Original Soundtrack: A Powerful Influence On Gaming's Cinematic Experience (PC, PS3,Wii, 360)

PC

PS3

Wii

360

While wold-wide, individual's may disagree on so many subjects be it political stance or religious values, it's clear that music is the universal language that can have a profound lasting influence on the human psyche for good or for the worse and thus is a common interest among billions of individual's even though we all choose to listen to different kinds of music spread out through many different genre's, its still a common interest even within the gaming world.

When I look back at all the games I've played throughout the years, I can always remember what was going on in background and it was the musical score to the game. I could be playing Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros or Zelda, and how different the experience felt with Comix Zone to other games. Every game had its own unique style that made the experience more and more different.

Gaming for me and for past generations of gamers altogether are no different today. While we still play those classic arcade style games like Galaga or Pac-Man, Tetris or Super Mario Bros 3, the gaming experience much like the style of music over so many centuries have changed just within the last ten years. The rapid growth in technology allows developers and publishers to deepen our gaming experience and bring more life and feeling to our gaming experiences than ever before. It seems today that the line between "just gaming" and having that cinematic experience blurs more and more as time goes on and its a trend that's growing on us simply because we all share that common interest. The question is, do we really even know that its there and the power is has on our gaming experience or do we simply just let it coast by and fade into the abyss? What would happen if Christopher Nolan met with composer Hans Zimmer and told him he was fired and that Nolan's creative genius no longer needed Zimmer's vision to complete the equation? The experience would be lost.

A Tribute to All Composers Within the Gaming Industry

I've thought a lot about this subject. Over the past year, and in the next few months to come, we've had some stellar game releases. Mass Effect 2 seeings its debut on PS3 in January along with LittleBigPlanet 2, Killzone 3 in February, InFamous 2 in June, Resistance 3 and Gears of War 3 in September, Batman: Arkham City, Rage and Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One and Battlefield this month. With Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection coming later this year. Each of these games and their predecessors before them have had a powerful influence on gaming and an amazing musical score to go along with them.

I don't think I have ever in my life had one of those, I guess you would call it impactful emotional gaming experiences in a game or I suppose rather very few. But, playing through games like Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves as well as Resident Evil 2 and Gears of War 3, those moments exist and I attribute that in part to the gamings score and how coupled with those animations and excellent story telling effectively and powerfully complete the picture.

So, this audio track is a tribute to composers like Greg Edmonson (Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception, Uncharted: Golden Abyss), Steve Jablonsky (Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3, Transformers), Chris Velasco (God of War), Harry-Gregson Williams (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots), Boris Salchow (Resistance 3) and Joris de Man (Killzone 3) and Gerard Marino that accent that experience we have in all our games among so many others and how they give us that life-like cinematic feeling that composers like Ramin Djawadi (Medal of Honor, Clash of the Titans) bring us today and the style that Hans Zimmer (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Last Samurai, Pirates of the Caribbean) has created and paved the way influencing so many. From NXGen "NXGen Psyche," this mix is for you and all your genius and hard work!

1 Killzone 3 Theme - Joris de Man

2 Metal Gear Saga - Harry-Gregson Williams

3 Gears of War - Steve Jablonsky

4 Gears of War 2 Theme - Steve Jablonsky

5 Resistance 3 Theme - Boris Salchow

6 There Is A God In You - Ramin Djawadi (Clash of the Titans Soundtrack)

7 God Of War 3 Overture - Gerard Marino

8 Reunion - Greg Edmonson (Remix by NXGen)

9 Nate's Theme 2.0 - Greg Edmonson

10 Killzone 3 Theme - Joris de Man

So keep checking back as we bring you all things musical score and all things gaming right here online keeping you inside the X-Gaming Zone Here at the XZONE!