With 20 years of experience in creating video game music and titles like Hitman, Kane & Lynch and Borderlands under his belt, Jesper Kyd has become one of the go-to guys as far as video game soundtracks are concerned. Kyd really seems to connect with the games that he composes music for, creating sounds that enhance the action rather than drown it out. That, and Ubisoft’s Patrice really seems to dig the guy’s work.

“Jesper Kyd’s score for Assassin’s Creed II brings players into the Italian Renaissance by providing a true sense of depth for the poignant moments, while also giving a jolt of adrenaline to the action-packed sequences. We are thrilled to have Jesper Kyd back with us in making Assassin’s Creed II an epic title on all levels.”

Ubisoft is so proud of the soundtrack that they’ll be releasing it on “popular music stores” for download on November 16. I am assuming that includes iTunes. Why buy it? Just ask Jesper.

“We created a unique musical identity for Assassin’s Creed II that reflects the character and story of Ezio and elevated the music, both in terms of creativity and live production, to a whole new level.”

Now if I could only stop mistaking the poor guy for Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale.

Originally scheduled for a November 17th release in North America, the stylised arcade racing of EA’s Need for Speed: Nitro will be hitting store shelves a full two weeks earlier than expected – November 3rd in the states and the 6th in Europe. In celebration of the game reaching gold status, EA has released the full soundtrack listing for the game, featuring a mix of tracks from international artists that are sure to get stuck in your head for weeks at a time.

“This soundtrack musically exemplifies the intensity, attitude and adrenaline of Need for Speed NITRO,” said Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music and Music Marketing at EA. “This energetic collection of rock, electronic and hip hop, matches the incredible speed and intensity of a game experience players will never forget.”

Check out the full track listing below to see what Mr. Schnur feels exemplifies intensity, attitude, and adrenalin.

Need for Speed: Nitro Soundtrack:

Alex Metric – What Now
Bloody Beetroots feat. Cool Kids – Awesome
Crookers feat. Wiley and Thomas Jules – Business Man
Crystal Method feat. LMFAO – Sine Language
Danko Jones – Code Of The Road
Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden – Bonkers
Drumagik – Make It Rock
Earl Greyhound – Oye Vaya
edIT feat. Wale and Tre’ – Freaxxx
Evil 9 – All The Cash (Alex Metric Remix) Feat. El-P
Hollywood Holt – Can’t Stop
k-os – FUN!
Lady Sovereign – I Got You Dancing
Major Lazer feat. Mr.Lex & Santigold – Hold The Line
Matt & Kim – Daylight (Troublemaker Remix)
Mickey Factz – Yeah Yeah
Pint Shot Riot – Not Thinking Straight
Placebo – Breathe Under Water
Rise Against – Kotov Syndrome
Roots Manuva – Buff Nuff
Rye Rye – Hardcore Girls
Street Sweeper Social Club – Fight! Smash! Win!
Taking Back Sunday – Lonely Lonely
The Enemy UK – No Time For Tears
The Gay Blades – O Shot (Dmerit Remix)
Two Fingers feat. Sway – Jewels And Gems

Announced on the Dreamcast’s 10th anniversary, Rush Rush Rally Racing is a top-down racer that, in all fairness, looks rather primitive. Primitive as it is, it is still a new game you can purchase that will play in your Dreamcast, and now you can spend a little more to get a little more. You’ll have to wait a little longer for the Deluxe edition, due out in November while the regular version drops this month, but you get a soundtrack CD, full colour manual, deleted scenes and stickers for your trouble. Stickers!

Folks who have already ordered the game from http://www.redspotgames.com/shop are able to change their order to the Deluxe edition via internet magic. The premium package will run you 27,95 EUR / US$ 42.00 / 27,00 GBP (around AU$45).

Tyler Bates, the man behind the music for 300 and Watchmen is also the man behind the music for Army of Two: The 40th Day. See him talk about what he’s done.

Perhaps it isn’t all that interesting to some, but I’m always fascinated by the approach Hollywood and television composers take when developing music for video games. Tyler here packed the tracks he created full of sounds in order to make sure that every gameplay decision would be covered. It must have been a real challenge, but the man who scored The Day the Earth Stood Still and Rob Zombie’s Halloween movies was more than up to the task.

The soundtrack is 150 songs, packed over 5 CDs. Remember CDs? The whole dealio will set you back ¥5,000 (AU$63). Out November 4.

150曲を収録。「BAYONETTA」，オリジナルサウンドトラックを発売（BAYONETTA（ベヨネッタ）） [4Gamer]

The latest chapter in the Halo saga brings with it new music composed by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori, and Sumthing Else is ready, with a 2-disc soundtrack for the game released into the wild on September 22nd to coincide with the release of the game. According to O’Donnell, the ODST soundtrack reflects the new direction the series is taking in the game.

“I’m happy to be able to share all new compositions and recordings created for Halo 3: ODST. The music reflects the new mood, new heroes, and new story of the game. I worked with the Northwest Sinfonia for the orchestral recordings and also added some nice alto sax solos and some new guitar solos. The piano sneaks back in again a few times too, but I can’t seem to help that.”

The 2-disco Halo 3: ODST soundtrack will also be available at www.sumthingdigital.com and iTunes come September 22nd.

Schyman is a great catch on EA’s part. His score to BioShock managed to subtly capture the conflict of the utopian society gone wrong in such a way that you barely even noticed there was music at times—it just melded with the experience, becoming part of the game. Hopefully he’ll be able to do the same with Dante. He certainly seems to have enjoyed himself at least.

“Scoring Dante’s Inferno was one of the most interesting and challenging projects I have ever tackled,” said Garry Schyman. “Literally being asked to score hell was fantastic especially once I saw the surrealistically frightening world that Visceral Games had developed. I thought long and hard about every piece of music I wrote to create something new, surprising and fitting. It has turned out to be one of the most creative experiences in my career.”

Sure beats my idea of having the entire game accompanied by Meatloaf tunes.

Invincible Tiger is a downloadable Kung Fu action game that’s just been released for Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network, and while the full game will run you 1200 Microsoft points or $US15, the full soundtrack is now available completely free of charge. Like any good 70s martial arts movie soundtrack, Invincible Tiger’s music combines traditional Asian music with a healthy dose of funky bass, horns and the infamous ‘wakka-chikka’ guitar sound that certainly has a name other than ‘wakka-chikka’ that someone in the comment section will call me out for not using.

I’ve yet to play the game itself, but if it’s half as good as the music I might have to dedicate a little bit of my weekend to giving it a go.

Invincible Tiger Original Soundtrack [Big Download]

As someone who owns the soundtracks to the first two games, I’ll be taking a good, long look at the soundtrack to this one (known as Katamari Tribute in Japan), which will come as a 2-disc set clocking in at 36 tracks.

Anyone interested in importing, it’ll be out in Japan on July 23, and will sell for ¥3150 USD$33.

That’s right, two-discs, not just half the soundtrack, like the disc that shipped with Persona 4 for the PlayStation 2. The music is from long-time Megami Tensei composer Shoji Meguro, who collaborated with Hidehito Aoki, Kenichi Tsuchiya and Misaki Okibe on the original game’s music.

Of course, between the new localisation, new animations, and the inclusion of the Frost Queen quest, which wasn’t in the North American version of the original Personal, MegaTen fans were going to buy this anyway, soundtrack or not. Still, it’s nice to know that there’ll be something extra waiting when they go to pick up the game on September 22nd.