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With Microsoft’s first Xbox console, they introduced something amazing that really caught my eye. The ability to play your own Mp3 files into your video game experience. This feature alone made me want to buy one, but I already had a Playstation 2 and the end of the generation was approaching. But why is this feature of such high demand, what makes this feature so important amongst gamers? Here are my reasons why Custom Soundtracks are a big deal.

A new way to listen to Music

Mp3 players changed the game with their accessibility, just plug it into the computer and load all your music on and your good to go. well what if you had access to all those songs within the game your playing? you could bump that new mixtape you just downloaded whilst putting in some productive gaming on your favorite title. The fusion of two of my favorite interests is something like magic to me.

You can literally customize your own gaming experience, you could choose to use your own music that fits with the atmosphere of the game if you’re not happy with the original score, or you could straight up pull a 180 and turn the whole experience around into the atmosphere you want.

It’s Not Like Just Turning Your Stereo on

Many people raise the argument, “Why not just turn on your stereo while you play?”. The thing is, with custom soundtracks on the consoles (The 360 especially) it allows you to blend the music in with your game experience, where as if you just put on your stereo system it would clash with the video game. For example, if i’m playing Final Fantasy XIII I want to be able to hear whats going in with the story without the music from my stereo over riding the audio coming from the game. If I am able to play the music within the console then It will fit in as background music for the game which means I can enjoy the games storyline whilst hearing my own music score.

Multi Task

Now if your like me and you love music as much as you love gaming, you’ll under stand the importance of experiencing both. As a hip hop fan it is important for me to listen to the latest mixtapes and albums, but I’m also an avid gamer which means I may not have the time to enjoy both sides of my hobbies. Well problem solved, because I can now hear that latest Lloyd Banks mixtape whilst playing the latest Need for Speed game. I now have time to keep up with both of my interests thanks to the implementation of custom soundtracks, and this fusion of the two is like heaven for me personally.

So there you have it, If you love music like I do then you’ll know how important this feature has become in gaming. The only frustrating issue I have is that the support for this feature sucks on the Playstation 3. Currently there is barely a handful of games that support custom soundtracks on Playstation 3, which is swaying me more towards the Xbox 360. On the Playstation 3 it is up to the developers to implement this feature into the games, however most developers will never bother with it, this is what gives Microsoft their edge. Their custom soundtrack utility is built into their consoles software which means that no matter what game you play, you can customize your experience with regards to the music. Lets hope that Sony some how find a way around Microsoft’s Custom Music patent and implement universal custom soundtracks into their 3.00 firmware update.

Written By Gary A Swaby

Deeper than the words embedded in somebody's wedding ring

1. Randy Ledet Jr. says:

   February 2, 2009 at 2:44 pm

   Good article, i remember when the xbox first came out with that. Damn i was in heaven, I had all my music on my Xbox.

   Reply
2. Granata226 says:

   February 2, 2009 at 7:13 pm

   I agree with you. It is important to let the consumer customize there experience to the way they want it to be. IMO though I have to completely disagree with the FFXIII comment. To me games that are single player experiences with music that goes with the game does not need in-game music. It’s like turning on your CD player while watching a movie. But for multi-player games it rules to play a game of CoD 4 online with your own music playing to get you pumped up.

   Reply
   • Gary A Swaby says:

     February 2, 2009 at 7:56 pm

     The Final Fantasy thing was moe of a ‘you could do that if you wanted to’ kind of example..i wouldn’t really do it cos i love the score on ff games personally. but there are a few rpgs where id bump some gangsta rap while leveling up

     Reply