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Old-school heads out there may remember Iron Helix, a sci-fi CD-ROM game that did survival horror in the FMV format that was all the rage then. If you played it, you'll remember how the music tweaked your nerves with a tense layering of synthesizer chords. More »
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Hot on the heels of the game's "Peer Review" DLC, Valve has made available the third and final volume of "Songs to Test By," free of charge (as usual) through the game's official publicity site. There are 24 tracks, including the closing credits theme "Want You Gone," plus another six snippets for ringtones. The Volume 3 .zip file is 141 megabytes. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5845669&view=rss&microfeed=true Volume two of "Songs To Test By," Valve's soundtrack to Portal 2, is now available. 18 tracks of free music, plus some bonus ringtones and chimes for your iPhone and Android mobile. [Think With Portals] More »
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It's hard explaining why syndicated dance party shows like American Bandstand and Soul Train were compelling television, unless you grew up in that analog era that predated VCRs, cable TV (in some stubborn households) and goddamn for sure the Internet. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5812808&view=rss&microfeed=true For your listening pleasure, Rockstar Games has uploaded nine cuts from the L.A. Noire soundtrack, including the game's title theme (embedded below) and two other original compositions. The tracks are hosted at the social music site SoundCloud. More »
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This is Gillian Grassie, a Philadelphia-area harpist. That's not the sort of instrument that gets a record deal; harpists typically fund their recordings by playing weddings, dining rooms and the like. To raise money for her next album, Grassie took requests, and found that video game patrons are very willing to support the arts. More »
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In March, a five-year-old song for Civilization IV became the first original composition for a video game soundtrack to win a Grammy. While no award has been created specifically for video game scores - in fact, more than 30 categories have been eliminated for next year - a renaming of four categories means games will no longer be ghettoized into a single award under an "other visual media" class. More »
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This month's Mortal Kombat reboot will be accompanied by an all-new collection of electronic music inspired by the bloody, fatality-filled fighting game. You can listen to it right now, if you're looking for some new MK-inspired jams from the likes of MSTRKRFT, Skrillex and Congorock. More »
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It's an appropriate opening for a song placed in a game that begins in prison. "You know you fucked up, right?" begins "The Loser Wins," by Atmosphere. In another sports game, this would have to be blanked out, or just not used. More »
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Say what you will about their relevance for popular music these days, but the fact remains the Grammys are still the world's biggest music awards. So why can't video games get their own nomination? More »
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If you have fond memories of Mortal Kombat music by Belgian techno specialists The Immortals, the people behind the new Mortal Kombat have something just for you: an all-new album of thumping electronic music inspired by the gory fighting game reboot. More »
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The next Silent Hill won't feature the musical stylings of series mainstay Akira Yamaoka. Dexter composer Daniel Licht is filling the void in Silent Hill: Downpour... and doing a pretty good job of delivering the same musical vibe. More »
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The opening theme for Civilization IV is the first original composition associated with a video game to be a finalist nominee for a Grammy. The track, "Baba Yetu," is in the "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists" category. More »
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Sure you can download the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack - get it on CD even! But if you want authentic pop, crackle and hiss coming over your wild west soundtrack, only Rockstar has what you need, a double vinyl LP. More »
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Per its name, The Billboard 200 is a weekly list of the 200 highest-selling albums in the U.S. The official soundtrack for Halo: Reach debuted at No. 157 for the past week, the best mark ever for the franchise. More »
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It's not exactly the Rock Band 3 tracklist reveal, but Mafia II's period-piece bonafides aren't limited to the set direction and costumes. More »
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In addition to more than 20 minutes worth of Rush, the next Guitar Hero will feature these 22 newly revealed songs, ranging from the darn good Blue Oyster Cult's "Burnin' For You" to the ear-searing "Unskinny Bop" by Poison. More »
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Seven NFL teams' fight songs are included for the first time this year in the Madden NFL soundtrack - unfortunately (from my perspective) the best one is MIA. Probably because they didn't want the thing sounding like a porn movie. More »
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EA Sports promised a list of "classic arena anthems" for its NHL offerings and one in particular makes it mission freaking accomplished on that score: The Final Countdown, by Europe, part of both NHL 11 and NHL Slapshot's soundtracks. More »
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Eminem tweeted he'd appear in Activision's event at E3, and yesterday I joked "I don't think he's appearing on behalf of Call of Duty: Black Ops." Maybe he is. A track from his new album will be in the game. More »
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Someone's uploading tracks from the Super Mario Galaxy 2 soundtrack to YouTube, under the name of Mahito Yokota, the game's composer. Whether or not it is actually him doing this, the music's there, and it's beautiful listening. More »
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Reviewing Final Fight: Double Impact this week, I failed to mention the game's remixed soundtrack as a definite plus. It's the product of Simon Viklund, who delivered the outstanding techno score of Bionic Commando: Rearmed. It's available for download, free. More »
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I'd heard about this during my preview with the game last month - MLB 2K10 cover athlete Evan Longoria asked for Tantric's "Down and Out" to be included on the game's official soundtrack, and 2K Sports obliged. More »
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Over the next month EA Recordings will roll out soundtracks for three of the publisher's big upcoming releases, releasing music for Mass Effect 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Dante's Inferno via digital download. More »
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Square Enix has revealed its plans to drain even more hard-earned yen from the Final Fantasy fanatic, announcing the official Final Fantasy XIII original soundtrack. It comes in two pricey flavors, one more deluxe and limited than the other. More »
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For all its bombast, bleakness and Brian Cox, I didn't really like Killzone 2. Well, didn't much like the game. The music, now, the music was brilliant, so it's good to hear it's being released for public consumption. More »
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A profile by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, calling Marty O'Donnell the John Williams of the Halo series, turns up this tidbit: He wrote the Flintstones Vitamins jingle (which you now have stuck in your head) and his kids sang the chorus. More »
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It figures that, when the Brütal Legend soundtrack was revealed, it would come out of a place like Denmark. They take their metal seriously, and EA Denmark has the list of more than 100 songs in the game. More »
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You've heard the theme to Bowser's castle from Super Mario Bros. But have you heard it remixed in kind of a hip-hop way and officially commissioned by Nintendo as part of the Pictobits soundtrack? More »
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The summer re-release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 features the same wacky jazz as the original game, but Capcom revealed to Kotaku today plans for a star-studded free bonus soundtrack players can fight to instead. More »
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Sumthing Else Music Works continues to strengthen its lineup of video game soundtrack offerings, with a deal with Capcom scoring them the scores to Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter IV, Dark Void, and more. More »
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Sumthing Else Music Works continues to release music for every big game Microsoft releases, with the announcement that the Halo Wars Soundtrack by Stephen Rippy will be available for purchase on February 17th. More »
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Fans of the music of Bungie's Halo series are in for a real treat tomorrow, as Sumthing Else releases a 5-disc soundtrack set spanning the series' history, complete with a Halo Wars preview. More »
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In 1982 the president of Arista records, Clive Davis, wrote an editorial in Billboard magazine entitled "You can't hum a video game." His point was that, although the then newly-popular pastime of gaming was giving record companies the heebie-jeebies by threatening to eat into the spending power of the youth market, music would always have the upper hand compared to this newfangled bleepy nonsense. More »
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Sure, Halo 3 was so 2007, but there's always ways to pick up an extra penny or two the year after. When the heat's died down. Here's one: the complete Halo soundtrack. It's the soundtracks to Halo 1, Halo 2 and Halo 3, all in the one box, all for $30. Could be the perfect stocking-stuffer for that special Halo fan in your life. Provided they didn't buy the soundtrack to Halo 2, hear Incubus and hurl it out the nearest window, that is. More »
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Downloadable music has made music-specific games, like Rock Band, essentially self-renewing, as new tracks to play are popping up all the time. But when MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo talked to EA music guru Steve Schnur (we talked to him, too), he asked him when we'll see the ability to change up the soundtracks of other games with DLC. More »
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EA has revealed the soundtrack listing for Madden NFL 09, the most important series in the history of video game soundtracks. Is that right? Did Madden usher in a new age of music in video games? EA's Worldwide Executive of Music and Marketing Steve Schnur seems to think so. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5022876&view=rss&microfeed=true This site is full of win: Game Music Jukebox. You should really give this a look. More than 120 video game soundtracks. Double Dragon. Marathon. Mass Effect. Hitman: Blood Money. Lots of stuff from 8-bit synth to full symphony scores. And not just the title track, but the full score, broken out by tracks.Maybe not everything, but definitely a lot and certainly something to tickle your nostalgia fancy. Looks like they update it, too, last one was April 29.I'm listening to the Metroid Theme now, Brinstar to be exact. IMHO, best score for an 8-bit game ever. I want to make it into a ringtone, I just need to pick the right refrain.Just saw this on Reddit so, the buffering might be a little slow on some of the larger tracks as people go to it.Reliver Your Favorite Games Through Music [Game Music Jukebox] More »
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GameCareerGuide has an interesting interview up with Steve Schnur, worldwide executive of music and marketing for Electronic Arts, on the interplay between games and pop music. Schnur contends that being part of a game soundtrack isn't just one more stop on an upward career trajectory, but can (and has) launched careers: More »
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Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed is shipping in November for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3, we all know that. What gamers might not know about the medieval adventure is that it will ship with music. True story. There's going to be music and, from what I understand, it will be featured throughout the game, not just a clever title jingle. That music—or "score" as we say in the biz—will be handled by British Academy Award winner Jesper Kyd, pictured above in the boiler room in which he keeps his prey. More »
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