Yep, no shit. I’ve been seeing various reports that the new Grand Theft Auto 4 game, which from previews looks like it might have been based on the movie Eastern Promises — though surely it was in development before that (very good) movie was released — has a blazing hardcore soundtrack section that you can purchase from Amazon as its own CD.
Not only do Killing Joke pop up in the soundtrack to the game (specifically their early song “Turn to Red”), but while you are in a stolen car you can tune into an “LCHC” (”Liberty City Hardcore”) radio station that features the likes of Cro-Mags, Bad Brains, Agnostic Front, Leeway, Sick of it All, Murphy’s Law, Sheer Terror, Maximum Penalty, and others. Obviously, LCHC is a play on “NYHC” (”New York Hardcore,” poseurs), evidenced by the bands chosen. The Killing Joke song is played in one of the game’s strip club scenes.
The Tony Hawk skateboarding games are notorious for including punk bands in their soundtracks, and not all of the bands in that franchise are of the slick, pop-punk variety. Especially, the more recent Tony Hawk games have mined for a catholic assortment that includes Venom, JFA, Zeke, Cryptic Slaughter, Dead Kennedys, and Gorilla Biscuits. Killing Joke’s “Death and Resurrection Show” popped up in the video game Need for Speed Underground 2. Oddly, The Sisters of Mercy also feature in Grand Theft Auto 4.
According to various press releases, in Grand Theft Auto 4 you can use an in-game cellphone to send an email your real email address that contains (purchasing) information about a specific in-game song. To wit:
A new technology called “ZiT” uses the game’s cell phone feature. When players hear a song they like, they can dial a number on their in-game cell-phone to receive a text message detailing the artist and track title. For users that sign up for the new Rockstar Games Social Club, an e-mail will then be sent with a link to a custom Amazon.com playlist which features the tracks phoned in. These DRM-free tracks will be priced in the 89-99ยข Amazon price range.
Damn.
Someone want to buy me a PS3? I’m too poor to take advantage of all this uber-high tech, bells-and-whistles “home theater gaming experience” type stuff. But it does seem odd to go through all this to get Agnostic Front’s “Live at CBGB’s” version of that band’s “Victim in Pain,” which is the version GTA4 offers. I know, the point isn’t the music — it’s the game. Yet it’s odd how GTA4 have their own accompanying, multi-volume CD soundtrack series that touches upon some genuinely decent stuff.
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