Atari's VMA Double-Dip
Guess it pays to spend plenty of time on a game's soundtrack, eh?
Published: August 4, 2006
Say what you will about Atari's games over the years, but they care about the music, man. So much so that a pair of their games released this year are getting nods at the MTV Video Music Awards. This is something we support, because as hit-and-miss as the gameplay was in both Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure and Driver: Parallel Lines, the soundtracks were friggin' awesome. What's more, neither game shared the same approach, either in who they tapped as artists or how they went about assembling the soundtrack.
Parallel Lines' list of artists reads like a best-of collection: The Dead 60s, TV on the Radio, LCD Soundsystem, The Kaiser Chiefs, Secret Machines and The Roots all give the in-game modern-day New York its vibe, while Iggy Pop, Marvin Gaye, Average White Band, WAR, Parliament, Funkadelic, The Temptations and David Bowie satisfied the sound of late 70s. In addition to licensed tracks, Atari worked with Nimrod Productions and got Paul Oakenfold, Suicide, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy, Arthur Baker, The Audio Bullys and Mylo to all make tracks exclusively for the game.
Getting Up was a tight collaboration between Atari and Sean "Diddy" Combs, who oversaw four tracks in the game; "Getting Up Anthem: Part 1" by Talib Kweli (who also voice the main character, Trane) and Rakim, "Click, Clack and Spray" by Pack FM, "Book of Judges" by Pharoahe Monarch and remix of Biggie's "Who Shot Ya" handled Serj Tankian from System of a Down -- an exclusive to the game. RJD2 supplied the cinematic tracks and overall in-game tunes, and Wu-Tang frontman The RZA even slapped his own brand of magic on one of the videos for the game.
Both games are surprisingly deserving of honors at the VMAs in the Best Video Game Soundtrack, and have the unfortunate honor of competing against one another. Personally, we're more of a fan of the Driver soundtrack, both because it's a wider selection of music (time frame and genres) and because we're all a bunch of rockers around here, but both games matched the music intimately with the game's content, and are quite honestly a benchmark for how to do a licensed soundtrack.
We'll find out who won (along with everyone else) when the VMAs air at the end of this month, Thursday, August 31st. For those curious, NBA 2K6, Burnout Revenge and Fight Night Round 3 are also up for the award.
Parallel Lines' list of artists reads like a best-of collection: The Dead 60s, TV on the Radio, LCD Soundsystem, The Kaiser Chiefs, Secret Machines and The Roots all give the in-game modern-day New York its vibe, while Iggy Pop, Marvin Gaye, Average White Band, WAR, Parliament, Funkadelic, The Temptations and David Bowie satisfied the sound of late 70s. In addition to licensed tracks, Atari worked with Nimrod Productions and got Paul Oakenfold, Suicide, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy, Arthur Baker, The Audio Bullys and Mylo to all make tracks exclusively for the game.
Getting Up was a tight collaboration between Atari and Sean "Diddy" Combs, who oversaw four tracks in the game; "Getting Up Anthem: Part 1" by Talib Kweli (who also voice the main character, Trane) and Rakim, "Click, Clack and Spray" by Pack FM, "Book of Judges" by Pharoahe Monarch and remix of Biggie's "Who Shot Ya" handled Serj Tankian from System of a Down -- an exclusive to the game. RJD2 supplied the cinematic tracks and overall in-game tunes, and Wu-Tang frontman The RZA even slapped his own brand of magic on one of the videos for the game.
Both games are surprisingly deserving of honors at the VMAs in the Best Video Game Soundtrack, and have the unfortunate honor of competing against one another. Personally, we're more of a fan of the Driver soundtrack, both because it's a wider selection of music (time frame and genres) and because we're all a bunch of rockers around here, but both games matched the music intimately with the game's content, and are quite honestly a benchmark for how to do a licensed soundtrack.
We'll find out who won (along with everyone else) when the VMAs air at the end of this month, Thursday, August 31st. For those curious, NBA 2K6, Burnout Revenge and Fight Night Round 3 are also up for the award.
