Gamertell

Those looking forward to the release of Epic Games’ highly anticipated sequel Gears of War 2 for the Xbox 360, on November 7, 2008, may be pleased to hear that the game’s official soundtrack will be getting a release of its own come November 25, 2008.

The Gears of War 2 soundtrack has been composed by Steve Jablonsky – known for his work on popular Hollywood films including Transformers, The Island and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - and recorded by the Skywalker Symphonic Orchestra and Chorus at Skywalker Sound.

Jablonsky is quoted in a press release issued by Sumthing Else Music Works earlier this week (October 27, 2008) as saying that he “experimented with a lot of hybrid organic/electronic elements, and combined them with…

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Atlus has just announced that all three RPGs released by the company this holiday season will come with soundtrack CDs and have artbook preorder bonuses. Atlus had previously that soundtracks would accompany Eternal Poison, Luminous Arc 2 and Persona 4, and now has decided to offer 60-100 page art books as well. GameStop/EB Games, Amazon.com and Game Crazy are the four retailers specifically mentioned for the deal, but other stores should offer the artbook preorder as well…

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Title: Video Games Live: Volume One
Price: $16.98 ($0.99 per song download)
Release Date: July 22, 2008
Publisher: EMI Records Ltd. (Angel Records)
Pros: An excellent collections of impressive performances. Often well-orchestrated collections and homages to game music with an honest air of respectability that even non-gamers can appreciate. The name implies there will be a Volume Two.
Cons: A few segments are a bit slow and some of the instrumentation plainly mimics or masks the vocals.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 91/100; A-; * * * * out of five.

No matter where you fall in the games as art spectrum there’s no denying that plenty of artistic efforts are put into many games’ production. Case in point is the Video Games Live tour which offers orchestral performances of video game music that would be difficult for any music snob to scoff at.

The CD (and digital download) release of Video Games Live: Volume One offers selected studio and live performances featuring the Slovak Symphony Orchestra, Crouch End Festival Chorus and various soloists as conducted by Jack Wall.

Click through for a track-by-track review…

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Check out the gallery: Video Games Live: Volume One CD art

EA Games has just announced the track list and artists whose music will appear in the background of The Sims 2 Apartment Life. Its a interesting mix of stars from around the world, with talent like Good Charlotte, Katy Perry, Wainwright, Vanilla Sky, Ranetki Girls, Jem, Lola and Gabriella Cilmi lending their songs to the simulation.

The Sims 2 Apartment Life is the much anticipated Sims 2 expansion pack which will allow users to create apartment buildings in their games. It also will add social networks to the game, along with new items and outfits. Its coming out on August 26, 2008 in North America - I can’t wait!

The Sims 2 Apartment Life soundtrack will include the following tracks…

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For those of you still playing Rock Band, Harmonix has announced that The Cars’ 1978 album will be available for download for the PS3 (May 29, 2008) and Xbox 360 (May 27, 2008).

Each downloadable song will set you back $1.99 or $14.99 for all nine tunes in the Playstation Network or 160 and 1200 Microsoft Points, respectively, through Xbox Live.

The album, simply titled The Cars, includes nine songs…

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Round-robin stories are common in writing classes and schools as a writing exercise which builds a story everyone has contributed to. It’s a fun way to join together as a community and bond. Atlus has decided that it would also be the perfect form for its Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard contest.

The “Storytellers of Lagaard” contest is now taking place in the Atlus forums, and will last until May 13, 2008, 5:30pm PDT. Everyone is invited to join the Atlus forums and post as often as they like, but there are a few restrictions. The Atlus administrator Inzaghi states that participants should keep each entries under 200 words, not post too frequently, quote the last sentence of the post ahead of you and not spam the topic. The person who contributes the most and best additions to the story will win a copy of the Etrian Odyssey II 3 CD soundtrack.

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In this dual interview, Chistopher interviews Burning Man Studios two composers, Nathan Pinard and Eike Steffe. Find out how two professional composers living in different countries manage make beautiful videogame music together…

Click through to download an exclusive MP3 (“Arkady”) from the game!

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One of the problems in game design that I find is, that production has a lot of surprises, and I hate surprises. Thankfully, when it has come to our music and sounds, the work has been consistently outstanding.

I count Burning Man Studios very lucky to have found some amazing talent in the fields of music and sound design. Each of the people working on the music are very professional, not only in their work and background, but in their attitudes and drive for making the music for Conquest of Heroes truly unique and original…

Also click through to download an exclusive MP3 (“This is Our Story”) from the game!

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As part of Gamertell’s exclusive look at the music behind FIFA Street 3, we received an early version of the game’s soundtrack to review.

Die hard fans of groove music and football (not the American kind) will be mightily pleased with EA Canada’s new entry into the FIFA Street series. Scheduled for release on February 18, 2008, the game features a bevy of phat beats and Gamertell was lucky enough to get an exclusive early listen.

The soundtrack features more than thirty songs and by more than twenty artists, most of whom are international or world music performers…

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While the glimmer from Halo 3’s release may be waning, a new product has come along for those who can’t get enough of the critically acclaimed game. Sumthing Else Music Works and Microsoft Game Studios will be releasing the Halo 3 Original Soundtrack on November 20, 2007.

This two-CD set features 31 tracks from Halo 3, for a total of over two hours of music including original tracks from the game by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori, along with remixed versions of some themes with a full orchestra and chorus. O’Donnell and Salvatori also composed the music for the previous Halo games and the Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 Volume One and Two soundtrack CDs. On November 20, 2007 the tracks will be available in stores and online for download. The two disc set will be available for $12.99 at major retailers.

Halo 3 is, of course, the game which inspired most people to buy the Xbox 360. It was released September 25, 2007, to throngs of waiting fans. It is the third and final in the trilogy of Master Chief’s endeavors to save everyone from the alien Covenant. It holds the title for fastest selling video game, and the series itself has sold over 20 million copies around the world. The game is also available in 17 languages and 37 countries.

Read [Inside Microsoft] Site [Halo 3 OST] Site [Sumthing Else Music Works]

• Four games that redefined their genres
• Gears of War 2 soundtrack dated, detailed
• Exclusive Interview: Zach Wigal of Gamers Outreach Foundation, Microsoft MVP award winner