'Four' Comes to the Aural Fore
Activision signs four bands with four songs dedicated to the four members of the Fantastic Four.
Published: April 14, 2005
Licensed music isn't anything new to games. Since the advent of CD-based games, paying for tracks from big name or up-and-coming musical acts has been largely a process of grabbing something already out there, or in some rare instances signing a band to do a song "for" a game, though it rarely means more for the artist than dropping the name of the game somewhere in the lyrics.
Activision's going a different route with their video game version of the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, opting instead to have four unique bands write songs specifically four the game's four main heroes that will be featured in character-specific trailers. Ideally, the songs will embody the personalities and some specifics about each character and their powers, but it doesn't seem like the attempt is all PR spin being used to sell the band names with the game. Of course, we'll leave it up to you to decide for yourself how much of it the music complementing the game and how much of it is MTV meeting G4TechTV.
"Creating four unique character-driven songs and music video-like trailers is a whole new approach at integrating music into games," beamed Tim Riley, Activision's worldwide executive of music. "This project underscores our strategy to use artists that are aligned with the content and feel of our titles, further enhancing the overall sensory experience for players. The Fantastic Four game also will feature the signature musical theme from the film's score, which was composed by John Ottman, whose credits include X2: X-Men United and The Usual Suspects."
Still wondering who the bands actually are? Well too bad, because we're not telling! Ha! Oh, no, wait, here they are:
Mr. Fantastic -- Taking Back Sunday - "Error Operator"
The Thing -- Jurassic 5 - "Clobberin' Time"
The Human Torch -- The Explosion - "I'm on Fire"
The Invisible Woman -- Go Betty Go - "Everywhere"
The game itself was designed to be played in either two-player co-op or can't-find-any-friends single-player, and lets you use each of the characters' powers (those are the ability to stretch any body part insanely far, super strength and toughness, flight and limited pyrokinesis, and invisibility, respective to the characters we just listed above) alone or together for combined effect. The storyline is being penned by X2 co-author Zak Penn. Get it, pen/Penn? See, it's a play on his last name and-- aw, shaddap.
Activision's going a different route with their video game version of the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, opting instead to have four unique bands write songs specifically four the game's four main heroes that will be featured in character-specific trailers. Ideally, the songs will embody the personalities and some specifics about each character and their powers, but it doesn't seem like the attempt is all PR spin being used to sell the band names with the game. Of course, we'll leave it up to you to decide for yourself how much of it the music complementing the game and how much of it is MTV meeting G4TechTV.
"Creating four unique character-driven songs and music video-like trailers is a whole new approach at integrating music into games," beamed Tim Riley, Activision's worldwide executive of music. "This project underscores our strategy to use artists that are aligned with the content and feel of our titles, further enhancing the overall sensory experience for players. The Fantastic Four game also will feature the signature musical theme from the film's score, which was composed by John Ottman, whose credits include X2: X-Men United and The Usual Suspects."
Still wondering who the bands actually are? Well too bad, because we're not telling! Ha! Oh, no, wait, here they are:
Mr. Fantastic -- Taking Back Sunday - "Error Operator"
The Thing -- Jurassic 5 - "Clobberin' Time"
The Human Torch -- The Explosion - "I'm on Fire"
The Invisible Woman -- Go Betty Go - "Everywhere"
The game itself was designed to be played in either two-player co-op or can't-find-any-friends single-player, and lets you use each of the characters' powers (those are the ability to stretch any body part insanely far, super strength and toughness, flight and limited pyrokinesis, and invisibility, respective to the characters we just listed above) alone or together for combined effect. The storyline is being penned by X2 co-author Zak Penn. Get it, pen/Penn? See, it's a play on his last name and-- aw, shaddap.
