This great article was published by the NEW YORK TIMES back in late December. The article mentions a handful of well-known composers and recent game projects ranging from MIKAEL KARLSSON'S BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY, to GARRY SCHYMANN'S BIOSHOCK, to INON ZUR's PRINCE OF PERSIA. The article focuses on how music for video games has become a very serious undertaking; demanding some of the most talented composers and performers the world has to offer. It goes on to talk about how gamers are taking note of a games' score has on them. It's a great read. Here are a few excerpts:
The increasingly nuanced scores reflect “the growing maturity of the games industry, which is getting better at storytelling” and weaving moral dilemmas into game plots, said Sean Decker, general manager at DICE, the division of Electronic Arts that created Battlefield. The main challenge for composers is switching from a linear to an interactive medium in which the music has to reflect several possible outcomes at each stage of the game. Different music is needed, for example, depending on whether a gamer perishes or emerges victorious from a tussle with a venomous monster.
Jesse Harlin, music supervisor at LucasArts (which uses scores by John Williams, among others, for its Star Wars games) is swamped with demos from composers. He encourages them to write music that reflects what is happening to the gamer in the story and to avoid loop-based scores that can result in listener fatigue.
Some systems, like the Xbox 360, allow gamers to create custom soundtracks using MP3s. But many players (even the youngest) appreciate the attention software companies dedicate to music. In the Virgin Megastore in Union Square in Manhattan, Atticus Wakefield, 10, said, “Music and the sound really give the game more depth and make it much better to play.”
You can read the full article here
The increasingly nuanced scores reflect “the growing maturity of the games industry, which is getting better at storytelling” and weaving moral dilemmas into game plots, said Sean Decker, general manager at DICE, the division of Electronic Arts that created Battlefield. The main challenge for composers is switching from a linear to an interactive medium in which the music has to reflect several possible outcomes at each stage of the game. Different music is needed, for example, depending on whether a gamer perishes or emerges victorious from a tussle with a venomous monster.
Jesse Harlin, music supervisor at LucasArts (which uses scores by John Williams, among others, for its Star Wars games) is swamped with demos from composers. He encourages them to write music that reflects what is happening to the gamer in the story and to avoid loop-based scores that can result in listener fatigue.
Some systems, like the Xbox 360, allow gamers to create custom soundtracks using MP3s. But many players (even the youngest) appreciate the attention software companies dedicate to music. In the Virgin Megastore in Union Square in Manhattan, Atticus Wakefield, 10, said, “Music and the sound really give the game more depth and make it much better to play.”
You can read the full article here
