't castigate us for saying that many classic video games are loved and remembered not just for their gameplay and characters, but their memorable music. Why, just think of The Legend of Zelda's dum dum, da da da dadum, da da da da daaa da da da da da dadum! Or Sonic the Hedgehog's dada da da dee dum dum, da dada da dum dee dum dum. And who could forget Mega Man's dada dada dadee dum, dadum dadum dum daaa?
If you're a video gamer who appreciates everything from 8-bit beeps and boops to rousing orchestral scores, we encourage you to drag those big ears of yours to a Video Games Live concert. Created in 2002 by composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, Video Games Live honors a wide range of games in -- thanks to its 50-show strong world tour -- a wide range of American and international venues. See a complete list of planned concert locales (including France, China, Taiwan, Scotland and Portugal) and dates after the break.
While video game music is no longer simply the series of 'beeps' and 'boops' it was in the past, it has nonetheless remained one of game design's -- groan -- unsung heroes. This isn't lost on tune-focused Music4Games, and in a recent interview with Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura, she spoke out on a number of topics, including her thoughts on creating music for the PlayStation 3.
According to Shimomura, who is responsible for the tunes we'll be humming along to in Square Enix's upcoming Final Fantasy Versus XIII for the PS3, composing on Sony's current platform is much less limiting than it was in previous generations. "With the PlayStation 2, sound production...was a constant battle with memory and limitations," she recalled, adding that "with the PlayStation 3, I'm expecting to have it sound the way I please, without limitations." It's encouraging to hear someone at any level talk about creating content on the PS3 that doesn't involve the words "difficult" or "costly." However, with Square Enix continuing to play coy with regards to when its decade of Final Fantasywill actually kick off, it may be some time before our ears ring with the fruits of Yoko Shimomura's musical labor.
The official Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots soundtrack came out in Japan today. The score was composed by Nobuko Toda and Harry Gregson-Williams, who have both contributed music to past MGS titles.
The soundtrack is available for import via Play-Asia for $28. We caution, however, looking at the track listing as they contain minor spoilers (such as the "This is The Song You Hear When Snake Shoots Himself in the Head 78% Into the Game" – we're kidding). A copy of the soundtrack is also included in the Limited Edition version of the game. MGS4 is just two weeks away.
A new name has emerged within the already crowded rhythm game landscape, this one focused on stamping out mad beats in the casual game space. Aptly-named Music Video Games, the new company was founded by David Warhol from Intellivision Lives! creator Realtime Associates and former TDK Mediactive CEO Vincent Bitetti to put a casual spin on music games in order to make them more accessible.
While we're name dropping, the company's roster also includes former Warner Bros. Records and THQ execs Mark Goldstein and Tim Walsh, both of whom serve as strategic advisors to the fledgling startup. However, nothing specific has been revealed concerning the outfit's upcoming projects, with the company stating only that it plans to "develop, publish and exploit technology and proprietary music beat matching game designs." We're curious to see what comes of this, though honestly with gamesbothbig and small already appealing to a wide range of players, whatever Music Video Games comes up with will have to be infectious to keep it from being yanked off the stage.
We've heard tell of the incredible success Harmonix has seen with their weekly downloadable tracks for Rock Band. Often, their sales numbers are matched up against those of Guitar Hero III, where tracks are more seldom, but also sell like diamond-encrusted hotcakes. As enjoyable as these track packs are, we've yet to see any comparison between them and actual music retailers, digital or otherwise -- that is, until Mötley Crüe's new single simultaneously rocked the faces off of music downloaders and DLC collectors alike.
Well, not as realistic as, you know, actual drums, but apparently the next Guitar Hero will be setting some sort of benchmark in the battle of the fake bands. Judging by the above debut trailer for "Guitar Hero World Tour," the new peripherals are convincing enough to lure hundreds of people into a poorly lit grotto and subject them to a cacophony of plastic instrument flailing. It's out this Fall.
For those of you who who can't seem to get Final Fantasy XII's battle music out of your head, there may soon be something else to hum along to as FFXII composer Hitoshi Sakimoto is looking to bring his musical style to a wider audience, including games produced outside of Japan.
Helping him in this will be Four Bars Intertainment, which also represents other game composers such as Jason Hayes (World of Warcraft), Inon Zur (Fallout 3, Crysis), and Jack Wall (Mystseries). No games have been announced yet, though we doubt Sakimoto will lack for projects to fill his free time. Over the past two decades the workaholic composer has added more than 150 projects to his credit, including such titles as Vanillaware's GrimGrimoire and Odin Sphere, shooters Gradius V and Radiant Silvergun, plus a handful of anime releases as well -- many of which we've given our own spin while humming along to in the shower.
No matter what platform we choose to take on Fallout 3's radioactive wasteland, we will be doing so to the musical styling of seasoned game music composer Inon Zur.
If Zur's name isn't familiar to you, it's likely you've hummed along to some of his more notable tracks heard in games like Crysisas well as each of the three expansions to Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. And speaking of three, a trio of the songs Zur created for Bethesda's hotly anticipated RPG are available to listen to on the official Fallout 3 website, from in-game tracks "Megaton" and "Into the Wasteland," to a bass-heavy title track that has us climbing the walls in our underground shelter in the march up to the game's release this fall.
It seems that Activision has stumbled across the correct formula for getting us to drop our drumsticks and don our trusty, dusty Les Paul peripherals -- a three-song DLC pack for Guitar Hero III featuring the music of the epic British prog-rock trio, Muse. As of May 8, "Supermassive Black Hole" and "Exo-Politics" from their 2006 album Black Holes and Revelations as well as the fan-favorite "Stockholm Syndrome" from 2003's Absolution will be available to download for a heretofore unannounced price (we're assuming it will match the $6.25 price of former GHIII packs). We've got videos for all three tunes after the jump -- go decide which ones are purchase-worthy! (Hint: All of them.)
We were initially indifferent when first told of nu metal rockers Korn's vocal enthusiasm for Haze, or as vocalist Jonathan Davis so eloquently calls it, "the shit." However, after now exposing our ears to the band's Haze-inspired title track, we can't help but hope that the aural assault will be kept at an absolute minimum once Ubisoft pushes the game from out of the mist.
The two and a half minute scream session not withstanding, the video does show off a bevy of CG and gameplay for Free Radical's overly-yellow shooter, which is currently circled -- in pencil mind you -- on our calender for release around May 20or so, which should be right around the time our ears stop ringing.
If you're a gamer in Europe (sorry about that) and have your heart set on purchasing Harmonix's multi-pronged take on the instrument protagonist genre, you'd best stop tossing your coins into the well and start aiming them at your precious porcelain piggybank. In the second attempt at damage control following Rock Band's European pricing announcement, a Harmonix developer deemed the price immobile and immune to the magical power of wishes.
"You may conclude that Rock Band isn't worth the price charged, and that is your prerogative. But it's not magically going to get cheaper because you wish it to be so," said product development manager, Greg LoPiccolo, posting on the official Rock Band forums. He explained that shocking shipping costs (all the peripherals are manufactured in China, natch) contributed to the price hike, as did the UK's longtime scapegoat, VAT. LoPiccolo went on to insist that the company was not "gouging" consumers. "We can only build our franchise if you buy our games."
While it's up to European gamers to accept this as reason or excuse, it does appear to signal the arrival at an impasse. Somebody has to budge -- be it EA finding cheaper distribution methods or consumers convincing themselves that a set of delayed peripherals is worth more than a Wii or the Xbox 360 Arcade. If the game's sales are severely hampered when it releases on May 23rd, however, you can be sure a price drop will "magically" arrive to save the day.
Rock star and noted media violence expert Noel Gallagher used a recent public appearance to speak out against the influence of violent video games, according to the BBC. While accepting an award at London's Silver Clef Music Awards, Professor Emeritus Gallagher mentioned games as one possible cause for the prevalence of youth-oriented knife violence throughout England.
For those of you who who can't seem to get 
