@Twoflower: No, EA distributes and co-markets Rock Band. MTV Games publishes that game, and is responsible for the music licensing.

Struct09

wow, only a bunch of morons would buy this

airmaster360

If they have good tracks and do it like Sony has with DRM-free MP3s for cheap or free, why not? Unfortunately, it's EA so the best we can really hope for is that some of them might be good...

stfufools

If EA wants this to work rather than looking like greedy idiots...they'll back out of making it downloadable soundtracks and turn it into "Songs downloaded for Rock Band will be useable elsewhere".

Think of all the sports games EA makes. Now imagine they implement a means of allowing you to take the songs you download for Rock Band and set them up in the sports games.

Make it a bonus of the RB DLC, not a feature of the sport game.

TRT-X

in other words... they'll completely abandon the ability to be able to play songs on your hard drive (or streaming to it in my case) in the game as a "custom soundtrack" just so they can charge me for songs i don't pay for anyway?

suck please.

kevinl

Sad thing is, there are morons out there who will buy the music

Fermbiz

@Trowble (XBL/PSN):

PS3 custom soundtrack is up to the devs to add. so if EA doesnt add it to the PS3 version on the game then...

hungry_for_worms

Why, most of the music sucks as it is. Are they serious!

ghnvt

@Al2x: When has EA ever developed a system to give us free content? I hope someone gets fired when this goes belly up. If this does catch on with idiot consumers I may have to hang up my controller because it'll become a standard and I don't know if I can handle that level of idiocy.

DasKonstruct

i would if the track was also playable on RockBand 2.

snapdoodle

EA would go so high up in my opinion if they gave us an indie track or two (as in relatively unknown bands/musicians) each week to download and see if we like it or not. That would make us consumers happy, the musician happy to see some publicity, and EA might make some money by having some of the musicians pay to get their tracks in.

Al2x

Paying for a sound track!? WTF?

I always considered a game soundtrack to be the same as a movie soundtrack, helps you to get in the mood of the game.. So, it's like charging for a different soundtrack in a movie, that's completely ridiculous!

CockroachMan

can't you put your own music already if you don't like a soundtrack? sounds Bogus, I don't think this is real.

VakeroRokero

@DaveKap: Ditto.

Hey EA, don't let the door hit you where the good lord split you. Why pay for DLC when we can already have it free, ala the 360's UI or PS3's in-game xmb.

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

Yeah, this is one of the dumber ideas I've heard in awhile from EA. Not only will I not pay for it, but even if somehow the current ability of consoles like the 360 to play my own music were to vanish, I'd go back to what we used to do in the NES/SNES/Genesis era: use my own, separate stereo to listen to music.

Simply amazing how bold they've become.

DaiMacculate

scams scams scams = EA EA EA

Note to EA: let's focus on games that are fun. quit trying to squeeze every cent out of the fellow gamer. I know you're readin this...

Shabat0ge

They are insane if they think maddens soundtrack is something someone would like to purchase...I myself just plays football and dont even bother with the sound...

Snukadaman_

bwahahaha, DLC music, what a scam

tralfaz23

@stranger: haha beat me to it.

smuckersisgood

No one who has a 360 will do this. I'll do like I do in every game; load up whatever the fuck music I want to listen to.

PROTIP: The Pokemon "Gotta Catch 'em All" sure is awesome while blasting through the putrid flesh of the COG members in Gears of War multiplayer.

Corrin

@grizzlywilliam: Well, i dont know about all games on 360, but im pretty sure you can do that already. Im always playing halo or oblivion while i stream my own music from my mac to my 360. When i do this i always get the game sound effects mixed with my custom soundtracks.

smuckersisgood

@grizzlywilliam:

"I'd much rather be able to load in a playlist of my own mp3s directly from my box so that the audio is mixed in with the game sounds."

You can on 360. And it's free.

(Network connection not included)

stranger

Did no one inform EA about custom soundtrack support already built into my game consoles?

What's wrong with itunes (>coughcough<) and my already huge library of music that streams to my console from my PC?

Oh, right: it's free. That and my music collection doesn't suck. Hey, at least now I'll get the option to pay EA extra for the music I'd just disable anyway...

What's next EA, a kick-in-the-teeth for only 400 microsoft points? Sweet.

stranger

why not offer them for free to promote new music.

hotdamn

WOW EA nickel and diming it's buyers, what a concept.. whats next paying for a patch to remove the in game ads??? Umm and also I would not pay for DLC for game music because I can just mute the TV and turn on the stereo or mp3 player with music that I already payed for.

ViciousViper

So EA are all about the idea that video games break new musicians. Which I guess is fine, even if I don't like feeling that I'm being marketed to.

But now you're suggesting I should pay EA additional money so they can advertise more music to me? That's a novel concept. Not to mention the stupidest fucking idea ever. I'll get on this right after I send in five dollars to my cable company to send me some more commercials.

wild homes is being recast!

I could see this working only if the music worked across all EA games.

Example: you download song X in Madden, it also works when you pop in Tiger Woods.

Even then it would be a stretch but it would help sales. Don't know if I would ever pay money for extra songs in the menu when I can plug my Zune into my 360 and listen to whatever I want over the game.

egyptomix

EA publishes Rock Band, yes? Let's get some brand synergy all ups in, and have every Rock Band DLC song you get also work as a downloadable soundtrack song for any EA game.

THEN and only then would I consider it. That's a hell of a lot of value, having one universal audio system (at least for one major publisher). But downloading a song just to play for 20 seconds between football plays in Madden doesn't make much sense.

That's like... well, paying for ring tones. Something I'd never bother doing and yet thousands of people do each day. I have a feeling I'm not on the pulse of America anymore. :P

Twoflower

Ah, this must be how they plan to completely revolutionize music in video games!

They're right, too. This has never been done before!

Coquiton

What Okari said, just use your mp3 player. On my 360 I plug my iPod into it and use that, even if it doesn't recognize all of the songs.

Another shady business model by EA. The evil empire still has it's crown.

SG_Mahonay

I would imagine they'd find an audience base for it, but it would really be better if they implemented an upgraded version of what they tried to do with the first xbox.

I'd much rather be able to load in a playlist of my own mp3s directly from my box so that the audio is mixed in with the game sounds. Otherwise you're just sitting there with your stereo on and game sounds coming out of the tv and thats sort of lame.

grizzlywilliam

how about a music download service on my game console? Songs can be labeled with "rock band" or "guitar hero" compatibility.

Bah, it would never work

Ahsayuni

Isn't this a little counter to the idea of user made custom soundtracks? How about this, I'll make a mix cd and play it in my stereo with the game music soundtrack turned off

DasKonstruct

I would pay nothing for it, since games should already allow me the ability to use my own soundtrack (as all 360 games currently do).

But, you know, leave it to EA to charge for a service we already had for free.

DaveKap

It's not going to work. People will just throw on headphones and listen to their mp3 player.

Okari

I wouldn't put a cent towards it, as the concept is a bad one. I can easily just listen to my iPod or put songs on the Xbox 360 to listen to in game, or have a stereo there. Unless it's for a rhythm based game like Rock Band that I will be playing with various instruments, why waste money on songs that only work with sports games, and ones where I can't take anywhere with me? If you had the option to sync them to a portable player as well than maybe, but this is doomed to fail.

kylo4

Fuckin EA...always trying to scam the gamers. There are options to play custom soundtrack and yet they want us to buy music we already have to play it in-game. Hell no I wouldn't buy their music...Heck I wouldn't buy their other dlc now. And come to think of it, I haven't even buy their games lately. I see burnout paradise is in the bargain bin now, then I realize it's EA and I skipped it. I don't know how I come to hate EA this much...but they sure deserve it.

karateka

2K Sports has already been doing this, way to get into the game late EA

DevonTheDude

If there were to make their own tunes for a game I'd consider it (I love video game music, frankly a lot more than anything that gets played on the radio), but if they're just gonna license songs that I can just rip onto my xbox anyway than I don't see the point. In fact, I purposely avoid ripping songs to my X-Box because a games music can have a big effect on its atmosphere. Licensed music is good for rhythm games. That's about it.

NeoStarr

Why would I get something free when I can pay for it? GENIUS IDEA EA!

Frontal lobotomy for one, please.

Mal-Content

The same people that would buy the songs are the same morons that go in to gamestop buy a PS3 and a copy of madden and probably nothing else until next years madden. You know those people that aren't gamers or smart. EA knows they can cash in on them.

FrankxThexTank

if it works to all EA games y not e.i. FNR3, RockBand, NBA Live etc.

JetPogi

I tell ya, the first time I loaded up Madden, my immediate reaction wasn't "FOOTBALL!" or even "let's start up the tutorial" but "holy shit, where's the menu to turn off the 'music'?"

I'd rather use my old CD player than pay extra for the stuff they choose. Or, just, you know, listen to the game sounds.

Evil Tortie's Mom

This is about ridiculous. Just take any song you own and put it on your Xbox or PS3 and listen to it during the game.

Why does EA think we're so obsessed with Madden's soundtrack? I've never thought it was a big deal, I mean they never put any good music on there anyway. As of lately they've been hyping the soundtrack more than the damn game.

omfg_its_dally

This sounds really stupid.

Then again, Ridge Racer 6's soundtrack was expandable via DLC

Anyway

EA's games all have that "EA TRAX". I think it would be cool if they integrated TRAX so that you can download all the music you want and be able to listen to it in ANY game that has EA TRAX

Altima NEO

I bet EA won't be allowing options to play your own mp3s. No, just licensed EA music which can't be transferred anywhere, or played on any other player.

Because people enjoy buying the same thing 4 times.

hahnchen

I'll just turn the music off in the game and plug my iPod into the stereo, thanks.

Otherwise, yes, I agree with hahnchen, all three consoles can play custom sound tracks. EA, give us features that we want don't give us features in spite of what we want.

Ptolemy

The music in EA games has traditionally been a way for up and coming bands to get tons of free exposure. Also, when buying a game, I expect it to include a soundtrack. after all, the game costs 60 f'ing dollars.

I wouldn't be surprised if in Madden 2010 you can make your QB throw further for five bucks.

suburbancowboy

EA, guys, bubbeleh, lemme explain something to ya. We buy songs in Rock Band because we can then *play them*. Songs are gameplay. Songs are mission packs. Now, if you sold, like, special scenarios in Madden, or unique environments, then we might buy that. But in Madden, songs are *not* gameplay. So we won't. So fuggov.

ThatFuzzyBastard

DLC works because people buy it.
I don't blame EA, they're just catering to the people who actually pay for this stuff. Let them know you like your games in small expensive pieces, a bit at a time, and that's just how you'll get them.

lol... back in the day you would just pop the game disc into a CD player, or sometimes crack open a data file and find all the music as MP3...

fuchikoma